Clipper Race 12 - First Win for West Aussies in Halifax

Halifax, Canada - Light air and fog from New York to Nova Scotia resulted in Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race officials judging this leg - Race 12 - by distance to the finish, and calling the fleet in. westernaustralia2011.com took it's first yellow pennant as the winner, Glasgow: Scotland with style landed second place, and Qingdao rounded out the podium.

“First place, I can now die a happy woman!” joked Judy Lawrence of South Melbourne.

None of the yachts had yet reached the gate by the 1200 GMT finish time today, and their positions were noted as westernaustralia2011.com 10.2 nautical miles from the finish line, Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper 22.6 miles from the finish, and Qingdao a mere tenth of a mile behind - with Hull and Humber just another two-tenths of a mile behind.

westernsaustralia2011.com's dismasting in the Pacific had forced the crew to abandon Race 7, and miss Race 8 while awaiting repairs. This win in race 12 gives them a boost to seventh place overall. “It’s been a tiring race,” Skipper Martin Silk said. “Having no radar with shoals and fishing grounds, all swallowed up in thick fog made the decision to take the planned track difficult. What made it easier was being at the back of the fleet, knowing that it was make or break. Things panned out well, the GRIB weather files were right and at last we have our first yellow pennant. I’m quite chuffed really, mainly because we followed our own tactics and secondly because my team worked hard as always and got the result they deserved.”

Hannah Jenner, skipper of Glasgow was also full of praise: “A very well deserved return to the podium for my team. They worked really hard to break the curse of the last two shortened races which have seen us knocked off the podium at the last minute. We are now very much back in touch with Hull & Humber and New York in terms of points and equally have a nice gap between ourselves and fourth placed Durban 2010 and Beyond.”

From Qingdao, skipper Marcus Cholerton-Brown said: “We had a good race, with lots of close quarters action in the fog to liven things up. We made a sound decision on course after the second mark and jumped into the lead. Unfortunately, westernaustralia2011.com did the same and pulled in a big win. We had a few problems in the closing hours which saw Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Hull & Humber pull past us with only four hours to the end of the race, but we fought back and took Hull & Humber with time to spare. Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper would have been next… Overall, a great race with plenty of action and wildlife. We’re very happy with a podium position, but we are still hunting for that elusive yellow pennant.”

Provisional results, Race 12: New York to Nova Scotia, Clipper 07-08.

1 westernaustralia2011.com

2 Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper

3 Qingdao

4 Hull & Humber

5 Nova Scotia

6 New York

7 Durban 2010 and Beyond

8 Uniquely Singapore

9 Liverpool 08

10 Jamaica

- YC