New York Clipper first into Jersey

by Catherine Green on 21 Jul 2006 New York Clipper claimed first place position today [20 July] in race 11 of the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race, racing from their host port in New York, across the formidable Atlantic Ocean to Jersey in the Channel Islands - taking 15 days.

This marks the New York boat’s first win in the 35,000 mile race which is now on its home leg (leg 7) to Liverpool after setting sail over ten months ago from the same city.

After racing for over 3000 miles, the last hours once again came down to a photo finish with New York crossing the shortened finish line at 0954 GMT, closely followed by westernaustralia.com at 1030 GMT and the Victoria Clipper chasing at 1048 GMT.

New York Skipper, Joff Bailey said; ‘Every one of my crew worked hard for this victory and it couldn’t have been done without their enthusiasm and super efforts – the victory is all theirs!

He continued; ‘crossing the Atlantic Ocean is always tough; we have had seriously ripped sails and broken equipment but each time the crew just dug deeper, fixed it and carried on.’

‘The result is a massive bonus to us as it moves us well up the overall leaderboard and firmly on to the podium.’

It wasn’t an easy run for the New York crew as both westernaustralia.com and Victoria were close on their tail for ten days solid.

Bailey expressed his relief after crossing the finish line ‘I feel absolutely shattered as my nerves have been on edge now for so many days and I have had very little sleep for the last 48 hours.’

This result will come as great news to New York Sports Commissioner, Ken Podziba who presented the New York Skipper with a commemorative plaque and offered his words of encouragement to the New York crew before they left from North Cove Marina just over two weeks ago.

The three elated podium finishers are now motor-sailing the 120-mile journey into the port of St Helier and are expected to arrive at dawn tomorrow [Friday 21 July]. The remaining competitors are due to cross the line this afternoon and into the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Back on land, the beautiful Island of Jersey has become a hive of activity as they prepare for the arrival of the ocean-weary crews. The Jersey Clipper is currently lying in fifth place position.

The fleet will remain in Jersey until the final race to Liverpool starts on 25th July, which makes a brief pit stop in Holyhead.

Whilst in Jersey, Clipper Ventures will be hosting a series of crew recruitment events for the 07-08 Race. For more information contact dcusworth@clipper-
ventures.com

Race 11 Course Shortened.

The Race Team took the decision on Tuesday to shorten the course for Race 11 to a pre-determined gate between Ushant and Lizard Point.

Given the forecasts for very light airs in the Channel over the next few days, the fleet was instructed to adopt this new finish line for the final Transatlantic race.