Clipper Yacht Race: Crews Prepare for 2nd Leg

Qingdao heads the overall Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race standings after finishing in pole position in the race across the Atlantic. Arriving at Punta del Este in Uruguay a comfortable 4 hours and 35 minutes ahead of fellow competitor yacht Visit Sanya, the skipper of Qingdao Chris Brooks said: "It feels amazing to have won the race down to Punta del Este. The crew has worked so hard and I’m very proud of them.

Brooks was also quick to congratulate the crew of Visit Sanya, who battled with QingdaoI in close quarters for many days. “It could have been either us or Visit Sanya, China in first place – they played an amazing hand and were leading the race most of the way. It was snakes and ladders on the course all the time," said Brookes.

Trailing in third place was Viet Nam's Ha Long Bay, which has suffered a number of setbacks in this leg of the race. After covering just 33nm in one 12-hour period, Skipper Josh Stickland reported: “We are currently languishing in no breeze, surrounded by lightning strikes as they light up the night sky, giving us a glimpse of the squalls that surround us.

Leg 2 of the race, The South Atlantic Challenge Leg, is now underway. Though the Trade Winds will help the yachts achieve some of their fastest speeds yet, this is more of a marathon than a sprint. This leg consists of a single race of around 7,000 km, which is estimated to take around 18 days at sea to complete.

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