The 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race was the seventh edition of the around-the-world sailing event Whitbread Round the World Race. The Whitbread Round the World Race ran for the first time with all W60 boats and to a "points vs time" (instead of aggregate leg time) scoring system to enhance the value of the shorter race legs.

Also, in an effort to attract additional media coverage, the Whitbread race committee divided the race into no less than 9 legs for the 1997 to 1998 race, therefore increasing the number of ports visited.

Volvo had its first major association with the race in 1997 to 1998 by sponsoring the trophy (thus the race was officially known as the Whitbread 'round the world race for the Volvo Trophy) and some of the media coverage. For the first time running to W60-only specification, this year's Whitbread attracted just 10 entries—the fewest to date.

Participants BoatNationDesignerSkipper America's Challenge Alan Andrews Brunel Sunergy Judel/Vrolijk Chessie Racing Farr Yacht Design EF Education Farr Yacht Design EF Language Farr Yacht Design Innovation Kvaerner Farr Yacht Design Merit Cup Farr Yacht Design Silk Cut Farr Yacht Design Swedish Match Farr Yacht Design Toshiba Farr Yacht Design

America's Challenge Led by Neil Barth and skippered by Ross Field, the team bought Yamaha before building America's Challenge. The team struggled for funding and withdrew from the race in Cape Town.Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998 – Leg 2 The crew included a group of New Zealanders, including Jared Henderson, and the UK's Matthew Humphries.

Brunel Sunergy Skippered for the first six legs by Hans Bouscholte, the crew included Gerald Rogivue and Peter van Niekerk. Because of bad results, Hans Bouscholte was replaced by the Team director Roy Heiner in the last three legs.

Chessie Racing Skippered by 57-year-old George Collins, the crew included John Kostecki, Juan Vila, Gavin Brady and Ken Read.

EF Education and EF Language EF Language was skippered by Paul Cayard and included a core crew from his AmericaOne challenge for the 2000 America's Cup. Lawrie Smith was originally intended to lead the boat, until transferring to Silk Cut. The crew included Steven Erickson and Magnus Olsson

The team's second boat, EF Education, had an all-female crew and was led by French woman Christine Guillou and included Isabelle Autissier. Leslie Egnot joined the crew on leg 4.

Innovation Kvaerner Skippered by Knut Frostad, the crew included Marcel van Triest, Ross Halcrow, Tony Rae, Ed Baird, Torben Grael and Pierre Mas.

Merit Cup Merit Cup was a Monaco flagged boat skippered by Grant Dalton. One of only two team's that built two boats, the crew included watch captain Kevin Shoebridge, Ian Stewart, Mike Sanderson, Jeremy Lomas, Dirk de Ridder, Ray Davies and Mike Quilter.

Silk Cut Led by Lawrie Smith, Silk Cut was the last boat in the fleet designed by Bruce Farr. The crew included Jez Fanstone, Neil Graham, Gordon Maguire, Neal McDonald, Jan Dekker and Stu Bannatyne.

Swedish Match Swedish Match was skippered by Gunnar Krantz and included Roger Nilson and Erle Williams. Matthew Humphries joined the crew following the withdrawal of America's Challenge.

Toshiba Led by Dennis Conner and Paul Standbridge, Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson but Dickson was fired after Leg 1.Volvo Ocean Race: History 1997–1998 Other crew members included Ross MacDonald, Murray Ross, Chris Ward, Alan Smith and Kelvin Harrap.

The crew had 13 Whitbread and 28 America's Cup campaigns between them.

Route

EventStart dateStartFinishDistance (nmi) Leg 1 21 September 1997 Southampton Cape Town 7,340 Leg 2 11 November 1997 Cape Town Fremantle 4,600 Leg 3 13 December 1997 Fremantle Sydney 2,250 Leg 4 4 January 1998 Sydney Auckland 1,270 Leg 5 1 February 1998 Auckland São Sebastião 6,670 Leg 6 14 March 1998 São Sebastião Fort Lauderdale 4,750 Leg 7 19 April 1998 Fort Lauderdale Baltimore 870 Leg 8 3 May 1998 Baltimore La Rochelle 3,390 Leg 9 22 May 1998 La Rochelle Southampton 450

Leg Results # Boat Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4 Leg 5 Leg 6 Leg 7 Leg 8 Leg 9 Total 1 EF Language 125 72 105 70 135 101 81 55 92 836 2 Merit Cup 110 48 70 105 78 66 50 66 105 698 3 Swedish Match 36 125 92 60 91 89 92 44 60 689 4 Innovation Kvaerner 97 110 60 40 65 77 70 33 81 633 5 Silk Cut 84 84 40 50 26DNF 115 60 101 70 630 6 Chessie Racing 72 60 81 81 105 55 40 89 30 613 7 Toshiba 60 97 50 92 0DSQ 44 20PEN 115 50 528 8 Brunel Sunergy 12 24 30 30 119 33 105 22 40 415 9 EF Education 24 36 20 20 26DNF 22 30 77 20 275 10 America's Challenge 48 0DNS 0DNS 0DNS 0DNS 0DNS 0DNS 0DNS 0DNS 48

Overall Results

Pos Sail Number Yacht Country Yacht Type LOA(Metres) Skipper Points 1 SWE 13000 EF Language Sweden Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Paul Cayard 836 2 MON 700 Merit Cup Monaco Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Grant Dalton 698 3 SWE 2000 Swedish Match Sweden Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Gunnar Krantz 689 4 NOR 2 Innovation Kvaerner Norway Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Knut Frostad 633 5 GBR 1 Silk Cut Great Britain Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Lawrie Smith 630 6 USA 60 Chessie Racing United States Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 George Collins 613 7 USA 1 Toshiba United States Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Dennis Conner Chris Dickson Paul Standbridge 528 8 NED 11 Brunel Sunergy Netherlands Judel Vrolijk Whitbread 60 19.51 Hans Bouscholte Roy Heiner 415 9 SWE 300000 EF Education Sweden Farr Whitbread 60 19.51 Christine Guillou 275 10 USA 11 America's Challenge United States Andrews Whitbread 60 19.51 Ross Field 48 References:

References

External links