Awesome Footage!
The 1998 Round Britain and Ireland Yacht Race caused havoc amongst the fleet of 41 starters. Of the 15 multihulls, only 7 finished. The rest were scattered around the British Isles: dismasted, hulls broken, rudders broken, rigging failures - all because of the exceptionally violent weather with gale force winds on three legs of the 2,000 mile course. Two Grand Prix trimarans and two ex-BOC Round-The -World open 60's dominate the fleet. These are state-of-the-art ocean racers.
Join Brian Thompson and Peter Clutterbuck on the fastest boat in the fleet: the 43' trimaran Spirit of England. They won four of the five legs, broke a record and won their class. Share their challenges: broken rigging, the Arctic cold, the fearsome breaking seas of the open North Atlantic, and the dangerous rocky lee shores.
Most of the footage was shot on board in heavy conditions, beating into stormy seas, or reaching at 20 to 25 knots.
