Throwback Thursday: Close call race to the finish line in Rio

You’ve raced across the Atlantic Ocean, clocked up close to 5,000 miles during 27 days at sea. How amazing is it that you and your team are then first to cross the finish line, an incredible 19 seconds ahead of the crew in second place!

That’s what separated the two top leaders of the race to Rio de Janeiro for Leg 1 in the last edition of the race. In this week’s Throwback Thursday we recall the toughly fought duel between Jamaica Get All Right and PSP Logistics.

“It felt great to come in first to Rio, it was a very long, very tough race," Pete Stirling, the skipper behind the Jamaica Get All Right team said.

"There have been highs and lows. It’s not the toughest of all the races physically but mentally it felt incredibly tough.

“Coming into the Doldrums, we were at the back of the pack but I had my tactics planned the whole way. Making our break out to the east and overtaking the fleet to take line honours in the final stages is a fantastic and memorable achievement for us all.”

Leg 1 certainly put the new Clipper 70s to the test, demonstrating their increased speed capabilities before halting in becalmed conditions in the dreaded Doldrums.

In the last few miles of the race across the North Atlantic, strong headwinds became the final obstacle the fleet would face that saw the front leading pack pushed through in a hotly contested battle to win the race.

However, in a cruel twist of fate, Jamaica Get All Right’s victory was tinged by its competitors and PSP Logistics moved ahead in the overall standings following a redress of time due to being forced to suspend racing while it replenished its fresh water supplies in the Doldrums.

Competing skipper Chris Hollis said: “The finish was fantastic. We had been playing cat and mouse for about a week with Jamaica Get All Right since we left the Doldrums. We didn’t get much sleep overnight night but getting a grandstand finish was all worth it.”