Dismasted westernaustralia2011.com in Honolulu

by Clipper Media on 29 Mar 2008 Thirty-four days after leaving Qingdao, China, to race across the Pacific Ocean westernaustralia2011.com finally arrived in port in Honolulu, Hawaii, at 10:30 local time (20:30 GMT) this morning to cheers and applause from supporters gathered on the dockside.

Skipper Martin Silk said, 'We made it! It is a relief; it's been quite a long haul with a few unexpected stopovers, quite an adventure as well. It's been a huge experience for the team and myself. Nobody panicked when the mast went. It was more surprise, really. It's amazing how quickly we managed to clear it. It felt terrible to cut it away - it's a horrible thing to see. Plans for here. I think we're going to have a few days off. We're getting a few things off the boat now to take away for repair and take the weekend off.'

The yacht, one of ten internationally-backed entries in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race, was dismasted 700 miles off the coast of Japan on 5 March and crossed the Pacific under jury rig after retiring from the 4,400-mile Race 7 of Clipper 07-08.

The Race Team has asked crews of the first batch of eight boats to report back on 1 April and for the Durban 2010 and Beyond crew to be back on 3 April.

The restart of Race 8 from Hawaii to Santa Cruz was originally scheduled for 26 March. The current delay to the restart is anticipated to be 8-10 days (3-5 April).

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