Qingdao Daily- The 5th leg of the Clipper 2009-2010 Round the World Yacht Race, Qingdao to San Francisco is drawing to an end. Last night, the yacht Cape Breton Island took the lead in reaching San Francisco after sailing for 28 days and 10 hours. The yacht Qingdao, led by the skipper-Chris, held the 2nd place stably, ahead of the 3rd place about 100 nautical miles, but still 500 nautical miles away from San Francisco.

    The race from Qingdao to San Francisco, with a total distance of 5680 nautical miles, is the longest leg in the 2009-2010 Race. 8 yachts including the yacht Qingdao set sail from Qingdao on March 2nd, while the yacht Finland didn’t leave Qingdao until March 16th because of changing its mask.

    Although the yachts sailed on the Pacific Ocean in this leg, the race could not be described as “pacific”. First, Piers, Hull&Humber skipper, fell down on board and broke his right leg. Luckily, the yacht was sailing in the sea near Japan. With the help of the rescue boat, he was sent to a hospital in Sendai, Japan. Worse still, immediately after that, the yacht California was stricken by storm and the mask was broken. The 53-year-old crew Clive had his head seriously injured. He was transferred to a 180-meter long Denmark tanker which is sailing for Los Angeles, not far away from San Francisco.

    After the accident, the yacht Jamaica Lightening Bolt and other yachts near the California turned around or changed the direction. Then they met California and escorted it ahead. Consequently, their schedules were all affected. British Clipper Organizing Committee announced several days ago that they would fully consider the sacrifice these yachts had made and would readjust the results. It means although the yacht Qingdao may be the second to cross the line, Chris and his crew may not stand on the awarding stage, because it is only in the 5th place before the accident of California happened. (Reporter, Sun Fei)