Australia win the Admirals Cup
by Susan McKeag 21 Jul 2003 09:13 BST
ROYAL PRINCE ALFRED YACHT CLUB TAKE THE ADMIRAL'S CUP
The Australian team from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney, have just been declared winners of the 2003 Admiral's Cup, after a somewhat nerve wracking wait for boats to finish, and points to be calculated.
Bob Oatley, whose boat Wild Oats had stormed home to win the final race,
and snatch the trophy from the hands of the Spanish team, was almost
overcome with pride when he got the news.
"It's really special, we're just so happy," enthused Oatley, "we just can't
believe it, people are waking up everywhere and coming in the door, it's
absolutely unbelieveable, the thrill of a lifetime.
"To win it on the last race, and in a pretty convincing fashion, also top
boat of the regatta, it's really spectacular."
Owner of Aftershock, the other boat in the team, Colin O'Neil was equally
overwhelmed by the occasion, "this is wonderful, unbelieveable," was his
emotional summing up of the achievement, "it's been a long night waiting,
a lot of combinations had to come our way, but it finally did."
The series of nine races has been pretty much a two horse race from the
start, between Spain's Real Club Nautico de Sangenjo, and the Australians,
with the Spanish going into the final race with a one point lead.
Aftershock was the first of the two Australian boats to finish, at 19:16:27
on Sunday evening, and it soon became evident that they were third on
handicap, with the Spanish boat Telefonica Movistar winning the small boat
class.
This meant that Wild Oats had to win the big boat class, with their Spanish
rivals on the King of Spain's Bribon Telefonica Movistar in fourth place or
worse, an unlikely scenario considering her seven first places and one
second in the series to date.
Mark Richards steered Wild Oats across the finishing line at 22:07:37, and
the long and agonising wait began for the other big boats to finish.
The minutes and hours ticked by, and eventually the race organisers worked
out the handicaps and Australia were declared provisional winners, which
will be confirmed provided no protests are submitted.
Helmsman of Wild Oats, Mark Richards, broke the news to his team mates,
"It's 2 am here in England, and the Australian Admiral's Cup team has just
been informed that they've just won the Admiral's Cup, and we are very
proud, the convicts have come through.
"We are ecstatic, ecstatic, Australia hasn't won the Admiral's Cup since
1979, and this is a fantastic thing, we are elated, and we've got to get on
with the party.
"The last hour has been nerve wracking, very nerve wracking, waiting for
the other competitors to finish."
The final boat is still to finish - the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club
Sailability big boat Chernikeeff - her ETA is 0530.
Overall Team Results:
Pos | Team Name | Pts |
---|
1 | Royal Prince Alfred Team | 56 |
2 | Telefonica Movistar Sailing Team | 63 |
3 | Sailability RORC Team | 76 |
4 | Team Royal Southern | 110 |
5 | Team Bear - RTYC | 147 |
6 | Team Paprec Recyclage - UNCL | 157 |
7 | Estrella Galicia Sailing Team | 162 |
8 | Sailability CCYC Team | 179 |
Individual Race Results: (The Short Offshore Race 5 counted for double points, The Wolf Rock Race 9 counted for quadruple points)
Sail No | Boat | Owner/skipper | Team Name | Pts | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 |
---|
AUS7001 | Wild Oats | Robert Oatley | Royal Prince Alfred Team | 26 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
AUS5342 | Aftershock | Colin O’Neil/Colin Beashel | Royal Prince Alfred Team | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
ESP55 | Bribon Telefonica Movistar | Jose Cusi/HM Juan Carlos I | Telefonica Movistar Sailing Team | 31 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
ESP6746 | Telefonica Movistar | Pedro Campos | Telefonica Movistar Sailing Team | 32 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
GBR52R | Chernikeeff 2 | Peter Harrison/Marcus Fitzgerald | Sailability RORC Team | 44 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
ITA155 | Chernikeeff 4 | Peter Harrison/Ian Walker | Sailability RORC Team | 32 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
GBR552R | Volvo for Life Team Tonic | Nick Hewson | Team Royal Southern | 45 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
GBR66R | Dickies Yacht Sales | Nigel Biggs | Team Royal Southern | 65 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20 |
GBR521 | Bear of Britain | Kit Hobday/Tim Louis | Team Bear - RTYC | 51 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
GBR4907R | Dancing Bear | David Scanlan | Team Bear - RTYC | 96 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 32 |
FRA19450 | Groupe Paprec | Gery Trenteseaux | Team Paprec Recyclage - UNCL | 97 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 36 |
FRA29040 | Paprec Recyclage | Stephane Neve | Team Paprec Recyclage - UNCL | 60 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 16 |
ESP6680 | Estrella Galicia Uno | Antonio Viejo Puga/Javier Aguado Bianco | Estrella Galicia Sailing Team | 91 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 24 |
ESP6681 | Estrella Galicia Dos | Antonio Viejo Puga/Alberto Viejo Puga | Estrella Galicia Sailing Team | 71 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 24 |
GBR9210R | Chernikeeff | Peter Harrison/Andy Cassell | Sailability CCYC Team | 95 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 36 |
ESP5878 | Chernikeeff 3 | Peter Harrison/Andy Green | Sailability CCYC Team | 84 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 28 |
More Information: