'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)