Whitbread

Standings after Leg 69+Boat (Country) .. .. .. .. .. ..Pts.EF Language (Sweden).. .. .. .. .. ..608Swedish Match (Sweden) .. .. .. .. ..493Merit Cup (Monaco) .. .. .. .. .. ...477Chessie Racing (U.S.). .. .. .. .. ..454Innovation Kvaerner (Norway) .. .. ..449Silk Cut (Britain).. .. .. .. .. .. .399Toshiba (U.S.).. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..343BrunelSunergy (Netherlands) .. .. ...248EF Education (Sweden).. .. .. .. .. .148America's Challenge (U.S.)**.. .. ....48**Withdrew from raceMore coverageTelevision: Saturday, April 11, 2 a.m., Ultimate Sailing Show,ESPN.

The Whitbread Round the World Race, which will come to Maryland in the spring of 1998, has captivated millions of people elsewhere in the world, but for 20 years has sailed past the American public largely unnoticed.Yesterday afternoon, after state and local officials announced that Baltimore and Annapolis will be ports of call for the 1998 Whitbread, a prominent naval architect was asked to describe the allure of the race."The Whitbread race is really two races," said Bruce Farr, whose Farr and Associates group in Annapolis designed two-thirds of the boats in the 1994 Whitbread.

Status: Day 4, Leg 6Standings:Boat .. .. .. .. .. Nautical miles to finish1. Innovation Kvaerner .. .. 3,944.22. Chessie Racing . .. .. .. 3,945.33. Toshiba .. .. .. .. .. .. 3,948.24. Merit Cup ... .. .. .. .. 3,948.25. EF Language . .. .. .. .. 3,949.26. Silk Cut . .. .. .. .. .. 3,950.17. EF Education ... .. .. .. 3,959.6Swedish Match .. .. .. .. 3,964.9BrunelSunergy .. .. .. .. 3,966.0(as of 00: 04: 00 GMT)Boat beat: The Whitbread fleet is experiencing more wind than had been forecast.

Today: Team EF Day at the Volvo Race Village. Events and entertainment throughout the day.Today through Wednesday: The Volvo Race Village at Baltimore Waterfront Festival showcases the technology, experience and nTC extremes of ocean racing. The Race Village is host to the Whitbread yachts off piers adjacent to Rash Field; 10: 30 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, 10: 30 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow through Wednesday.Today through May 11: Annapolis Salutes Its Maritime Heritage Festival. The festival features historic outdoor exhibitions, storytellers, live historic recreations, operas and art gallery exhibits.

The Whitbread fleet will leave Baltimore's Inner Harbor tomorrow for Annapolis in a Parade of Sail that will place recreational boaters under special restrictions.U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Brian Poskaitis said Coast Guard cutter Northland will lead the fleet from the Finger Piers under power at noon, and at Fort McHenry the boats will hoist sails to leave the Patapsco and regroup off the river mouth.From Seven-Foot Knoll, the fleet will sail to Buoy 2 at the mouth of the Severn River and regroup again for the last leg into Annapolis.

The interest was intense back in Cape Town, South Africa, as a chicken leg was cut by a scalpel, then stapled. Then cut again and closed with a modified version of Super Glue.Watching the operation were the medics on the nine Whitbread Round the World Race yachts, who are now facing the dangers of the Southern Ocean with its mighty, freezing seas and ferocious, bone-chilling winds.They knew that they might soon have to do to their mates what was being done to the chicken leg. The 6,670-nautical-mile Leg 5, from Auckland, New Zealand, to Sao Sebastiao, Brazil, which started Sunday, is considered the most dangerous of the nine legs on the 31,600-mile circumnavigation.

AS THE boats sailing in the Whitbread Round the World Race, with their talented crews, tacticians and computer gear, race toward the Chesapeake, a similar voyage made over a century ago by a single, daring seaman in an old boat is worthy of remembrance.The voyage began April 24, 1895, when an ancient fishing boat of a class known as an oysterman sailed out of Boston Harbor and into maritime history. She was a 37-foot sloop called Spray that "sat on the water like a swan."Joshua SlocumThose were the words of Joshua Slocum, an adventurer born to seafaring who had rebuilt the derelict with white oak and Georgia pine, much of which he himself felled, shaped and treated.