Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, California - A bright California sun was shining on the yachts from the Clipper Round the World Race today as the fleet set sail from Santa Cruz. Race 9 of the Clipper Race series began at 1300 local time(2000 GMT), where Uniquely Singapore was the first yacht across the line, closely followed by their Asian rivals, Qingdao.

The Clipper Race yacht Uniquely Singapore has managed to steal line honours from Nova Scotia by crossing the finish line at 05:16 local (12:16 GMT) Wednesday morning at the end of Race 8 from Hawaii to Santa Cruz of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race.

Clipper Race, Hawaii to California - The tactical move north by the yachts Nova Scotia and Uniquely Singapore has allowed them to carve out a significant lead that will be hard to breakdown. With the fleet expected to arrive early into Santa Cruz, possibly on Thursday, it does not leave much time for the chasing teams to make up the lost miles.