Around Alone, Hatfield almost home and Emma has a new boat

by Brian Hancock on 30 May 2003 Derek Hatfield on Spirit of Canada has encountered strong headwinds and his speed has slowed to around 4 knots. It's very frustrating and uncomfortable as the wind blows against the Gulf Stream whipping up a steep seaway. Hatfield estimates that he will not arrive in Newport until somtime early Saturday. We will keep you posted on his latest ETA as we get more information.

Original story: While Derek Hatfield soldiers on towards the finish of the Around Alone, there is other news to report. And it's good news for two of the skippers. Those close to the race have known for sometime that discussions were underway between Pindar and Hexagon to purchase Hexagon for Emma Richards. Hexagon, you will remember, was dismasted on Leg 4 and has been stuck in Argentina after Graham Dalton sailed it there under jury rig. Dalton tried everything he could to get his boat back in the race, but the logistics of building a new mast and getting it to the remote seaside town on the east coast of Argentina proved too much for the Kiwi skipper. Instead he made other plans and once again the kindness and generosity of Emma's sponsor Andrew Pindar came into play. Today Mr. Pindar announced that he had purchased the boat and had ordered a new mast.

'We have acquired what we consider to be one of the best Open 60's on the water,' Andrew Pindar said. 'We want to build on our success from the Around Alone and give Emma the opportunity to compete at the very highest level. She has been a great ambassador for us throughout the past four years and we have received considerable business benefit through our involvement in sailing. Our ultimate aim is to put together a syndicate for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2005.' In order for Emma to skipper an entry in the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race, Pindar will have to pull in some partners since the sponsorship ticket for that event is considerably more than that for an Around Alone campaign.

Emma of course is delighted with her new boat. 'I am absolutely thrilled that we have managed to acquire such a good boat,' she said. 'We have a great race schedule planned for the next three years and we are also hoping that we could potentially use the boat for development and training purposes for a Volvo campaign. Either way, I am really excited as this is the first boat that we have actually owned, and it will enable us to build a team that will be very competitive over the next couple of years.' The partnership between Emma and Pindar is one shining example that sailing sponsorship is a very good investment on behalf of the company putting up the cash. There are other equally talented sailors out there looking to work hard on behalf of a corporation interested in global exposure and an association with high profile sailing events. Maybe Tim Kent and Bruce Schwab do not have that same dazzling smile as Emma, but they are no less marketable.

Another equally marketable sailor, Derek Hatfield is closing in on his first warm shower and day off in many weeks.

He has passed the island of Bermuda and at the last poll Spirit of Canada was 558 miles from the finish in Newport. In order to arrive before the sun sets on Friday, Derek is going to have to average a little over 8 knots (sailing on course). For the last 24 hours he averaged exactly 7.5 knots.

The weather is reasonable and he should get a speed boost from the Gulf Stream, but Hatfield well knows that sailing is unpredictable at best. 'I am sailing as hard as I can and will get there as soon as I can,' he said.