1989–1990 Whitbread Round the World Race
# 1989–1990 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 of yacht.

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 in their division (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 cost of the big yachts was becoming too expensive to fund - even for the well sponsored teams like Steinlager, Rothmans and Merit. Eventually, the new class would be called the Whitbread 60.

The 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 Division D. Edwards was named yachtsman of the year and appointed MBE. In 2018 a documentary has been made about the team's participation in the race.

## Route

| Event | Start date | Start | Finish | Distance (nmi) | Winner |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Leg 1 | 2 September 1989 | Southampton | Punta del Este | 5,938 | Steinlager 2 |
| Leg 2 | 28 October 1989 | Punta del Este | Fremantle | 7,260 | Steinlager 2 |
| Leg 3 | 23 December 1989 | Fremantle | Auckland | 3,272 | Steinlager 2 |
| Leg 4 | 4 February 1990 | Auckland | Punta del Este | 6,255 | Steinlager 2 |
| Leg 5 | 17 March 1990 | Punta del Este | Fort Lauderdale | 5,475 | Steinlager 2 |
| Leg 6 | 5 May 1990 | Fort Lauderdale | Southampton | 3,818 | Steinlager 2 |

## Results

| Pos | Class | Class Pos | Sail Number | Yacht | Country | Yacht Type | LOA (Metres) | Skipper | Elapsed Time d:hh:mm:ss |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | A | 1 | KZ 2 | Steinlager 2 | New Zealand | Farr 84 Ketch Maxi | 25.60 | Peter Blake | 128:09:40:30 |
| 2 | A | 2 | KZ 400 | Fisher & Paykel | New Zealand | Farr 82 Ketch Maxi | 25.30 | Grant Dalton | 129:21:18:22 |
| 3 | A | 3 | Z 3333 | Merit | Switzerland | Farr 81 Sloop Maxi | 24.60 | Pierre Fehlmann | 130:10:10:14 |
| 4 | A | 4 | K 100 | Rothmans | Great Britain | Humphreys 81 Sloop Maxi | 24.54 | Lawrie Smith | 131:04:54:23 |
| 5 | A | 5 | US 42624 | The Card | Sweden | Farr 79 Ketch Maxi | 24.17 | Roger Nilson | 135:07:15:43 |
| 6 | A | 6 | F 8992 | Charles Jourdan | France | Ribadeau Dumas 72 Sloop Maxi | 21.95 | Max-Philippe Couteau Alain Gabbay | 136:15:14:51 |
| 7 | A | 7 | E 1992 | Fortuna Extra Lights | Spain | Visiers 77 Sloop Maxi | 23.47 | Jan Santana | 137:08:14:11 |
| 8 | A | 8 | I 11441 | Gatorade | Italy | Farr 80 Sloop Maxi | 24.38 | Giorgio Falck | 138:14:30:12 |
| 9 | A | 9 | L 8008 | Union Bank of Finland | Finland | Joubert-Nivelt 82 Sloop Maxi | 24.99 | Ludde Ingvall | 138:16:38:12 |
| 10 | A | 10 | L 8009 | Belmont Finland II | Finland | Farr 80 Sloop Maxi | 24.29 | Harry Harkimo | 139:04:31:13 |
| 11 | A | 11 | SR 1989 | Fazisi | Soviet Union | Murnikov-Design Group VTK 82 Sloop Maxi | 24.99 | Alexei Greschenko Skip Novak | 139:09:01:04 |
| 12 | A | 12 | IR 1992 | NCB Ireland | Ireland | Holland 81 Sloop Maxi | 24.69 | Joe English | 139:19:22:38 |
| 13 | A | 13 | K 303 | Satquote British Defender | Great Britain | Francis-Faroux 81 Sloop Maxi | 24.69 | Colin Watkins | 143:12:42:23 |
| 14 | C | 1 | H 400 | Equity and Law II | Netherlands | Judel Vrolijk 63 Sloop | 19.11 | Dirk Nauta | 148:23:50:33 |
| 15 | A | 14 | K 1996 | Liverpool Enterprise | Great Britain | Farr 80 Sloop Maxi | 24.38 | Bob Salmon | 151:04:52:22 |
| 16 | Cruiser | 1 | K 808 | Creighton's Naturally | Great Britain | Williams-Peterson Ocean 80 Sloop Maxi | 24.54 | John Chittenden | 162:06:34:58 |
| 17 | D | 1 | F 1789 | L'Esprit de Liberté | France | Briand 58 Sloop | 17.58 | Patrick Tabarly | 164:21:36:16 |
| 18 | D | 2 | K 1418 | Maiden | Great Britain | Farr 58 Sloop | 17.75 | Tracy Edwards | 167:03:06:53 |
| 19 | D | 3 | G 944 | Schlüssel von Bremen | West Germany | Judel Vrolijk Baltic 63 Sloop | 19.20 | Rolf Renken Harm Müller-Röhlck | 167:19:07:34 |
| 20 | Cruiser | 2 | K 3566 | With Integrity | Great Britain | Gurney 77 Sloop Maxi | 23.52 | Andrew Coghill | 170:16:19:07 |
| 21 | D | 4 | F 9302 | La Poste | France | Frers First 51 Beneteau Sloop | 15.54 | Daniel Mallé | 181:22:56:17 |
| DNF | D | 5 | B 763 | Rucanor Sport | Belgium | Ribadeau Dumas 58 Sloop | 17.63 | Bruno Dubois | Retired-Leg 4 |
| DNF | A | 15 | L 9000 | Martela O.F. | Finland | Frers 81 Sloop Maxi | 24.60 | Markku Wiikeri | Retired-Leg 4 |
| References: ||||||||||

The boat Creighton's Naturally suffered a serious broach on leg 2, at about 3 am. 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.

Martela OF lost its keel and capsized 350 nautical miles from the finish of leg 4. The unharmed crew was picked up from the overturned hull by Charles Jourdan and Merit. Union Bank of Finland also broke off the race to participate in the rescue.

