Clipper Round the World Race - Best finish of series in Qingdao, China
by Clipper Round the World on 12 Mar 2016
PSP Logistics - Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Paul Hankey
2015 -16 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - On the second day of arrivals into China’s Sailing City, PSP Logistics was the first to arrive in and join and receive its famously warm welcome from the hospitable Host City.
PSP Logistics’ sixth place finish is its best result yet in the 2015-16 series, bettering its previous best eighth place in the race into Cape Town.
Clearly pleased with his team's improved performance, Skipper Max Stunell says: “Well that had a bit of everything! This leg in all has been quite the challenge. Since starting off in Australia in very hot, sweltering conditions, there was a lot of shipping and fishing fleets to contend with, and then recently it got bitterly cold. It has been painful being on deck for more than half an hour in the past week or so. Definitely the coldest we have experienced so far.
“The crew has done really well and we’re all really pleased with our result. Everyone pulled together and worked really hard in the tough times and it has finally paid off as we hoped! We have been practicing hard and trying to keep our boat in good shape. As we go further in this journey, the crew have become much better at sail changes without damaging anything which really paid off in the storm and made a real difference, and then it is also down to a lot of pure grit and determination.
“We’ve also worked hard on our team on developing the skills of each crew member so that anyone on our team can helm. It may have slowed us down in the first few races but I think it is starting to pay off as it means we’re not just relying on just three people. Even Superman would find that system exhausting. The fact we can draw on anyone to steer gives us much more freedom within the team. We’ve got some crew joining here who are going to stay on for the rest of the race so we are excited to meet our new crew once more, and we plan to build on what we have achieved here.”
On arrival to the pontoon, round the world crew member Henrik Schonfeld, 22, from Munich, Germany says: “It was great. That was two intense weeks I think with everything from no wind at all to about 60 knot storm force gusts. I think as a crew we all pulled together and dealt with the challenges very well.
“We thought we might even have been able to catch up with Great Britain at the end there and get fifth place but that was just out of our reach in the end, but we’re all really pleased with our sixth place finish now and we don’t have many damages on the boat so that’s also really good. I think we have been waiting for our first good result but we always knew that it would come eventually. We’re a very happy and safe boat which is the most important thing for us at the end of the day.
“I think Qingdao is a turning point for our round the world experience. We have a big next leg ahead of us with the Pacific Leg and we’ve already had experience of some really big conditions but you never know what is coming next. The Pacific is a big leg, but after that it feels like we will soon be home!”
The team then took to the stage, where Skipper Max was presented with his cloak which symbolises the ancient Chinese legends of returning warriors, and the crew received their commemorative red scarves and monkeys, the animal which represents the 2016 Chinese New Year.
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