Silk Cut Gives Britain a Leg to Stand On

Silk Cut’s victory on leg 6 of the Whitbread ‘Round The World Race on Sunday doesn’t mean that Britannia rules the seas but did the Britons ever need it.

When Silk Cut, with its flashy purple shark graphics, sailed out of Southampton last September it represented all that was proud in British sailing as its country’s only hope in the race it created in 1977. It set a monohull world record by sailing 449 miles in one day early in the race but finished 4-4-7-6 the first four legs. Skipper Lawrie Smith changed navigators, but not his luck.

The new guy, Vincent Geake, didn’t have a chance on leg 5 because the mast fell. Smith left his crippled boat at Cape Horn and went home to London to meet with his tobacco sponsors about their $10-million investment.

No doubt it was cigars all around when Silk Cut arrived from Brazil 1 hour 18 minutes ahead of Paul Cayard’s Swedish-sponsored EF Language and, after 14 days 19 hours 55 minutes 9 seconds, four days ahead of the pre-race estimated time of arrival for the 4,750 miles.

Although out of contention for overall victory after the mast catastrophe, Sunday’s sigh of relief could carry the Britons back across the Atlantic later this spring.

“They sailed a perfect [leg],” Cayard said. Cayard could afford to be magnanimous. By placing second on the leg after winning three of the first five (1-5-1-4-1), the San Francisco sailor with half an American crew now needs to average only fourth place on the last three to clinch the overall prize on his first attempt.