The 1993–94 Whitbread Round the World Race was the sixth edition of the around-the-world sailing event. The race was won by Grant Dalton the maxi 'New Zealand Endeavour'.

As with prior races, the 1993-1994 Whitbread was run to "mixed class" rules. However a new purpose-built Whitbread boat—the W60 was introduced. As with previous years a handicap was applied to different boats based on their race rating. Some W60 competitors were not keen on running both Maxis and W60s together once it became evident some of the old Maxis were only as fast as the W60 class. Some W60 competitors wished to ban Maxis, however this was never realistic given the large investments the Maxi owners had made in the expectation of being able to race. There were also concerns over whether enough new W60 boats would be ready.

Despite the closeness of the finishes, some W60 skippers claimed to be in a 'completely different boat race' to Grant Dalton skippering a maxi.

Participants BoatNationClassSkipper Brooksfield Whitbread 60 Fortuna Maxi Heineken Whitbread 60 Hetman Sahaidachny Whitbread 60 Galicia '93 Pescanova Whitbread 60 Intrum Justitia Whitbread 60 La Poste Maxi Merit Cup Maxi NZ Endeavour Maxi Reebok/Dolphin Youth Whitbread 60 Tokio Whitbread 60 Odessa Whitbread 60 Uruguay Natural Maxi Winston Whitbread 60 Yamaha Whitbread 60 Intrum Justitia was originally skippered by Roger Nilson, who was injured on the first leg.

Route

EventStart dateStartFinishDistance (nmi)Winner Leg 1 25 September 1993 Southampton Punta del Este 5,938 NZ Endeavour Leg 2 13 November 1993 Punta del Este Fremantle 7,558 Intrum Justitia Leg 3 8 January 1994 Fremantle Auckland 3,272 NZ Endeavour Leg 4 19 February 1994 Auckland Punta del Este 5,914 NZ Endeavour Leg 5 2 April 1994 Punta del Este Fort Lauderdale 5,475 Yamaha Leg 6 21 May 1994 Fort Lauderdale Southampton 3,818 Tokio

Results

Pos Class Class Pos Sail Number Yacht Country Yacht Type LOA(Metres) Skipper Elapsed Timed:hh:mm:ss 1 Maxi 1 NZL 1 New Zealand Endeavour New Zealand Farr 85 Ketch Maxi 26.00 Grant Dalton 120:05:09:23 2 Whitbread 60 1 II Yamaha Japan Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Ross Field 120:14:55:00 3 Maxi 2 SUI 3333 Merit Cup Switzerland Farr 85 Ketch Maxi 25.90 Pierre Fehlmann 121:02:50:47 4 Whitbread 60 2 EUR 1 Intrum Justitia Europe Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Roger Nilson Lawrie Smith 121:05:26:26 5 Whitbread 60 3 ESP 1993 Galicia '93 Pescanova Spain Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Javier de la Gándara 122:06:12:23 6 Whitbread 60 4 USA 1 Winston United States Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Dennis Conner Brad Butterworth 122:09:32:09 7 Maxi 3 FRA 1994 La Poste France Farr 85 Ketch Maxi 25.90 Daniel Mallé Éric Tabarly 123:22:54:58 8 Whitbread 60 5 KZ 7 Tokio Japan Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Chris Dickson 128:16:19:48 9 Whitbread 60 6 ITA 12555 Brooksfield Italy Bouvet-Petit Whitbread 60 19.19 Guido Maisto 130:04:29:27 10 Whitbread 60 7 UKR 1 Hetman Sahaidachny Ukraine Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Eugene Platon 135:23:17:52 11 Whitbread 60 8 GBR 760R Dolphin & Youth Challenge-Reebok Great Britain Humphreys Whitbread 60 19.90 Matthew Humphries 137:21:03:17 12 Whitbread 60 9 US 1 US Women's Challenge-Heineken United States Farr Whitbread 60 19.81 Nance Frank Dawn Riley 138:16:30:51 13 Maxi 4 URU 9000 Uruguay Natural Uruguay Frers 81 Sloop Maxi 24.60 Gustavo Vanzini Pons 144:20:17:44 14 Whitbread 60 10 UKR 200 Odessa Ukraine Sidenko Whitbread 60 19.60 Anatoly Verba 158:04:34:40 DNF Maxi 5 E 1992 Fortuna Spain Visiers 81 Ketch Maxi 24.80 Lawrie Smith Retired-Leg 1 References: Bob Fisher & Barry Pickthall, Faster & Faster, 1994, pages 19-30,101

Fortuna broke its mast twice in the first 24 hours of the race, and ended up retiring.

References