RACE 5 WRAP - THE WHITSUNDAYS, HEART OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
 

Race 5, named The Whitsundays, Heart of the Great Barrier Reef, was a 4,000 nautical mile race around the Australian coast.

From Western Australia, the bows of the yachts pointed south, out of the Indian Ocean and back to the challenge of the Roaring Forties. Cape Leeuwin marked the southwestern tip of Australia and is one of the three Great Capes, the second of the Clipper 2019-20 Race route, that only a privileged few get to sail.

The race route took the teams below the 40th Parallel for another sleigh ride east. Far across the horizon, is the Great Australian Bight and the unforgiving shores of the Nullarbor Plain. At sea, the fleet raced towards the southern tip of Tasmania and into the Tasman Sea for the first time.

The teams’ route north for the testing race to port on the East Australian Current was completed with huge ocean swells which challenged crew stamina and a frustrating time for teams was well documented.

After 19 tough days at sea racing around the coast of Australia, the Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam team, skippered by Josh Stickland, has secured line honours in the fifth race of the global circumnavigation. The team, crewed by 16 non-professionals, crossed the finish line in the Whitsundays at 09:23:49 UTC.

Crossing the finish line of Race 5: The Whitsundays, Heart of the Great Barrier Reef, at 15:14:19 UTC Imagine your Korea had its best finish to date and a second podium in as many races. GoToBermuda received a warm welcome into the Whitsundays as the third team to arrive, crossing the finish line of Race 5 at 22:05:31 UTC.With podium places being decided in the last hour of racing Race Director, Mark Light confirmed that on elapsed time, Unicef finished 1 hour and 17 minutes faster than GoToBermuda, to snatch third place and the podium spot.