THE SIDELINES : 2 Battle to Whitbread Finish
Compiled from Times Wire and Staff Reports
SOUTHAMPTON, England —
After about 33,000 nautical miles and eight months of sailing, New Zealand ketches Steinlager 2 and Fisher and Peykel were in a close battle heading for the finish line in the Whitbread Round the World yacht race today.
Peter Blake, skipper of Steinlager 2, was aiming for victories in all six legs of the race. But Grant Dalton’s Fisher and Peykel was only 2 1/2 miles back, with 200 miles and a day’s sailing left.
The Swiss sloop, Merit, skippered by Pierre Fehlmann, was third, 30 miles farther back.