Capital yacht secures best ever result

The Capital’s entry in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has recorded its best result so far in a thrilling dash from New Zealand to Australia.

The sixth race of the event, which lasted ten days, saw Edinburgh Inspiring Capital beat the New York yacht by just 15 minutes at the finish line on the Gold Coast, scooping seventh place overall.

The race also saw the Gold Coast’s own entry in the race defeated for the first time since the fleet left Southampton in July.

It was just six minutes behind the winners, Visit Finland.

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital skipper Gordon Reid joked: “Our race-winning strategy of sailing offshore 50 miles while the skipper slept seems to have done well.

“It gave everyone the motivation to get moving. We found ourselves in the right weather so took full advantage of that and pushed really hard all the way.

“We got into some nice winds, had the spinnaker up and were really pushing it – maybe harder than we would have done if we’d been closer to the rest of the boats – but it has all paid off in the end.”

The yacht crossed the finish line at around 5.45am local time yesterday, after leaving Tauranga in New Zealand on December 3.