A New York win

Clipper fleet reach Singapore in close company with the leaderboard remaining tight

In a scorching race from Fremantle to Singapore – both in terms of extremely close racing and the heat the crews have had to deal with – New York scored their second victory of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. Beating off fierce competition from the rest of the fleet, the team, led by Scottish skipper Duggie Gillespie maintained their narrow lead over Liverpool 08 to cross the finish line off Singapore at 2112 local time (1412 GMT).

Liverpool 08 finished four hours and ten minutes later at 1822 GMT (0122 Tuesday 15 January local time) to secure their third podium position of the Clipper 07-08 Race.

A delighted Duggie, 41, said “I’m relieved and very, very pleased. The team has worked really hard for this and everyone is very happy. You always hear skippers say that at the end of races but in this case it’s true – it just went so well, everything just slotted into place and now we’re going to sit back for a few days and enjoy the victory.”

Just days after the city of Liverpool marked the start of its year as European Capital of Culture 2008 there are celebrations on the other side of the world as Liverpool 08 clinched second place in Race 5 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race.

This is the third podium position of the Liverpool 08 campaign. This second place will help them maintain the pressure on the overall race leaders in what is rapidly turning into an incredibly tight contest.

The lead in the 2430-mile race, which started in Fremantle on New Year’s Day, changed numerous times as the skippers and crews of the ten internationally-backed yachts battled it out on arguably the most tactically challenging of the 14 individual contests that make up Clipper 07-08 Race. Several of the yachts have been within sight of each other during the race in which they have weaved their way through islands, dodged floating hazards and fishing nets, adding to the tension and forcing the crews to maintain their concentration.

Following a traditional Indonesian welcome, skipper Ben Galloway said, “We’ve had some really great sailing, lots of downwind stretches and quite a few incidents on the way here. We’ve had to untangle stuff from our keel and rudder a couple of times.”



On his team’s performance in Clipper 07-08 so far, Ben commented, “We’ve got three pennants now, all of them red, so at least we’re consistent. It’s great sailing around the world and visiting all these places but the one I’m really looking forward to is sailing into Liverpool during the Capital of Culture celebrations. It would be great to sail home as race winners.”

Round the world crew member Lisa Pover, 26, a taxi driver from Liverpool said, “This has been a really excellent race. We’ve had some good competition and we’ve raced really well.”

Coping with the soaring heat and wringing as much boat speed as they could from the light winds that have dogged them for the last half of the race has been exhausting for those on board.

Race Director Joff Bailey said, “This is perhaps the most difficult race for the Clipper crews. The weather conditions mean there are lots of tactical decisions to be made, particularly transiting the Monsoon trough where, like the Doldrums, very light airs combine with tropical squalls. The number of sail changes this entails in temperatures in the forties and high levels of humidity is physically exhausting and the rate of progress mentally draining for everyone.”

The Liverpool 08 crew will have plenty of time to get on with the task of deep cleaning their yacht, beginning their routine maintenance and enjoying some well-earned rest while they wait for their competitors to join them in Nongsa Point Marina. The marina on Batam, one of the Riau Islands of Indonesia, is where the whole Clipper fleet will muster ahead of the coordinated arrival in Singapore on Saturday 19 January.

The fleet’s arrival in Singapore will be part of the glittering opening ceremony for the new Marina at Keppel Bay. During the stopover in Singapore they will be berthed at the new multi-million dollar facility, the centre-piece of Keppel Bay’s premier waterfront precinct – the only residential development in Singapore to have its own world-class marina on its own private five-hectare island. It is owned by Keppel Corporation which sponsors Uniquely Singapore with Singapore Tourism Board as Race Partner.

New York’s victory, which is subject to confirmation once all the skippers have made their declarations, is likely to push them up the leaderboard and open up the competition. With another nine races to contest in Clipper 07-08 there is no runaway leader at this stage. Followers of the Clipper Races will remember the final podium positions of Clipper 05-06 were only settled on the very last sprint into Liverpool after 35,000 miles of ocean racing.

Leg

1	New York	Finished
2	Liverpool 08	Finished
3	westernaustralia2011.com	Finished
4	Hull & Humber	Finished
5	Durban 2010 and Beyond	Finished
6	Glasgow:Scotland with style	Finished
7	Uniquely Singapore	Finished
8	Nova Scotia	19
9	Jamaica	237
10	Qingdao	257

Overall

1	Durban 2010 and Beyond	27
2	Glasgow:Scotland with style	26
3	Hull & Humber	25
4	Liverpool 08	22.5
5	westernaustralia2011.com	20
6	Qingdao	19.5
7	Nova Scotia	18.5
8	New York	14.5
9	Uniquely Singapore	13
10	Jamaica	6.5

For more information on the race see: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com