A BULL ON A QUEST.

There were added ingredients of interest in the Telstra Sydney-Hobart 2000 - this being the first serious pre-Volvo Ocean Race joust - and reports from the event have centred on the glamour chase for line honours and first V060. But British boats and crews snuck in to share the glory.

As well as Tom and Vicky Jackson's fantastic win in IMS Class C, 14th overall in the IMS classes, fellow RORC skipper Chris Bull had most of his regular British crew aboard the chartered Nelson, Marek 46 'Quest'. They missed out on winning both IMS Division A and the IMS classes overall - finishing runners up overall.

One of the problems with chartering for such a potentially arduous race, even with a well proven boat like 'Quest' is of course being limited to using the sails supplied with the boat, and unfortunately 'Quest's' mainsail tore early in the crossing of the Bass Strait when the winds rose to over 40 knots.

Bull and his team - eight of his regulars from 'Prima Donna' and four 'Quest'ers - had to sail over one third of the race under storm trysail. After they managed to set the spare main, when they reached the lee of Flinders Island, after a long and bumpy crossing of the strait, the second main also tore.

As well as the loss of speed, due to being undercanvassed for most of the time,'Quest' lost some of her strategic game plan - to take early advantage of the favourable current - through the consequent lack of pointing ability. Though very happy with their second place I remain pretty sure that, had their main not torn so early in the race, they could have made good the two hour deficit they were left with on corrected time. The eventual overall IMS winner, Kevan Pearce's Farr 47 'SAP Ausmaid', also won in 1996.

Having done five Fastnets and last year winning the Criterion Round Britain Race in his Prima, Bull - who is financial director of the Rio Tinto mining group - set his sights on the Sydney-Hobart a long time ago and said he refused to be put off by recent races: 'I think there's a feeling in the UK now that it is overstated as a race, but this by some margin is the hardest race I've ever done.

'It was on the nose solidly and hard for three days with winds averaging between 25 and 40 knots and never less than 25 knots. The Fastnet may be more challenging tactically, but for the ordinary sailor who is not a professional or who can't take months off at a time, the Sydney-Hobart is certainly the pinnacle.'

The mix on board proved just right for the chartered raceboat. There was his own core crew: navigator Tony Hill, who sailed a BT Challenge with Mike Golding and had done three Hobart races, Neal Brewer, Pete Allsop, Peter Noble, Sam North, Crispin Winser and Charlie Stacey. Plus 'Quest's' regulars: Mike Green, one of the usual helmsmen on board who had done 22 Hobarts, Jack Golluzd, Dave Ellis and Bruce Baker.

'It meant we were never struggling to find the right gears to find boat speed so they really were invaluable, and it's a tribute to them and the rest of the crew that we did so well,' Bull said.'Mike Green, the regular helmsman, reckoned in some ways it was tougher than the 1998 race, obviously then there were times when they genuinely feared for their lives, but this was just long, cold and unrelenting.' To other potential charterers who would like to do the race, Chris suggests starting looking for a boat early. With the insurance costs and the scarcity of owners who will let out their boat for the race.

Bull, who starting sailing as a boy with his brother in an 8ft pram dinghy at his native Burnham-on-Crouch, made his trip to Oz while between boats. After progressing from nine years of very successful Sigma 33 racing (winning the Sigma offshore circuit with 'Kusima' and being very successful on the JOG inshore and offshore series) he moved to his Prima in 1997 winning the RORC offshore series last year. The next challenge is to work up one of the new Ker 11.3 boats. Having decided to buy one just before Christmas - seduced in part by the excellent Race1 maintenance contract which means all of the nitty-gritty of the looking after the boat is taken care of - he is setting out on a full season which will mix more inshore racing as well as a healthy measure of the offshore racing he loves.'It's about the challenge for me,' he said.'I have always had good endurance and stamina and the intellectual and physical stimulation is great.'

Meanwhile Race1 and Ker Associates confirm that up to eight of the Ker 11.3s could be on the water for Cowes Week and there's been serious interest from Australia, the USA and Italy.