Race 11 of Clipper 2017-18 Race: Double prize giving celebrations in New York

Following the completion of the penultimate leg of the circumnavigation, which was made up of two races, the Clipper Race held a double Prize Giving celebration tonight in New Jersey, USA.

Set in a German beer hall, the lively celebrations, which covered both Race 10: The Garmin American Challenge from Seattle to Panama, and Race 11: Nasdaq Race from Panama to New York, were led by Clipper Race Director Mark Light and Deputy Director Tom Way.

The evening got underway by revealing the new Unicef fundraising total of £305,648 and the Leg 7 Unicef Charity Champion award, which was presented to Unicef Leg 7 crew member Lizbeth Rose for her outstanding fundraising efforts, which got started in Gosport before Race.

The rest of the evening was split into two halves and began with awards for Race 10.

The Photo Competition winner was the first award to be announced and after close competition it was a wildlife win for Charlie Garratt’s incredible photo of a whale up close to the Dare To Lead yacht which stole the show on the race from Seattle to Panama.

The GREAT Britain team took to the stage and were presented with a magnum of Stormhoek wine after being announced as the winners of the Race 10 Stormhoek Social Spirit award, receiving over 70 per cent of the total votes for the race. Lise Ewins from Stormhoek explained the reason, saying: “The crew were praised for their positive, animated attitude and their support for one another when the going got tough – in the true spirit of the Clipper Race.”

The GREAT Britain team then remained on stage to collect their third-place pennants for Race 10. They were followed by the Visit Seattle team, which took second place, and the Dare To Lead team which proudly took its moment to celebrate winning its first race of the 2017-18 edition.

As the jubilant atmosphere in Zeppelin Hall continued to build, the Race 11 awards got underway and for the first time in the 2017-18 edition, the Photo Competition for Race 11 was won by Ming Hao of Sanya Serenity Coast for his photo of Skipper Wendy Tuck during the race through the Caribbean islands.

The Race 11 Stormhoek Social Spirit award saw Dale Smyth and the crew of Dare To Lead take to the stage. Stormhoek’s Lise Ewins added: “We love it when the votes start rolling in as we always get to hear some inside info about what went down in the last race – the little things and the daily struggles that only your closest supporters hear about.

“Usually the supporters vote for one or two things that stood out for them in the particular race. Either something that was remarkable or something that pulled the crew closer together. But in this race, it was very different – so many reasons were mentioned why Dare To Lead deserved to win. Including this quote: Did you read about the sail track breaking, not once, but twice? Extraordinary repairs under extraordinary conditions, with extraordinary results.”

It was then the turn of GREAT Britain to take to the stage for the third time in the evening to claim their second third place pennant of Leg 7.

There was a special presentation for second place winners Sanya Serenity Coast with Sanya Tourism representative Zhao Kuan taking to the stage to personally award the team’s pennant. Finally, the biggest cheer of the night went to PSP Logistics, which won the race into New York on Wednesday, when they took to the stage to claim the team’s second first place pennant of the edition.

As is tradition at the end of a Clipper Race Leg, all departing crew members then took to the stage together to share one last celebration to recognise their incredible achievements.

Whilst Prize Giving may mark the end of Leg 7, a weeklong stopover programme will get underway in North Cove Marina, Manhattan with a host of FREE public events before the start of the final Leg 8: The Atlantic Homecoming Leg from New York on Monday 25 June: