Leaderboard shake up at Race 10 Prizegiving in Seattle

Celebrations continued yesterday in Seattle as Race Crew and supporters came together to recognise the achievements of all who sailed the North Pacific Ocean in Race 10: Ultimate Test of Perseverance.

During the longest and one of the toughest stages of the circumnavigation, teams were at sea for over 26 days and the challenge was a true test of grit. The crew on board endured freezing temperatures, big low-pressure systems, and the challenges of living on board a stripped back 70-foot racing yacht under tough conditions. Regardless of leader board positions, or points scored, simply completing this race is remarkable enough.

Image: Race 10 Prizegiving celebrations

Kicking off the event at Seattle’s Queen Anne’s Beerhall, Race Director Mark Light welcomed all to the event and introduced Beth Knox, President and CEO at Seattle Sports Commission who said:

It is truly an honour to be hosting you all in Seattle and we are in awe of the journey you have just been on. This is our fourth time welcoming this event into our city and we looking forward to be continuing this partnership in the future. Congratulations to all of you.”

Image: Race Director Mark Light starts proceedings

Moving on to the charity section of prizegiving section, Beth acknowledged the overall fundraising total raised up to Leg 6. UNICEF fundraising has seen some incredible efforts by individuals and teams so far this edition with £367,689raised so far during this

There have been many creative fundraising events and projects organised by crew and their family members all around the world – with many more to come. As such, multiple events were acknowledged.

Image: Beth Knox President and CEO at Seattle Sports Commission

First up in the Highly Commended category was a charity golf event organised by the father of Zhuhai crew member, Austin Reynolds. Raising over £8,090 for UNICEF, this event brings the team above their £30k target. Austin himself has personally been responsible for over £13,800 of the team’s total – a grand feat indeed!  

The second in the Highly Commended category was Felix Stender of UNICEF who has created 111 custom made patches packed away and stored safely staying on board UNICEF to travel the 40,000 nautical miles on the Clipper 2023-24 Race. Felix’s motivation for fundraising comes from the family living in his apartment having fled the war in Ukraine, and from hearing the story from a fellow crew member who worked at the Ukrainian border.  

Image: Alex Webster, Director of Sporting Events at Seattle Sports

The calibre of fundraising on Leg 6 was so high, it was decided there should be two winners.

The first Charity Champion accolade was awarded to Jason Lykens, from Yacht Club Punta del Este who has done an enormous amount of fundraising. Through hustling his entire network and utilising corporate opportunities, Jason has contributed in multiple ways. This has helped to bring Yacht Club Punta del Este to third place on the fundraising leader board, alongside a huge effort by Liz Lyon’s t-shirt campaign.

The second winner of Charity Champion was a team effort but spearheaded by two crew members – Andy Reeves and Brigitta van Niel.

The Qingdao Flamingo Bingo event raised over £1,595, by hosting a tropical themed games night, held in the team’s home port. Attended by crew from across the fleet, supporters, and Race Officials – the competitive evening had some great Race Office themed prizes.

Image: Charity Champion Qingdao

Next up on stage was Alex Webster, Director of Sporting Events Development at Seattle Sports Commission. Alex presented the Leg 6 Media Prize which is awarded to a blog, photo or video which captures the spirit and conditions of the Clipper Race and particularly for this leg, across one of the toughest stretches of ocean on the planet.

A big thank you was given to all Media Crew on Leg 6 who have taken and coordinated photos, videos and blogs – no mean feat when living at life on an angle for three weeks at a time.

Highly commended nods went to Tom Neef on Perseverance, for his poignant blog sent in about the Great Wave of Kangawa and Dare To Lead's “I’m the Best” music video.

Due to the high standard of entries, the winner of the Leg 6 Media Prize was shared. The first winner to be announced was Hannah Brewis, Skipper of Washington, DC. Hannah made a one second a day in the North Pacific video, all shot from the vantage point of the port side helm. The second winner was Lorenzo Gaudenzi Morandi on PSP Logistics for a video of life at sea, with narration on the highlights and challenges of taking on the Clipper Race. Stephen Herndlhofer, who narrated the winning PSP Logistics video, said: “It feels so great to win the media prize. It’s difficult to put together something like that on a boat, but we did the best we could, and we are so grateful to win.”

Image: PSP Logistics Media Winner

Image: Washington, DC Media Winner

With positions on the overall leaderboard so close, all bonus points on offer are even more important as the circumnavigation goes into its final two legs.

The Scoring Gate results secured during the first half of Race 10 were shared, and never before in the history of the Clipper Race has there been such a significant time differential between the top teams crossing the gate. A staggering gap of nearly 48 hours separated the first and third teams.

Clinching the top three points, the first team through the Scoring Gate was Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam at 03:32:54 UTC on 8 April, 2024. Zhuhai crossed the gate approximately 35 hours later at 14:28:52 UTC on 9 April, bagging two points. Dare To Lead crossed the gate at 03:14:58 UTC, nearly 13 hours after Zhuhai to take the final point on offer.

Always highly anticipated, the Ocean Sprint results were then announced to tumultuous applause. Third fastest, adding one bonus point and claiming its first Ocean Sprint points, was Washington, DC. Second was Dare To Lead, collecting two bonus points. And the winner of the Race 10 Ocean Sprint, taking three bonus points, with the quickest time of 38:49:36, was Bekezela!

Nick Pomfret who is circumnavigating with the winning team, Bekezela, said: “When we finished the Ocean Sprint, our Skipper, David, was very confident that we had done it in a fast time. He was very modest, not claiming victory, but what an honour to be on the stage and know we were the fastest boat.

“Bekezela is a fast boat, we just haven’t always been lucky. The helming has been 100% on this race.

“To be on that stage made me so emotional, the whole crew deserves it. It’s one of those rare moments as crew on Bekezela, to get on stage and take the adoration. It was such a special moment.”

Image: Ocean Sprint winners Bekezela

Finally, the moment many had been waiting for, it was time to welcome the top three teams to the podium for Race 10: Ultimate Test of Perseverance.

In third place, after beating off the competition from fourth and fifth place by just over five minutes, the Zhuhai team led by Skipper James Finney, and AQP Mike Davies, took to the stage.

Image: Third place Zhuhai

It was back-to-back podiums for Qingdao, after sailing from their home city to Seattle, the team picked up their second-place pennants on stage to their team song.

Image: Second place Qingdao

And for the fourth time, the only team to have won more than one race in the edition so far, Race 10 winners Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam danced to the stage, and were greeted by Tim Seargeant, Senior Marketing Manager at SENA who presented Skipper Bob Beggs and AQP Cameron McCracken with their winning pennant.

After playing its Joker and securing three points at the Scoring Gate, Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam skyrocketed up four places on the overall leaderboard to second place. Perserverance held onto the top spot and Zhuhai retained third, but joint with Dare To Lead also with 87 points.

Image: First place Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam

Race 10 has seen one of the biggest shake-ups in the leaderboard. With four races left in the Clipper 2023-24 Race and five teams still to play their Jokers, there is so much still to play for.

Overall leaderboard

Perseverance - 98 points

Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam - 93 points

Zhuhai - 87 points

Dare To Lead - 87 points

UNICEF - 81 points

Our Isles and Oceans - 71 points

Yacht Club Punta del Este - 69 points

Qingdao - 63 points

PSP Logistics - 51 points

Washington, DC - 38 points

Bekezela - 37 points

For many crew, Seattle marks the end of their Clipper Race experience and Leg 6 leavers t took to the stage for a final farewell and celebration of their achievements.

Image: Leg 6 leavers