QINGDAO COMPLETES NEW YORK ARRIVALS

Invest Africa then Mission Performance and finally Qingdao sailed in Liberty Landing Marina today to complete the fleet’s arrival in New Jersey ahead of its transfer to Manhattan tomorrow. The blazing sunshine, glistening off the skyscrapers of the Manhattan skyline, provided a spectacular backdrop for the final teams as they celebrated completing the US coast-to-coast leg of the race.

Qingdao skipper Gareth Glover said his team was excited to arrive in to New York. “It was great to arrive this morning. It’s a beautiful day and everyone is really excited to be here; it was a difficult race. We tried tactically to put ourselves in the best position and unfortunately it just didn’t work out for us.

“We were quite pensive on the start line and we didn’t quite make it to the windward mark. We were in last place but did well until we got to the Windward Passage and we lost a lot of ground so we decided to go east where a lot of the other boats tacked further to the north, so we were sailing in light conditions and then it got worse and worse. We managed to catch them up by about 40 miles until we hit the ridge of light wind after getting through a light patch, we decided to head west to stay out of it and when we got there the forecast wind just wasn’t there.”

Invest Africa skipper Rich Gould said: “Obviously it is very disappointing coming in twelfth place but as a team we are doing our best to remain positive and upbeat, not only about what we have achieved so far in the race but also about our remaining opportunities.

We lost our chance in this race in the first 36 hours through the Windward Passage and I believe this is because I was a little overly cautious with our sail choices.

“Every race is a lesson and we are learning all the time and spotting areas for improvement. We are pleased to be in New York now and are already working hard on our approach for the final Leg.”

Meanwhile Mission Performance skipper Matt Mitchell said it was amazing for the team to arrive into New York after the trials and tribulations of the race: “It was a fairly frustrating race at times when we left Jamaica we had a really good start then had a bit of a beat up the Windward Passage and a reach up into the ridge and we stopped from there.

“We had very light and fickle winds which was to be expected and the ridge grew as time progressed. It was a hot and windless race but the guys coped really well with it and tried to keep the boat moving as best we could it’s unfortunate it didn’t work out for us.”

To view the New York stopover photo gallery, click here

You can also get an up-close view and explore a Clipper Race yacht during the Open Boat tours, click here for further information.