News, sport and entertainment from the Bournemouth Echo and Dorset Echo.

Emotional time

From the Echo, first published Thursday 25th Jan 2001.

SAILING in the stormy Southern Ocean, thousands of miles from land, is perhaps as likely a place as any to bare the soul.

So it has proved with 24-year-old amateur Dorset sailor Bob Bradford, one of the youngest to crew in the epic BT Global Challenge Race and now resting in Wellington, New Zealand, after competing the third 6,020-mile leg.

While crossing that notorious ocean on the 70ft yacht Norwich Union an emotional Bradford, a university graduate from Shaftesbury, revealed why he was so keen to join the 30,000-mile race.

"When I was a young lad of eight a very sad event happened in my life - my father died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage," he recalled.

"Although I cannot remember much about it I thought to myself that from that day on I must live life to the full because you could be here one day and gone the next."

So he was "overjoyed" at being accepted for the race - "an opportunity to participate in something fantastic."

Part of the £25,000 cost of his berth was met through an inheritance his father left him. "I thought he would have wanted me to use it on something worthwhile," said Bradford.

By some kind of fate the start of the BT Challenge at Southampton on September 10 happened to be the anniversary of his father's death. "I started thinking that somewhere he was looking down on me, saying that I was destined to do this," he said.

"But I thought that was the last of the coincidence - until we rounded Cape Horn on December 18 which happened to be my father's birthday."

He added: "In my deepest thoughts I knew that he would be watching over me and making sure I had a safe passage round one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

"I know that if he was still alive today he would be a very proud man."

Norwich Union, on which Bradford is the youngest of the 18 crew and known as Nipper, reached Wellington in seventh place among the 12 yachts.

The Dorset sailor was greeted on the dockside by family and friends and recounted tales of the storms and fierce winds he had encountered, interspersed with unexpected calms.

The leg took longer than expected and for the last five days food was rationed.

"For the final 48 hours we only ate rice," he said. "It has been a long, physically demanding and gruelling leg and our bodies are in desperate need of healthy food and lots of rest."

BP Explorer, crewed by Poole sailor Tony Botterill, a member of Parkstone YC, arrived to what he described as "an amazing welcome with boats and flags everywhere."

It was as if Wellington was making a special effort to cheer up the BP crew after their hopes of doing well on the third leg were dashed by an eight-hour delay at the start due to contaminated fuel - and by the refusal of the race committee to compensate the yacht with a time allowance.

As it was they overhauled Save the Children to avoid finishing last, and overall are in fifth place.

At one time they also thought they would catch Veritas, crewed by Lymington sailor Stephen Fillery, but the wind died on them at the crucial moment.

Tony's brother, Gary Botterill, of Penn Hill Avenue, Parkstone, said: "They have got the boat sailing well and Tony reckoned if they had not been eight hours behind they would have finished in third or fourth."

Veritas reached port in ninth place, after a nail-biting duel which put them just 22 minutes ahead of Spirit of Kong.

Praising the crew skipper Will Carnegie said: "Morale is higher than ever before despite finishing ninth as we have come of age as a team. Rounding Cape Horn and surviving the Southern Ocean has really brought us together."

But tactics for the next leg will lead to some changes in crew routine as Carnegie is determined to keep fighting for a podium position. "In particular we will be sailing as a team of specialists," he said.

"Not everybody will helm, which may disappoint some, but if we want to win we must all accept that the right people must do the right jobs."

One crew change everyone is welcoming is the arrival on board in mid-February for the next leg to Sydney of rugby star Zinzan Brooke, one of the most capped All Blacks in history. He has little sailing experience but is to undergo intensive training on leaving Harlequins as director of rugby.

"Having him with us will be an added incentive for the crew to put every ounce into winning," said Carnegie.

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