On July 25, 2026, local time, in Portsmouth, UK – as the Qingdao sailed through a water cannon salute and glided gently into her home port, a 329‑day, 40,000‑nautical‑mile circumnavigation came to its closing moment.
As the only Chinese‑city‑sponsored entry in the 2025‑2026 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, Team Qingdao won the final return leg, completing the race's global challenge in fine style.
Standing on the dock, looking back at the very waters that were both her starting point and finishing line, Sun Kaidi – the ambassador crew member on Team Qingdao – felt surprisingly calm. That calmness came from a deep realisation: the past eleven months at sea had become an indelible part of her life.
But what exactly lay beneath that stillness – what kind of breathtaking maritime adventure had she endured?
The anchor was raised on August 31, 2025. That day, the 2025‑2026 Clipper Race set off from Portsmouth, UK. The race comprised eight transoceanic legs, interspersed with 13 individual scoring races. Ten teams called at 13 ports before finally returning to Portsmouth. Because the Clipper Race allows crew members to sign up for individual legs, some took on just one leg, others jumped in for several, and some committed to the full circumnavigation as round‑the‑world crew.
If the first five legs were a prologue – a time for crews to become familiar with the sea and learn to work with wind and waves – then Leg 6 was the true crucible for forging resolve. This leg, from Qingdao, China, to Seattle, USA, crossing the North Pacific, has long been known as the"Devil Leg". It lasted 30 days with no port stops along the way; temperatures plummeted, and the seas were whipped into violent, towering waves. Before departure, four crew members had already dropped out, daunted by the dangers ahead. With the team barely maintaining the minimum racing complement of 13 people – and under immense pressure – they nonetheless set sail, undeterred.
The reality at sea proved even more brutal than anticipated. Walls of water rose like mountains; the boat pitched and rolled violently, unrelentingly – like a non‑stop amusement park drop ride. At the most critical point, the rudder of one competing yacht was snapped clean off by a monstrous wave – akin to a high‑speed racing car blowing a tyre at full pelt – yet the damaged boat still had to limp on and complete the race.
Injuries were a constant companion: one crew member was thrown on the foredeck and suffered multiple fractured ribs; a helicopter evacuation was successfully coordinated through the race's emergency response system. Another crew member experienced severe back pain and was safely transferred via a relay rescue operation. During those dark days, a grim piece of black humour made the rounds:"One broken rib doesn't count as an industrial injury – you need two before you can even apply for sick leave." Behind that joke lay an unimaginable physical ordeal – and a steadfast spirit that defined these ocean sailors.
But the sea was never only about hardship – it also offered moments of wonder.
As Team Qingdao approached the waters off Seattle, an eerie green luminescence occasionally flickered across the North Pacific sky, as if the boat were sailing through a dreamscape. These fleeting light shows temporarily dispelled the cold and exhaustion of the preceding days. And on the passage to Panama, pods of whales travelled alongside the boat. Watching those leviathans rise and fall through the waves, the crew's long‑tightened nerves finally relaxed, and the gloom that had weighed on them began to lift.
The most breathtaking sight of all was the legendary"green flash". One evening in the doldrums, just as the sun's disk sank completely below the horizon, a pale green light appeared – and vanished in an instant. That fleeting spectacle brought to life the stories celebrated in sailing literature, reminding everyone of the vastness and wonder of the world.
The moment Team Qingdao returned to Portsmouth, all the suffering was transfigured by the water cannon salute. Two fireboats shot columns of water into the air, forming a solemn arch. This highest honour in the sailing world welcomed not only victorious warriors – it was a coronation of indomitable will.
When Team Qingdao ultimately won the final scoring race of Leg 8 and climbed to the top of Portsmouth's iconic Spinnaker Tower, Sun Kaidi felt a sudden clarity: some views can only be glimpsed after you have passed through the storm. And that view was not simply the glory of victory – it was the hard‑won serenity and peace that come only after conquering oneself.