Yachting: Super-sailor looks to the land for his next big challenge

By JULIE ASH

Far from putting his feet up after the gruelling round-the-world race finishes in June, Grant Dalton already has his next project on the planning stage.

And the Amer Sports One skipper is not thinking about sailing.

"I want to do the 2003 Taupo Ironman," he said yesterday, after his boat finished second behind Assa Abloy in the third leg of the Volvo-sponsored Ocean Race from Sydney to Auckland.

"It has been an objective of mine for 15 years. I need eight months to train full time and I see that as my best window to do that."

Amer Sports One reached Auckland two hours after Assa Abloy yesterday morning.

The battle for third, which came down to a tight finish, was won by Kevin Shoebridge's Tyco, which finished an hour after Dalton, but just four minutes ahead of illbruck and six minutes ahead of Ross Field's News Corp.

Djuice was about six hours after Assa Abloy. The all-women crew on Amer Sports Too are expected in Auckland tomorrow.

For those who know the fiercely competitive Dalton, it probably comes as no surprise that he wants to compete in his first ironman.

"I see it as chilling out. I see it as refocusing and getting my body back in shape. Being physically fit and strong is very important to me. It is part of my whole mental state."

Dalton is unsure where his competitive nature comes from.

"I was pretty wayward when I was younger. My old school reports use to say, 'Could try harder, could turn up'."

Though training for the ironman is his next goal, Dalton says his sailing days are by no means over.

"I want a break for a little while, but not forever. I just need a chance to recharge."

Dalton's sailing career started as an eight-year-old with P-class boats.

"I was competitive, but was never brilliant. I went to university and did accountancy, but I always wanted to do the round-the-world race.

"When I started in 1981 everyone thought you were a little bit nuts to do a round-the-world race, but over the years it has changed.

"Now you couldn't finish a curriculum vitae without a round-the-world race on it."

It would be hard to find a CV better than Dalton's. The race is his seventh around the world. His first was a 1981-82 Whitbread on the winning Dutch yacht Flyer II and his most recent a 62-day sprint as skipper of the super-catamaran Club Med.

He also skippered Endeavour to success in the 1993-1994 Whitbread and finished second in Merit Cup in the last event.

"Every single thing, from the level of preparation, the money involved, the level of professionalism and the physical demands of the race have changed," he says.

"It is not a classic round-the-world race like it used to be. It used to be four legs, three stops and you were there. Now it is much more commercially oriented, but it is a far, far tougher race than it used to be."

The downside of being one of the world's greatest sailors is the time he has to spend away from wife Nicki, and children Eloise, Mack and Olivia.

"We talk every day ... But I can't do this forever."