'A Room with a View' finishes first

'A Room with a View' finishes first

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's A Room with a View became the first
yacht to finish the 20th Darwin-Ambon International Yachting Race
Championship on Tuesday night.

Skippered by Subagyo Sucitro, the yacht arrived at Amahusu
Beach, Ambon, Maluku at 9:30 p.m., after a three-day voyage
covering 560 nautical miles.

It was Jakarta's first appearance in the annual race since it
withdrew from the 1992 event.

A Room with a View, crewed by Australians, also finished first
last year.

Organizing committee chairman David Woodhouse said that
despite clocking the quickest time, A Room with a View has yet to
clinch the championship trophy. A panel of judges will look at
the times and difficulty factors of all the competitors to decide
the winner.

Woodhouse said that the nine-strong Jakarta team finished 30
minutes behind Australia's Kylie II, but the latter took part as
a non-competitor.

Another Australian boat, Pteranodon, captained by Ian May, was
the next to cross the finish line, on Wednesday morning at 9:30
a.m.

Antara reported that another Indonesian boat NT Spirit, which
was crewed by the Siwa Lima Maluku team, had also arrived at
Amahusu, but the agency did not mention the time.

The organizers said that as of Wednesday night, only 17 of the
75 yachts had reached Ambon. They were sent off by Darwin Mayor,
George Brown, on July 27.

"So far, none of them have been disqualified for using engines
or making an early exit," Woodhouse said.

Last year, 73 ships from 12 countries took part in the
championship. All of them completed the race safely. (yan)