Eighty-seven-year-old America's Cup veteran Syd Fischer was held up as a glowing example for all young sailors after he helped Australian maxi Ragamuffin 90 win line honours in the 27th edition of the Rolex China Sea Race. "It's something to be 87 and on the rail all day. There are 22-year-olds who could get a bit of inspiration from an 87-year-old like Syd. He is just fantastic," said boat captain David Witt soon after Fischer's Ragamuffin had docked at the port of Subic Bay in the Philippines. Hi Fi held Bryon Ehrhart's TP52 Lucky to a two-minute lead to ensure that Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52 collected the coveted IRC overall title for the second time in four years. There are 22-year-olds who could get a bit of inspiration from an 87-year-old like Syd [Fischer]. He is just fantastic Ragamuffin 90 captain David Witt Ragamuffin was the first in the 34-strong fleet to complete the 565 nautical mile race in 57 hours, 31 minutes and 18 seconds. Having successfully maintained a speed of nine to 13 knots for 564 miles, she hit a windless hole with the finish line in sight, losing about an hour. But the race record of 47:43:07 set by Karl Kwok's Beau Geste was never in any danger of being broken. "It was a bit frustrating at the end having maintained a good speed right along to hit that hole. But it wasn't too bad, in fact it wasn't a hard race, we had just three decisions to make during the whole race," Witt said. "We won line honours two years ago as Genuine Risk and that was a tactically harder race. This one was quite straightforward," Witt added. A tired Fischer paid tribute to the crew and said he was pleased with the way the boat handled the trip. "We made some modifications and it helped. That's why this is a good boat. We got the breeze that we anticipated, but the boat sails well above the wind strength," said Fischer a five-time America's Cup campaigner. Last October, Ragamuffin 90 erased by four minutes and 21 seconds the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race record.
