Whitbread Round The World Race boats line up on the Annapolis dock in the...

Whitbread Round The World Race boats line up on the Annapolis dock in the early morning rain May 2, preparing for leg eight of the race. Pictured are (L-R) BrunelSunergy, the current race leader EF Language, Silk Cut, EF Education, and Tosbiba. The nine remaining race boats will start leg eight of the 3,390 nm trans-Atlantic trip to La Rochelle, France May 3. Ten boats set out from Southampton, Great Britain September 21, 1997 under the flags of Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States at the start of the seventh Whitbread race.