Wendy Tuck, the first Australian female skipper in the history of the Clipper Race, has arrived onto home soil, finishing the gruelling Southern Ocean leg from Cape Town, South Africa, to Albany, Western Australia.
Wendy, skipper of team Da Nang – Viet Nam, crossed the finish line at 1340UTC/2140 local time on Wednesday 25 November, at the end of the 4,845 nautical mile stage of the tenth edition Clipper 2015-16 Race.
Wendy, 50, the first Australian female skipper in the 20-year history of the race, finished Race 3 in eighth place after more than 25 days at sea.
Wendy said: “We had a very varied race, and it wasn’t as bad as we were expecting overall. We had quite a few fronts come through, but not the big rolling swells the Southern Ocean and Roaring Forties is known for, so I think we got off a little lighter than anticipated. However, the storm on day two really caught us off guard as we thought it was just gusts at first and were not prepared so early on in the race, and we sustained quite a bit of damage.
“After that, we were quite lucky and didn’t stop the boat and managed to go through the lighter patches. We had some fast helming speeds and had a good surfing speed competition going on, although the Leg 2 records were not broken.
“I am looking forward to being back in Australia, especially as we ran out of Vegemite on board!” Wendy added.
Wendy and the other 12 teams will race onto Sydney next in Race 4: The Elliot Brown Timekeeper Cup. It will start on Tuesday December 1.
The teams will then compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on December 26.
