World Race

When Toshiba finished the last leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race, the syndicate's chairman, Dennis Conner, waved triumphantly to the crowd as he sailed into Baltimore. After that, he spoke bluntly about the shortcomings of one of his rivals. Later, he packed Toshiba with corporate sponsors and set out to show off his boat.In typical Conner fashion, he acted like a winner.But in reality, his hard-luck boat was in the midst of some of its worst times yet. The day Conner arrived in Baltimore, his team was seventh overall in the nine-boat fleet.

The Orioles received a fax yesterday from Gavin Brady, helmsman of Chessie Racing, inviting center fielder Brady Anderson to accompany his crew from Baltimore to Annapolis Thursday as part of the ceremonial sail before the continuation of the Whitbread Round the World Race.Anderson, who's on the 15-day disabled list with hand and shoulder injuries, isn't sure if he'll accompany the Orioles to Chicago later this week, but said he would decline the offer either way.Pub Date: 4/26/98

Chessie Racing, the Maryland entry in the Whitbread Round the World Race, led the fleet a few miles after leaving Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Sunday. Last evening, the 65-foot racing boat with the mythical sea monster emblazoned on its bow sailed into the Inner Harbor next to last."

George Collins sailed into the Inner Harbor with the rays of the setting sun shining in his eyes. It might have blinded some sailors, but not Collins, who was seeing his home port in a new light.His entry in the Whitbread Round the World Race was coming home. Not first, as he had dreamed, but eighth, and yet the welcome made him feel like a winner.Behind him, and all around him, sailed more than 200 watercraft. They had begun trailing his boat at Annapolis, and now they were still with him, their numbers swelling, escorting him into the Inner Harbor.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Shortly after reaching Florida in the grueling Whitbread Round the World Race, Jeremy "Jez" Fanstone invited more than 200 sailing pals to his late-night birthday party. He took a stretch limousine, filled with admirers, to various hot spots. Feeling rather lively, he even tried to serenade a crowd of his buddies, a move that royally irritated the Elvis impersonator on duty for the evening."I wanted to sing," the burly sailor recalls, not too ruefully. "Elvis said I tried to steal the mike from him. He got very upset."

George Collins, skipper of Maryland entry Chessie Racing in the Whitbread Round the World Race, and his crew were sailing on Day 2 of the 870-nautical-mile leg from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., HTC to Baltimore. The following are installments of his daily account, filed early yesterday and late last night for The Sun:We are 242 nautical miles from Hatteras moving at 11.2 knots with a heading of 67 degrees and needing a heading of 41 so we will have to tack tonight or tomorrow.We over-stood a well-working strategy and find ourselves with five other boats on roughly the same course.

So the Whitbread Round the World Race is stopping here. So what?So plenty, even if you are not a sailor or racing fan. The World Cup matches in Washington several years ago drew thousands who had never attended a soccer match because it was a chance to see superb players in an international championship. So it is with the Whitbread. The boats and their crews are the best in the sailing world.A lot of racing sailors around the Chesapeake Bay will differ. To them, the America's Cup matches are the summit of sailboat racing.

April 22Race to BaltimoreViewing the finishBaltimore makes Whitbread Round the World Race history this week when the fleet comes to town.The nine Whitbread yachts sail Leg 7 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., up Chesapeake Bay and finish off Fort McHenry sometime Wedneesday.The crews - Whitbread rookies and veterans alike - have sailed on the edge of peril in exhilarating and ferocious seas, but also have been becalmed in frustrating, windless waters and have been beset with difficulties.When they arrive in Baltimore, they will have completed 27,760 nautical miles of the 31,600-mile circumnavigation.

SAO SEBASTIAO, Brazil -- After 39 trying days at sea -- and what surely seemed an eternity to the only female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race -- the women aboard EF Education arrived in this tropical port to a welcome fit more for a winner than for a last-place finisher.A native celebration, with blue-sequined dancers gyrating to the rhythm of the drums and with local school children screaming in excitement, erupted as the blue and orange 60-foot racing sailboat came into view.