The last few days of the race past in the blink of an eye. Although we had pretty low winds after rounding Ireland. As a result the course for the race was shortened. So we would not make a trip across the channel towards France as it was originally planned. Instead we would head directly for the finish line off the east coast of the Isle of Wight. But the English Channel remained very calm.

The Channel was as flat as could be and it was sometimes impossible to make any progress. To ensure the fleet would arrive on time for the big parade on Saturday the race management decided to end the race with a time limit. Thus all boats would have to submit their locations at the designated time and the remaining distance to the finish line would determine the ranking. Only the Team Qingdao managed to cross the line prior to the communicated time and hence secured the win in the last race.

To prevent ourselves from being pulled away from the finish by the tidal currents, we decided to drop anchor in the middle of the channel within the last couple of hours. Due to the water depth of over 45m we had to use both our main anchor chain as well as the chain of the ketch anchor. In addition we also tied together both anchor warps. We thus managed to hold our position despite the current going the other way, while some of our competitors who apparently did not decide to anchor were drifting away from the finish with up to one knot.

Although we did not manage to attack the boats ahead of us we were able to secure a fifth place in the last race. That was also enough to maintain our fifth place in the overall ranking. Hence the whole team was very happy when the race finished. The joy was even bigger amongst those who had just completed the full circumnavigation. Crossing over our track from almost one year ago was emotional for everyone who were there eleven months ago.

Sprint Race

After finishing the race we slowly made our way towards the assembly point for the last sprint race. This race should take place on Saturday morning just off Portsmouth. With the winds still being rather low we only moved slowly and arrived together with the remaining boats in the early morning hours at the assembly point.

The wind remained low and very variable and thus the course was shortened even before we started the race. It was a welcome change to be navigating in eyesight of the other boats with the iconic Spinnaker Tower in the background. Unfortunately, the winds got even weaker during the race so that the race management decided to abandon the sprint race completely.

Arrival to Portsmouth

What followed was the parade of Sail of all ten yachts into Portsmouth Harbour. The parade was led by a big ferry ship, followed by an old steam ship and two tug boats. Subsequent all ten yachts followed in formation before the spectator boats joining in. The weather showed its nicest face with loads of sunshine. Moreover, the wind picked up a bit in the afternoon.

When docking in Portsmouth each team was welcomed by their song and a pyrotechnical show. Following that each team paraded onto the main stage where we had our farewell ceremony eleven months before. Each team celebrated their own success. To conclude all circumnavigators came back on stage with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston to receive their cheers and celebrate this truly special achievement.

I can’t fully grasp all that at the moment. On Monday we brought back all the boats to Gosport and started to prepare them for handing them back. It was a bit nostalgic as each of us had spent several weeks in Gosport for training and preparation. Now I will go back home and back to my normal life. I am very much looking forward to meeting with all those people I haven’t seen for a long time.

How things will continue will probably not get clear until in a few weeks or months. I am however excited for the next meeting with all those people I got to meet in the last year. And of course I am already working on my next sailing adventures. However, they will surely be a bit smaller. But even I am not sure yet, how this will look in detail.