Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race - California makes it to Rio

by Sail-World.com and Clipper Ventures PLC on 26 Oct 2009 Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. After 32 days at sea, California was the last of the ten yachts to arrive in Rio. She crossed the line at 0300 local time (0500 GMT) to a rousing reception. After experiencing a main engine fuel pump failure in the Doldrums, skipper Pete Rollason and crew chose to stop racing and accept tenth place in this leg.

The crew was upbeat, smiling and relieved to have finally finished the race to Rio.

'All I can say is for all they’ve been through my crew are truly awesome!' exclaimed skipper Pete Rollason as he grabbed a bottle of champagne and sprayed it over his team.

Uniquely Singapore and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital arrived at the Rio yacht club on Friday evening local time. The Scottish arrived to the sound of bagpipes as crew member, Colin Campbell, played them in. Lining the dockside were friends, family and fellow team mates, dressed from head to toe in purple, waving saltires and cheering enthusiastically.

The crews of both teams looked delighted and happy to have arrived.

'I’m feeling really excited and also very moved. It’s been an amazing trip, truly awesome!' said Uniquely Singapore’s Nicole Ho.

'I didn’t expect it to be like this and didn’t realise you could build up such amazing friendships in such a short period of time. We came in eighth but it feels like first because of the relationships we have built amongst the crew. We didn’t have a smooth ride, we had a lot of challenges with a lot of light winds and a major spinnaker wrap. It’s amazing what you can achieve with so few things on board, just with people.'

It has been a frustrating race for the skippers as both Uniquely Singapore and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital were the victims of large wind holes and major kite wraps. Matt Pike, skipper of the Scottish entry, reflected on their ninth position, saying, 'We’ve learnt a lot of lessons and unfortunately, despite an amazing amount of hard work, the guys weren’t rewarded with the place they deserved. We’re going to have a rethink about our tactics and I believe we’re in a really strong position to move on from here.

'The team has done really well considering the lack of experience with being at sea for that amount of time. I was impressed with the way they held it together through the tough times. They turned our 27 hour spinnaker wrap into a really strong team building exercise and they came out better and stronger for it. I have to say it’s been an absolute privilege to sail with them,' he added.

With only a few days to go to turn their boats around before the race restart, many of the teams that arrived earlier in the week have offered their assistance. Rolling up their sleeves to help with deep cleans, routine maintenance and bagging up supplies for the South Atlantic leg to Cape Town.