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QINGDAO TEAM WINS RACE 2 OF CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE
青岛帆船网 2019-10-21 11:03:14 

Yacht competing for China’s Sailing City of Qingdao has won Race 2 of the Clipper 2019-20 Round the World Yacht Race, to pick its second consecutive podium of the 40,000 nautical mile ocean adventure.

Qingdao is on top of the overall Clipper Round the World Yacht Race standings after finishing first in the race across the Atlantic Ocean to Punta del Este in Uruguay.

Race 2 from Portimão, in Portugal, to Punta del Este, Uruguay, is the second of 15 races that make up the eleven month, 40,000 nautical mile (nm) Clipper 2019-20 Race. What makes the challenge of racing around the world all the more incredible is that the Clipper Race crew are non-professional sailors. Almost 700 people from 43 countries are taking part in the twelfth edition of the Clipper Race, and while 40 percent had never sailed before undergoing their four weeks of intensive training, the crew from all walks of life will spend the next year racing the eleven 70-foot yachts across six oceans to 16 ports in ten countries.

The Qingdao team, led by professional Skipper Chris Brooks from Essex UK, is made up of people from nine different countries and aged between 23 and 72. Despite not being professional racers, they came together as a team, racing some 5,196 nautical miles for 26 days to be the first of the eleven Clipper Race teams to Yacht Club Punta del Este, crossing the finish line at 15:35:46 UTC on Friday 11 October.

Chris says:“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.

“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.

After racing in close quarters against fellow Clipper Race competitor Visit Sanya, China for more than 20 days, Qingdao finished 4 hours35 minutes and 9 seconds ahead of the second placed team, Visit Sanya, China, to claim its second podium in as many races.

Chris says:“I knew we could achieve it.

“Going through the Doldrums and the equator it was really hot below deck. The conditions haven’t been great, but the team are so strong and rock solid – all there to help each other out and that is the ethos we want to keep on the boat throughout the race round the world.”

Qingdao played its Joker for the race to Uruguay, a tactical mechanism that doubles the number of race points won. As a result of the Joker, Qingdao will collect 22 race points for the first place finish, as well as two bonus points for being the second across the Scoring Gate.

As Qingdao also finished third in the opening race of the Clipper 2019-20 Race from London to Portimão in Portugal, Qingdao now has 38 race points. The next placed team in the overall standings is Punta del Este, which is yet to complete the race to its home port.

Qingdao is the longest serving Team Partner in the 23 year history of the Clipper Race, with the fleet to also return for its eighth consecutive stopover in China’s Sailing City in March 2020.

Mr. Che Jinghua, Director General of Qingdao Municipal Sports  Bureau and Secretary General of Qingdao Major International Sailing Events  (Festivals) Organising Committee sent the team a message of congratulations:“Congratulations to  Skipper Chris and all the crew of Qingdao on winning first place with absolute  predominance in the second race of the Clipper 2019-20 Race. The ten million  Qingdao citizens are cheering for you! The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race  is an international sport full of challenges and hope. We wish you to continue  the triumphant steps and break new records in the upcoming races, realising  the dream of Chinese people through the Qingdao yacht. Your Home Port of  Qingdao is looking forward to your returning in March 2020!”

Ten Ambassador Crew Members will race on board Qingdao throughout the Clipper 2019-20 Race to represent China’s Sailing City to the world. Yi Zheng and Yadi Guan are doing the full circumnavigation, while Sun Simou can now call himself an ocean racer, after completing the 6,370mm Leg 1.

Sun Simou says:“It’s so exciting and I’m so honoured – we made it! We tried our best to  be first from the beginning and kept catching up and kept trimming the sails.  Everyone worked hard t and at the last minute we caught up with Visit Sanya,  China and overtook them and won.”

The Clipper Race fleet will be berthed at the Yacht Club Punta del Este until October 23, when the the eleven yachts will depart for a 3,555nm race across the South Atlantic Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa. From Cape Town, the teams will experiencethe Roaring Forties in the Southern Ocean as they race across to Fremantle, Western Australia; around to the Whitsundays in Queensland, Australia; back into the Northern Hemisphere to China where teams will race to Qingdao, via Sanya and Zhuhai; across the mighty North Pacific Ocean to Seattle; to New York, via the famous Panama Canal; and then it’s a final Atlantic crossing with stops in Bermuda and Derry-Londonderry, before the crew arrive back to London as fully proven ocean racers.

 

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