| Year: | 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race |
| Edition: | 7th |
| Competitors: | 10 |
| Yachts: | Whitbread 60 |
| Winner: | EF Language |
| Prev: | 1993–94 |
| Next: | 2001–02 |
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.
| Boat | Nation | Designer | Skipper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| America's Challenge | Alan Andrews |  | ||
| Brunel Sunergy | Judel/Vrolijk | |||
| Chessie Racing | | |||
| 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 | |
Led by Neil Barth and skippered by Ross Field, the team bought Yamaha before building America’s Challenge.[1] The team struggled for funding and withdrew from the race in Cape Town.[2] [3] The crew included a group of New Zealanders, including Jared Henderson, and the UK's Matthew Humphries.
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.[4]
Skippered by 57-year-old George Collins, the crew included John Kostecki, Juan Vila, Gavin Brady and Ken Read.
EF Language was skippered by Paul Cayard and included a core crew from his AmericaOne challenge for the 2000 America's Cup.[5] 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.[5]
Skippered by Knut Frostad, the crew included Marcel van Triest, Ross Halcrow, Tony Rae, Ed Baird, Torben Grael and Pierre Mas.
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.[5]
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.[5]
Swedish Match was skippered by Gunnar Krantz and included Roger Nilson and Erle Williams.[5] Matthew Humphries joined the crew following the withdrawal of America's Challenge.
Led by Dennis Conner and Paul Standbridge, Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson but Dickson was fired after Leg 1.[6] 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.[5]
| Event | Start date | Start | Finish | Distance (nmi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leg 1 | 21 September 1997 | 7,340 | ||
| Leg 2 | 11 November 1997 | 4,600 | ||
| Leg 3 | 13 December 1997 | 2,250 | ||
| Leg 4 | 4 January 1998 | 1,270 | ||
| Leg 5 | 1 February 1998 | 6,670 | ||
| Leg 6 | 14 March 1998 | 4,750 | ||
| Leg 7 | 19 April 1998 | 870 | ||
| Leg 8 | 3 May 1998 | 3,390 | ||
| Leg 9 | 22 May 1998 | 450 | ||
| Boat | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Leg 5 | Leg 6 | Leg 7 | Leg 8 | Leg 9 | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | EF Language | 125 | 72 | 105 | 70 | 135 | 101 | 81 | 55 | 92 | 836 | |
| 2 | align=left | Merit Cup | 110 | 48 | 70 | 105 | 78 | 66 | 50 | 66 | 105 | 698 | |
| 3 | align=left | Swedish Match | 36 | 125 | 92 | 60 | 91 | 89 | 92 | 44 | 60 | 689 | |
| 4 | align=left | Innovation Kvaerner | 97 | 110 | 60 | 40 | 65 | 77 | 70 | 33 | 81 | 633 | |
| 5 | align=left | Silk Cut | 84 | 84 | 40 | 50 | 26 DNF | 115 | 60 | 101 | 70 | 630 | |
| 6 | align=left | Chessie Racing | 72 | 60 | 81 | 81 | 105 | 55 | 40 | 89 | 30 | 613 | |
| 7 | align=left | Toshiba | 60 | 97 | 50 | 92 | 0 DSQ | 44 | 20 PEN | 115 | 50 | 528 | |
| 8 | align=left | Brunel Sunergy | 12 | 24 | 30 | 30 | 119 | 33 | 105 | 22 | 40 | 415 | |
| 9 | align=left | EF Education | 24 | 36 | 20 | 20 | 26 DNF | 22 | 30 | 77 | 20 | 275 | |
| 10 | align=left | America's Challenge | 48 | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 0 DNS | 48 |
| 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:[7] | ||||||||