1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race

The 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race was run from Southampton to Southampton in 1989–90. It was run with several classes (for size of boat). This race featured the first all-woman crew on Tracy Edwards' Maiden. Although in a much smaller boat than many of their male counterparts the women fared well—claiming two leg victories in class.

Steinlager 2 skippered by Peter Blake won the race easily. For the first time since 1981–82 (when the race comprised just four legs), the victor won every leg (albeit closely chased by both Grant Dalton's Fisher & Paykel NZ and Pierre Fehlmann's Merit entries). The vast difference in speed and capability of the many different boats involved in the 1989 to 1990 race lead to the creation of a committee to examine the commission of a Whitbread class boat for use in future races. Many of the Maxi yachts in this year's race were nearly twice the size (LOA) of the smallest, and carried well over twice the sail area. The net result of this was that many of the smaller boats finished the longer legs more than ten days after the leg winner. In the overall results, the last finisher was some 52 days behind Blake's Steinlager 2 128 day aggregate time. In addition, the expense of the big yachts was getting to be too much - even for the well funded teams like Steinlager, Rothmans and Merit. Eventually, the new class would be called the W60 - but its gestation would not be quick or lack controversy.

Legs

Final standings:

Race results

^[1]

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Country	Corrected time
1	Steinlager 2	Blake, Peter Peter Blake	New Zealand	128d 9h
2	Fisher & Paykel NZ	Dalton, Grant Grant Dalton	New Zealand	129d 21h
3	Merit	Fehlmann, Pierre Pierre Fehlmann	Switzerland	130d 10h
4	Rothmans	Smith, Lawrie Lawrie Smith	Great Britain	131d 4h
5	The Card	Nilson, Roger Roger Nilson & Ann Lippens	Sweden	135d 7h
6	Charles Jourdan	Gabbay, Alain Alain Gabbay	France	136d 15h
7	Fortuna Extra Lights	Gaudera, Javier de la Javier de la Gaudera, Jan Santana & José Luis Doreste	Spain	137d 8h
8	Gatorade	Falck, Giorgio Giorgio Falck & Hervé Jan Preire Sicouin	Italy	138d 14h
9	Union Bank of Finland	Ingvall, Ludde Ludde Ingvall	Finland	138d 16h
10	Belmont Finland II	Harkimo, Harry Harry Harkimo	Finland	139d 4h
11	Fazisi	Grischenko, Alexi Alexi Grischenko, Skip Novak & Valeri Alekseyev	Soviet Union	139d
12	NCB Ireland	English, Joe Joe English	Ireland	139d 19h
13	British Satquote Defender	Esson, Frank Frank Esson & Colin Watkins	Great Britain	143d 12h
14	Equity & Law II	Nauta, Dirk Dirk Nauta	Netherlands	148d 23h
15	Liverpool Enterprise	Salmon, Bob Bob Salmon	Great Britain	151d 4h
16	Creighton's Naturally	Chittendon, John John Chittendon	Great Britain	162d 6h
17	Esprit de Liberté	Tabarly, Patrick Patrick Tabarly	France	164d 21h
18	Maiden	Edwards, Tracy Tracy Edwards	Great Britain	167d 3h
19	Schlussel von Bremen	Renken, Rolf Rolf Renken, Ham Müeller-Röhlok, Jochen Orgelmann, Wilhelm-Otto Beck & Peter Weidner	Germany	167d 19h
20	With Integrity	Coghill, Andy Andy Coghill	Great Britain	170d 16h
21	La Poste	Mallé, Daniel Daniel Mallé	France	181d 22h
–	Rucanor Sport	Dubois, Bruno Bruno Dubois	Belgium	DNF
–	Martela OF	Wilkeri, Markku Markku Wilkeri	Finland	DNF

Legend: DNF – Did not finish;

The boat Creighton's Naturally suffered a serious broach on leg 2, at about 3 in the morning. Crew members Anthony (Tony) Philips and Bart van den Dwey were swept over board. They were both pulled back on deck. Van den Dwey successfully resuscitated, but, after three hours of trying, crewmembers were unable to revive Philips. A few days later, by radio agreement with relatives ashore, Philips was buried at sea.^[2]

Notes and references