In a race which went right down to the wire, Uniquely Singapore has secured their first ever victory in Clipper 09-10, crossing the finish line at Ambrose Lighthouse at 12:18 local time (16:18GMT). The south east Asian team has been in a nip and tuck race with fellow competitors Cape Breton Island since departing Jamaica eight days ago on the tenth leg of the global series, but managed to pull ahead in the last few hours of racing.
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 crossed the finish line at 13:10 local time (17:10GMT) in second place to claim their first red pennant of the race. The nine points they will receive for this result coupled with the three points they received for being the first team over the Scoring Gate means they could knock Jamaica Lightning Bolt off the third place position on the overall leaderboard.
The final podium position was also fiercely contested between Chinese entry Qingdao and English entry Hull & Humber with the Chinese dragon-emblazoned yacht just sneaking ahead to claim Qingdao’s fourth third place result in Clipper 09-10.
“Congratulations to Uniquely Singapore and Cape Breton Island from all on Qingdao,” writes Qingdao’s skipper, Chris Stanmore-Major. “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 and 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.”
Despite being in contention for a podium position until the last couple of days of racing and just missing out at the end, Edinburgh Inspiring Capital has had a great race and finishes in fifth place. This result added to their point they won at the Scoring Gate gives them a credible points tally of 7 for Race 10.
All five teams are making their way to North Cove Marina in Manhattan’s Financial District with Uniquely Singapore expected to arrive around 19:00 local time.