Well finally after 28 days at sea we crossed the finishing line first in the bay outside Rio de Janeiro. PSP were in second place and closing fast so the finish line couldn't come quickly enough and when it did they were only 19 seconds behind.Incredible that after 28 days and nearly 5,000 miles of racing it came down to the narrowest of margins and gave the closest finish in Clipper history. This has Ben such a roller coaster ride of highs and lows and up to a couple of days out we were still fighting for a podium place never mind line honours. The last 24 hours haven been gruelling as the wind turned on to our nose and meant upwind sailing in up to 35 knots of wind. It seemed to take forever to reduce our distance to finish and when em finally got the angles to tack for Rio PSP were right there with us. On more than one occasion we thought we had seen them off only for them to come storming back at us. In the end the finish line couldn't come quickly enough. Now resting up in Rio nursing bumps and bruises and preparing for Leg 2 which starts on Saturday when we head for Cape Town which is likely to be a thought physical downwind sprint, but quite a bit quicker than the Atlantic slog we have just finished.
This has been a truly extraordinary experience which will stay in my memory forever, but for now it is time to gear up for the next challenge of the race and hopefully another podium finish. Lots of photos and videos on the Clipper website and my Facebook page and here is one of my favourites.
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