Yachting: Sanderson wary of Pirates, movistar

ABN-AMRO 1 skipper Mike Sanderson says the race is not yet won with some taxing legs to come. Picture / Reuters

ABN Amro One skipper Mike Sanderson has pinpointed movistar and Pirates of the Caribbean as the two boats he fears most in the fifth leg of the round-the-world yacht race from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore.

ABN Amro One have a comfortable 16 point lead over sister yacht ABN Amro Two, however with five legs to go and the points stacked towards the second half of the race, the New Zealand skipper is refusing to stop looking over his shoulder.

"We only have to have a couple of average results and miss a leg and we have nothing. It would be even stevens, but with what we have already, we can pull the red line back a bit," Sanderson said.

The fifth leg, which started early this morning, is regarded as one of the most tactically challenging.

Five thousand nautical miles long, the fleet have to negotiate the fickle winds and weather systems of the inter-tropical convergence zone, otherwise known as the doldrums.

The leg is expected to take around 15 days. There is a scoring gate off the coast of Brazil.

While Sanderson is weary of movistar and the fast improving Pirates, the performance of Ericsson will also be of interest.

The Swedish team have made several crew changes for the leg including the promotion of John Kostecki to skipper. New Zealander Ross Halcrow also joins the team.

Sanderson said the Ericsson campaign reminds him of the Silk Cut team in 1997-98, where a team led by Britain's Lawrie Smith and some of the current Ericsson crew started the race confidently then went from one crisis to another.

"I think there are some awesome sailors on Ericsson, but it has too much of a Silk Cut feel about it. When we turned up for the 1997-98 race, Silk Cut were favourites and the impression was ... they've won the race already.

"I think Ericsson will come out firing ... but Pirates and movistar have always been my main fears."

Sanderson is casting aside suggestions that his team are due for a dose of bad luck.

"You could either say our turn for bad luck is still to come or that we have already had it. We certainly broke more than our fair share of equipment pre-race. As it turned out, we just broke everything that everyone has broken in the race." 
 

Points so far

* ABN Amro One 52.5
* ABN Amro Two 36.5
* Pirates of the Caribbean 31.5
* movistar 31.0
* Brasil 128.5
* Ericsson 23.5
* Brunel - expected to rejoin the race in Baltimore.