’Durban 2010 and Beyond’ of South Africa has won the first ocean crossing of the Clipper 07-08 Race ending in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. At the end of this, Race 2, Durban 2010 gained the maximum ten points.The result has moved them to the top of the overall leader board from their fifth place position at the end of Race 1.

‘Glasgow: Scotland with style’ finished second a few hours later. Their overall total points of 13 makes them joint leaders with Durban: 2010 and Beyond.

Nova Scotia finished Race 2 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race in third place on Tuesday night at the end of a 4,200-mile transatlantic race from La Rochelle to Salvador. The team crossed the finish line at 2358 local time (0358 GMT) on Monday after 25 days of close racing in the first ocean crossing of the ten-month series.

Nova Scotia Skipper Rob McInally said: “It’s great to be here in Brazil with the team and it was great to get a podium finish into Salvador. We decided not to follow the procession in the last stages of the race and headed east to look for better wind, but this time it didn’t pay off and we couldn’t get in front of Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper.”

“The weather was a lottery during this race and we decided to take a gamble off the coast of Brazil. It was always going to work magnificently or not at all, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Rob and his crew opted for a westerly course across the Atlantic and spent much of the race in a duel with winning boat Durban 2010 and Beyond, the other boat to adopt the same tactics.

Whilst the rest of the fleet sailed into a wind hole in the Canaries, Nova Scotia and Durban 2010 and Beyond developed a commanding lead over the rest of the fleet early in Race 2. But Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper hunted the Canadian crew down and managed to keep moving through the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, also known as the Doldrums, and finally overtook Nova Scotia.

Despite slipping back into third place late in the day, Rob and his crew are satisfied with their results in the first two races of the ten-month series. With a third and fourth place in the bag, they are sitting comfortably in the top half of the fleet. “The last race was hard work but a lot of fun. We are looking to win the race round the world and the key to that is consistency rather than winning individual races.”

The crew of Nova Scotia is now undertaking maintenance and the deep clean of the 68-ft yacht in Salvador after which they are looking forward to a few days off to explore the state of Bahia. “We’ve now got a lot of work to do on the boat to make sure it is ready for Race 3 to Durban.,” Rob said.

The fleet will start Race 3 from Salvador to Durban on 24 October.

Clipper - Salvador Finishing Positions and DTF, 18 Oct 2007

1 Durban 2010 and Beyond - Finished
2 Glasgow:Scotland with style - Finished
3 Nova Scotia - Finished
4 Liverpool 08 - Finished
5 Hull & Humber - Finished
6 westernaustralia2011.com - Finished
7 Uniquely Singapore 83
8 Qingdao 121
9 New York 158
10 Jamaica 177