PSP Logistics, skippered by Matt Mitchell of Petersfield, has achieved a third podium place in the Clipper Round The World Race – one of the world’s toughest endurance challenges.
Mitchell’s Clipper 70 yacht finished second in the sixth of eight legs, the Wondrous Whitsundays Race from Hobart, Tasmania, to Airlie Beach in Australia.
Following a thrilling drag race, PSP Logistics crossed the finish line after the 1,600-nautical mile sprint up the east coast in 11 days – just 25mins 31secs behind winners Visit Seattle.
“It feels great to be back on the podium,” said Matt Mitchell. “We have been very close in the last couple of races.
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“We were leading for most of the Sydney-Hobart race and then got knocked out by a wind hole.”
Race 6 went down to the wire. The 11th and final morning at sea saw PSP Logistics off the coast of Mackay and just five nautical miles astern of Visit Seattle. Sanya Serenity was only another mile further back in third and there were just seven nm between Visit Seattle and fourth-placed Liverpool 2018.
After leading the fleet out of the Derwent River in Tasmania, PSP fell back to 11th place after opting for the most easterly route. The move paid off, however, with the team moving into fifth place by day five and then coming close to overall victory in the final 24 hours.
PSP Logistics, like the rest of the Clipper Race fleet, had a tough time battling with upwind conditions up the Australian south-east coast and then with two ‘Southerly Busters’ in the waters off Queensland.
“Upwind on a Clipper 70 is never comfortable,” said Mitchell. “We had quite strong winds a lot of the time and our initial strategy didn’t really pay off, so we kind of started off on the back foot which was annoying.
“But despite the hardships on board, even when we were going upwind and the boat was leaning at 45 degrees, the team spirit made all the difference.”
PSP Logistics finished third in both the opening race from Liverpool to Punta del Este, Uruguay, and Race 3 from Cape Town to Fremantle.
Another high point for PSP was coming second in the Elliot Brown Ocean Sprint, adding two bonus points to the overall tally.
The biennial Clipper Race, founded by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, is unique in that it is raced by people from all walks of life, including many with no previous sailing experience. Each of the 11 teams is led by a professional skipper. The 40,000 nautical-mile circumnavigation is divided into eight legs and features six ocean crossings.
More than 700 people, representing 41 different nationalities, are taking part in the 2017 Clipper Race.
Race 7, which will cover some 4,200 nautical miles to Sanya, the first of two Chinese stop-overs in this leg, starts on Monday.
From there, teams head to Qingdao, China, across the Pacific to Seattle, Panama and New York, before heading back across the Atlantic to Londonderry, where the Clipper Race is scheduled to finish on July 28.