Clipper 09-10 - Victory in New York for Uniquely Singapore

by Clipper Ventures PLC on 2 Jun 2010 Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race - Race 10 Jamaica to New York Day 10 update:

Uniquely Singapore has secured their first ever victory in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. The race which went right down to the wire, as the south east Asian team played 'nip and tuck' for eight days with fellow competitors Cape Breton Island. Uniquely Singapore managed to keep the Canadian team at bay and crossed the line 52 minutes ahead of them. The final podium position was also fiercely contested between Chinese entry Qingdao and English entry Hull & Humber with Qingdao just sneaking ahead to claim their fourth third place of Clipper 09-10.

Immediately after crossing the finish line skipper of Uniquely Singapore, Jim Dobie, said, 'The whole crew is fully stoked and after a very intense and hard race we are ecstatic to get a first. Cape Breton Island had us going all the way to the finish and we just managed to pull ahead of them. It's an incredible feeling and we can't wait to
enter New York and see the sights. To our sponsors Keppel - well guys, in no better way could we show you how much we have taken the Keppel 'can do' attitude to heart.'

Cape Breton Island's skipper, Jan Ridd, was full of praise for Jim and despite missing out on their third win of the series, the team has still bagged a points tally of 12 and look likely to knock Jamaica Lightning Bolt from third place on the overall leaderboard.

Jan says, 'Jim and his crew sailed their boat magnificently. Every time we got up level with them they found a solution and pulled ahead. We kept pushing and pushing and they just got better and better. Whatever we tried they countered and kept ahead the whole way. We did however manage to have them on the Scoring Gate, which was also an exceedingly close battle.

'Although we're looking like we're now third overall, we have damaged one of our spinnakers so we'll have to see how many points that will cost us. Despite this the crew are working at their optimum at the moment and I've never seen such professionalism from them. We're definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with on the next race.'

Despite a bad start form Jamaica, the Chinese team has done a fantastic job to make their way up through the fleet and claim their fourth podium of the race.

'Congratulations to Uniquely Singapore and Cape Breton Island from all on Qingdao,' wrote skipper Chris Stanmore-Major after crossing the finish line. 'Despite our greatest efforts we could never get close enough to join their fight for first and second. Thanks also to the crew of Hull & Humber for providing stiff opposition in the last 24 hours of this closely competed race. We had a terrible start to the race but experience has shown that nothing is certain in offshore yacht racing until everyone has crossed the finish line. Call it luck, call it skill, be assured it happened through the hard work and determination of this crew and their skipper's unwavering belief in each one of them.'

Although disappointed not to get a podium, Hull & Humber's skipper Justin Taylor was full of praise for his crew.

'The crew sailed the boat very well, nobody put a foot wrong,' he said. 'We sailed hard with a lot of focus and it's a shame we didn't get a podium as I think the crew deserved better. We've got a couple of good results now and shown that we can keep up with the best of them so watch this space.'

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital finished in fifth place and with their first Scoring Gate point and given the team their best result of the race so far.

Skipper Matt Pike says, 'This race was one that we were really looking forward to. We did not the best of starts but made up for it with a really good uphill leg in a reasonable breeze. We fought really hard and got a gate point, which we're very pleased with. We slightly lost the plot a bit after that - we got a bit unlucky with the wind hole and people were a little bit demoralised, but we built up again and we just couldn't quite find the pace after that. But we enjoyed it, it was a good race for us; we tried some new strategies that seem to have worked so we'll be putting those into the next few races and building up from here.'

The deciding factor in Race 10 came when the fleet had to pass through the Bahamas. The traditional route of keeping Crooked Islands to starboard proved to be the least favourable and the two teams holding the top spots on the overall leaderboard, Spirit of Australia and Team Finland, along with US entry California, fell foul to wind holes and struggled to recover.

Spirit of Australia was the sixth team to arrive in North Cove Marina last night, their worst result of the race so far but the team were not disappointed as skipper Brendan Hall explains.

'We were in the lead at that point so we had a choice to make and, with all the information and looking at it again, I would still have made the same choice. We just happened to hit a wind hole and the others didn't and the six hours that we lost there is the six hours that they finished ahead of us now.

'We've sailed the boat to the best of our ability so we can walk away with our heads held high despite the result and, even though we did finish in sixth, our overall lead has been extended by one point. There's one less race left to go and we're really happy with the result.'

Team Finland, California and Jamaica Lightning Bolt are still out on the race track with the Finnish entry looking good to take seventh place in Race 10.

Team Finland's skipper, Rob McInally says, 'The clouds have been moving fast this evening but they have sent us their energy and we timed our spinnaker drop well before the explosive increase in wind hit us. The poled out Yankee 2 sent us controllably along at great speed but alas once again the wind is into single figures as we make our way away from the shore before we gybe back in and head for the finish line. Hopefully there will be enough wind to get us there.'

Meanwhile, a battle is raging behind the Finns as California and Jamaica Lighting Bolt battle it out for eighth place. With just a handful of miles separating the two teams and 130 miles to go until the line it's too early to call.

For Irish entry Cork the light winds which characterized Race 10 proved to be their undoing. The only team not racing on a Clipper 68 but a heavier, steel hulled Challenge 67 saw them struggle to keep their boat moving in the light conditions. Consequently they were offered tenth place by the Race Committee which they accepted and are now motor sailing to New York so ensure some time in the Big Apple before the start of the Race 11, the Eagle Spirit Trophy race to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, on Sunday 6 June.

Positions at 1500 UTC, Wednesday 2 June

Boat DTF* DTL*
1 Uniquely Singapore Finished 16:18 UTC Tuesday 1 May
2 Cape Breton Island Finished 17:10 UTC Tuesday 1 May
3 Qingdao Finished 19:23 UTC Tuesday 1 May
4 Hull & Humber Finished 19:52 UTC Tuesday 1 May
5 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital Finished 21:01 UTC Tuesday 1 May
6 Spirit of Australia Finished 22:17 UTC Tuesday 1 May
7 Team Finland 61nm 61nm
8 California 130nm 130nm
9 Jamaica Lightning Bolt 142nm 142nm
10 Cork 151nm 151nm

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