Aucklander eyes the Everest of sailing

By ROBIN BAILEY

The America's Cup, Whitbread, Kenwood Cup, Admirals Cup ... Kiwi sailors have taken out almost all of yachting's most sought-after trophies.

An Aucklander is about to write another chapter in our sailing history. Chris Sayer (28) has already created an impressive sailing record. Now he is planning to tackle what those who know call the Everest of yachting.

The Around Alone epic starts in Charleston, North Carolina, in September 2002 and is due to finish back there in May 2003 after covering 27,000 nautical miles. On the way, there are stops in South Africa, New Zealand and Uruguay.

Last time there was all manner of nautical drama, not the least Giovanni Soldini's rescue of Isabelle Autissier in the Southern Ocean. That was the fifth sailing of the race which is held every four years. Sayer will be there for the sixth.

How do the experts rate his chances?

TV commentator Martin Tasker: "I first met Chris six years ago. His determination impressed me then. His subsequent success is even more impressive."

Whitbread veteran Ross Field: "The Mini-Transat was largely unheralded in New Zealand yachting circles. He succeeded against the best single-handed sailors in the world."

Bruce Hudson, Talon Technology (Navman): "Our association with Around Alone keeps us at the cutting edge of marine technology and puts us on the international stage. The competitors are the Edmund Hillarys of sailing."

How did it all start for Sayer?

"I didn't come through the traditional Kiwi path up the sailing ladder," Sayer says. "I was a farm boy until my family moved to Auckland when I was nine and my dad Richard bought a trailer sailer.

"Dad got the sailing bug and bought a Birdsall 42. We left New Zealand in 1985 for a six-month Pacific Islands cruise that turned out to be five years. It extended to Australia, through the Indian Ocean to South Africa, then to Brazil. By that time I had finished correspondence school at sixth-form level."

Back in Auckland in 1990, Sayer began a boatbuilding apprenticeship with Terry Bailey and proved a natural, winning the Sandy Sands Memorial prize as top apprentice in his first and third years. During the training years there wasn't much time for sailing at any level.

After meeting French sailor Luke Bartissol, who was in Auckland building his own boat for the 1991 Mini Transat, Sayer decided that it was time to make his own dream of eventually doing the Around Alone a reality. The boat he chose was an affordable John Wellsford Mini 650.

He built the hull and decks himself in 1200 hours over three months while working full-time.

The boat was launched in January 1996 and it was back to work to get the dollars for rig, sails and deck gear.

That's when the first sponsor, Essentially Software, came on board, and the little boat did the around-the-North Island two-handed race in 1996 and 1999 with Rob Neeley as crew.

In 1996 Sayer went solo to New Caledonia, then to Vila and back to New Zealand. He then did the 1998 solo Tasman race from New Plymouth to Mooloolaba, finishing 7th overall and winning his division by two days.

At the start of 1999 Talon Technology signed on with P&O Nedlloyd to sponsor Navman for the Mini Transat.

The 6.5m wooden yacht wasn't given a show by the critics when the starters were assessed. Sayer proved them wrong, finishing third out of 70, the first non-French sailor to stand on the podium in 20 years - a remarkable achievement considering the Navman budget was less than a third of what the top competitors spent on their boats.

After the race Sayer sold Navman to finance his search for support for the 2002-3 Around Alone. His entry will be designed, built and developed in New Zealand, to take this country's dominance in yachting into another zone. Traditionally, single-handed sailing has been a European and particularly French sport. Chris Sayer has proved he can compete with the world's best. Now he plans to win the most gruelling of solo yachting's challenges.