After 28 days at sea, the Victoria crew endured a drawn out final approach as the wind died and left them to creep towards the finish line at often less than one knot.
Against the stunning backdrop of the snow-capped Olympic Mountains, the crew ghosted into Victoria's Harbour under their lightweight spinnaker in bright sunshine. Friends and family who were finding the protracted wait onshore a bit too much after over a month without seeing their loved ones, took to the water to shout encouragement over the final miles and wave flags and banners at the soon to be elated crew.
Despite slow progress in the final days of the race, Victoria indextained a 100-mile lead on her nearest rivals Durban and Liverpool 08, who are still battling it out for second place.
On crossing the finish line, Victoria Clipper was joined by supporters including porpoises and seals. Champagne and Canadian beer was swiftly delivered to the elated crew onboard for an early start on the celebrations.
Victoria narrowly missed out on a first place position on the last race into Qingdao where they led until just miles from the finish when Liverpool 08 stormed to victory. The ocean-weary Victoria crew are ecstatic to finally take the top spot.
Skipper Ewan Hind said: 'It has been my dream to win this leg. We have proved that we can do it and into our home port – I am overwhelmed and very emotional.
'This has been by far the toughest leg yet; it has been physically exhausting and the weather conditions have been extreme with blizzards and cold to deal with. Keeping crew motivation up has been difficult but they stayed together and achieved our best result yet.'
Durban, Liverpool 08 and Cardiff are likely to be the next boats to arrive and the two reindexing podium positions are still up for grabs. Any of this trio could arrive later today.
by Clipper media
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