The race from Qingdao, China to Tongyeong, South Korea is the shortest race of our circumnavigation. This stage was supposed to take between four and five days, covering almost 500 nautical miles on the way. For us this would anyhow be a very special race as we are representing the Korean coastal city on our journey around the world. In addition we are the first round the world yacht race to come to South Korea.

Correspondingly high was the pressure to get a good result. Especially after having shown on the previous race that we are capable to sail right at the front of the pack. Moreover, we had decided to play our joker for this race, which would double any points we get from our final position. Thus, it was clear that we would do our utmost to achieve a good result in this race.

Due to many fishing nets close to the shore and the high volume of commercial traffic close to Qingdao the race start was set roughly 70 nautical miles off the coast. Hence, after leaving the marina we had a delivery sail to the planned starting area. In between we of course had the obligatory parade of sail, leading us past the Olympic rings of 2008 through the harbour of Qingdao. Probably the most iconic parade of sail so far.

Start No. 1

After the first night at sea the start was planned for 8 o’clock in the morning. All ten boats gathered in the start area and we conducted a Le Mans start. For this we were still in a low wind zone, as a high pressure system was sitting in the Yellow Sea. As a result the progress towards the race finish was very slow. Even though we tried to regularly check our trim to keep the boat going as fast as possible.

In the late afternoon we received the notification from race management that the current race would be abandoned. The timely arrival was at risk given the very low winds. The restart of the race would be again at 8 o’clock in the morning on the following day. Until then all boats were asked to continue their journey along the race course, using their engines to make some progress towards Tongyeong.

Start No. 2

The second start on the next morning was not looking much better. The wind was still very weak and the forecast said it would take at least a few hours before the wind would start to increase. Nevertheless, all ten boats started the race. Unfortunately, we did not do quite as well as on the last start.

As forecasted, the wind remained very weak and all the boats were progressing very slowly. Thus, it was no surprise when at lunchtime we received a notification from race management that also this race would be abandoned. This time the restart was scheduled for the same day at 6 o’clock in the evening. In the meantime the wind was supposed to build and we should be able to get closer to the finish using our engines.

One of the other boats got tangled in a fishing net around that time. As a result they were unable to use their engine and had to rely on another boat boat to be towed. This slowed down the other boat and thus the entire fleet. Nonetheless, all ten boats gathered in the late afternoon at the north-westerly side of Jeju Island to restart the race.

Start No. 3

For the third we finally had some more wind. And given the exercise of the previous three attempts we got underway quite a bit better this time around. The only difference was that this time it wasn’t the morning dawn but the evening twilight. In the following hours we sailed in the front half of the fleet towards Jeju Island. Here we had to make a decision as to how far south we wanted to go to get around the island.

Due to the north-easterly winds there was a wind shadow forecasted for the south of Jeju Island. Depending on the weather model the shadow was more or less pronounced and extended only a few miles or over 50 miles south of the island. To our luck we had support of Han Kim for this race on board. He took part and circumnavigated in the Clipper Race ten years ago and has since campaigned to get the Clipper Race to stop in Korea. As a now seasoned sailor with plenty of experience in this area, he suggested to pass the island at 20 to 25 nautical miles distance to avoid the wind shadow.

Unfortunately, we still got stuck in the wind shadow, despite being around 25 miles from the shore. Both boats in front of us had decided to go for a larger distance, which allowed them to also scoop up some points from the Scoring Gate. We only made very slow progress while the boats behind us were catching up and some of them even overtook us. And that was despite us leaving nothing untried, changing the sails multiple times, just to try and make some use of the light and unsteady winds.

It took us some time to reach the easterly end of the shadow and the wind started to build. At that time two boats had passed and were in front of us. In the meantime the other two boats which had opted to go further south for the Scoring Gate were also stuck in the wind shadow and had fallen back to the end of the fleet.

Race Finish

As the progress of the fleet did meet expectations and the winds were forecasted to die yet again, race management decided to call the race early. By the time we received the notice we would be racing for another ten hours and then submit our position. The place in the ranking would then be determined from the distance to the finish line. From that time onwards we would be allowed to head straight for Tongyeong and use our engine if needed.

However, until the announced finish time we had to go as quickly as possible towards the finish line as to not loose any places. The then leading boat Power of Seattle Sports was almost one nautical mile ahead of us, while Unicef were right next to us, leading to a head-to-head battle for second place. Each mistake could be decisive. We trimmed our sails roughly every 15 minutes, or whenever the wind strength or direction changed. Moreover, only the best helmsmen were allowed on the helm to stay on course and keep the boat moving at the best possible speed.

Those final hours were pretty dramatic. We could see the boats around us not only on the chart plotter but also their lights directly around us. Unicef was close enough for most of the time that we could see them go up to the bow in order to check their headsail trim. Sometimes they got a little faster than us after retrimming and appeared to move past us. That would be another indication for us to retrim our sails in order to match their speed again.

In addition to all that we also had to deal with a fishing boat which crossed our way. We had seen it for a while but they seemed to alter course constantly, which made it very hard for us to avoid them early on. And of course we did not want to alter our course too much as to not allow the other boats to pull away. As a result we got very close. At night that is even a bit more impressive compared to daylight.

Given the excitement around the fishing boat I had not noticed that we had caught up to Power of Seattle Sports, meaning we were now in a three way battle for first place. At that time we had about four hours left until the race would end. It was completely open as to who might be closest to the finish by that time. The tension was as high as it could be. While some went to bed at the end of our watch, I decided to stay awake together with others.

The wind continued to decrease. In that light it was decided to shake out the remaining reef in our main sail to keep going as fast as possible. It paid off that we had not gone to bed. We could support the other watch straight away. Maybe we have never shaken out a reef as fast as we did in this night. Everyone knew how important it was. Seattle had dropped back a bit in the meantime and with full main sail we now also seemed to move a bit faster than Unicef.

About half an hour before the end of the race we woke up most of the crew on board as we wanted to celebrate together. It seemed as though we could secure the top spot, but nothing was decided at that time. In the last few minutes of the race Unicef was starting their final attack, going higher to the wind and trying to thus get past us on the windward side to get closer to the finish line. We could however also defend this final attempt of theirs and thus the joy was endless we the race ended. In the end it was only about 300m that we were closer to the finish compared to Unicef. But it was enough to secure our second consecutive win.

Arrival to Tongyeong

In the following hours we continued our journey towards Tongyeong. We were over the moon winning the first ever Clipper Race into Korea. We arrived into Tongyeong in the late morning and there were numerous boats and even more photographers and drones out to capture our arrival. Even a boat of the Korean coast guard left the harbour to welcome us to Tongyeong.

The reception was friendly. Not only the officials were very pleased with our result, especially since so far only two teams in the history of the Clipper Race have managed to win the races into their respective home ports. But also the public in Tongyeong was exhilarated and dozens of spectators were standing by the shore as we moored our boat at the end of the pontoon. The welcome beer was another big surprise: They had produced cans with a picture of our boat on them. A truly special honour given that all the boats were served the beer in our colours.

Meanwhile the preparations for the next race are done. Tomorrow, on Sunday we will leave again. This time we are heading for Seattle. We are apprehensive but also excited as to which surprises the north pacific will hold for us. Although we are still riding the wave of the homeport victory we have to gather our thoughts and prepare to take on this challenge with the required humility. This passage is still one of the most notorious of our circumnavigation.