|
Published:
April 17, 2008
Burnham yachtsman celebrates
victory in round-the-world race
Burnham-On-Sea
yachtsman Mark Preedy was celebrating in California on Wednesday
(April 16th) after winning a closely-contested leg of the Round
The World Yacht Race.
Burnham-On-Sea.com
has closely followed Mark's progress skippering the yacht 'Uniquely
Singapore' on the 35,000 mile race which left Liverpool last
September.
 Uniquely
Singapore managed to clinch its first win of the Round The World
series and their first podium position of the race so far by stealing
the honours over rival yacht Nova Scotia during Race 8 from Hawaii
to Santa Cruz.
In
a nail-biting finish, Mark's crew managed to overtake Nova Scotia,
the team representing the province of Canada, by just 35 minutes.
Mark
and his crew were clearly elated. "I’m over the moon!"
he exclaimed.
He
told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "It seemed like a lot of the crew
had settled for second place at the end until we started to see
the lights of Nova Scotia on the final approach."
"We
kept going as we knew we had a good chance of getting closer and
we kept pushing hard. We were the northerly boat so we had an
advantage and when the wind died it was a bit of a free-for-all."
"They
chose to fly the spinnaker whilst we went for the windseeker and
the wind came round the right way for us and we took them just
before the line."
A
tactical decision to head north paid off for the team as they
achieved more favourable wind angles and avoided the wind holes
that beset the rest of the fleet further south.
Uniquely
Singapore was the first of the ten internationally-sponsored yachts
competing in the Round the World Yacht Race to arrive in Santa
Cruz at the end of the latest 2,080-mile stage from Honolulu.
 They
were closely followed by Nova Scotia and both teams were greeted
by a group of local volunteers and members of the Santa Cruz Yacht
Club, who welcomed the crews and skippers to the Californian port.
During
the teams’ short visit the fleet is being hosted by the Santa
Cruz Yacht Club who will also host the prize-giving ceremony on
Monday 21st April.
The
Clipper Race is the only round the world yacht race for non-professional
sailors and the amateur crews, representing 27 different nationalities
across the ten teams, are each led by a professional skipper.
The
Clipper Round The World Yacht Race began last September in Liverpool
and lasts ten months. The overall race is divided into seven legs
and a total of 14 individual races. Points are accumulated according
to each race position, and the yacht with the highest total at
the finish on 5th July wins the race trophy.
RELATED
LINKS:
Burnham
yachtsman in mid-race mercy mission
Mark
sets sail on third leg of round-the-world race
Burnham-On-Sea
yacht skipper sets sail on prestigious yacht race
Burnham-On-Sea
yachtsman selected for round-the-world race
|
