Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - Leg 1 Race 2 Finish
by Julia Wall-Clarke 6 Oct 2013 21:49 BST
6 October 2013
Jamaica Get All Right celebrate line honours in race 2, in Rio, of the Clipper 13-14 Round the World Yacht Race © Vito di Stefano / Clipper Ventures Plc
Jamaica Get All Right crossed the finish line into Rio at 10:53:48, just 19 seconds
ahead of PSP Logistics, following a thrilling battle in Race 2 of the Clipper
2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race.
Qingdao crossed the line third, at 13:45:00. (UTC-3) Jamaica Get All Right Skipper, Pete Stirling said: "It felt great to come in first to Rio. It was a very long, very tough race. There have been highs and lows. It's not the toughest of all the races physically but mentally it felt incredibly tough."
"Coming into the Doldrums, we were at the back of the pack but I had my tactics planned the whole way. Making our break out to the East and overtaking the fleet to take line honours in the final stages is a fantastic and memorable achievement for us all."
However, the victory is bitter sweet. After taking into account redress, which gave some boats time credits to compensate for suspending racing while replenishing fresh water supplies in the Doldrums, PSP Logistics move ahead of Jamaica Get All Right in the overall standings after applying a 1 hour 11 min redress.
Henri Lloyd is now the one to watch as it has a 7hr 15 mins redress, giving it a slim chance of upsetting the final podium positions.
The thrilling finish followed an exceptionally long 4,800 mile, 27 day race of contrast. Favourable conditions initially gave the brand new Clipper 70 yachts a chance to demonstrate their increased speed capabilities with Henri Lloyd setting a fastest ever race speed record of 30.7knots. However the entire fleet soon ground to a near halt and were rendered almost stationary for over a week in the toughest Doldrums conditions experienced by any Clipper Race so far, delaying the fleet arrival into Rio de Janeiro.
Once escaping the Doldrums, the pace picked back up and it became a tight dash to the finish, contested by the front pack. Strong head winds picked up however as they approached land, providing the final obstacle as they fought desperately to the finish line.
PSP Logistics skipper, Chris Hollis celebrated their strong performance, commenting, "The finish was fantastic. We had been playing cat and mouse for about a week with Jamaica since we left the Doldrums. We didn't get much sleep last night but getting a grandstand finish was all worth it."
"This is a brand new boat and a brand new team, and neither have been tested in these conditions. As a team we really progressed and grew stronger as the race went on. Overall, I think we dealt with the tough conditions all very well."
Qingdao skipper, Gareth Glover summarised the race, saying: "We chased these guys really hard. The crew have worked round the clock to keep up. I thought our tactics to the East worked very well." "We missed out on the scoring gate and ocean sprint point by narrow margins so we've been close to getting extra points. If we can hold off Henri Lloyd's redress
time, this will be our second podium position, so overall our campaign is going very well so far."
The remainder of the fleet will arrive in Rio de Janeiro over the next four days.
For more details of the fight to get into Rio, read the skippers' reports here. You can keep an eye on the fleet's progress here at the Official Race Viewer.