Edge of Seat Conclusion to Challenge Transat Leg 1

With just 43 minutes separating the yachts after almost 3000 miles of racing, the Challenge Transat came to a nail-biting conclusion as Pindar held on to a slender lead to win the Leg One.
Sir Chay Blyth, Chairman of Challenge Business says "Wow! This race was something else. Forty minutes apart having crossed the North Atlantic."

After passing the Needles with only a boat-length between the yachts, the lead swapped from one to the other throughout the race. They experienced everything from Atlantic storms, to going in circles and backwards in no wind for 48 hours.

On board, the crew was drawn from diverse nationalities including Russia, Denmark, Canada, the USA, Ireland, Australia and Great Britain, all working as a team in a harmonious whole. They had taken a break from their normal lives as insurance brokers, finance managers, teachers, computer analysts and architects to take three weeks to sail their elite yacht across the notorious North Atlantic Ocean.

Some had never sailed yachts before undertaking the training to prepare them for this race where the only professionals onboard were the skipper and two mates, making up a crew of sixteen for each yacht.

The yachts have more experience having twice circumnavigated the world in the Global Challenge, including the rigours of the Southern Ocean. These renowned yachts are 72ft long and are identical one-design sailing yachts. Therefore only the teamwork and dedication of the race crew makes the difference as to which wins the race - and in this case they are very closely matched!

"We are elated and ecstatic, and very glad to be here," says Jim Allen, skipper of Pindar, "There have been highs and lows of the race. The biggest low was definitely floating backwards in the Gulf Stream towards the UK. We've had everything wind wise from 30 knots to nothing. In fact every time we approached a waypoint the breeze would die off and Spencer Dock would catch up to us as we converged on the mark.

"We've had a fantastic time, this is a really good crew. It's been good sailing and a huge achievement. They have improved amazingly - coming in today we did sail changes and spinnaker launches and they were really switched on. With Spencer Dock just 6 miles behind us, all of my crew gave 110% to try and hold them off."

Andrew Pindar, Chairman of the Pindar Group, commented: "We met Jim Allen a few months ago when he joined us on Pindar for our employee sailing programme. It is no surprise to me that as a great skipper he has been able to bring together his crew in the Challenge Transat race to take line honours, and had a fantastic transatlantic crossing." Skipper of Spencer Dock, Stewart Richardson was gracious in defeat "Ten minutes ago when we got in, I was very tired, but the arrival has buoyed me up. We are really glad to be here, it was quite a tough race. There were some people who thought that because it was less yachts it would be a lesser race. In actual fact it's about 10 times harder. There was only 43 minutes difference between the yachts at the end, so you have to be on it all day every day. It's a lot more stressful than racing a fleet!"

He is however looking forward to race 2 and the rematch: "I certainly am looking forward to Leg 2. However, downwind sailing can be more demanding, I guess I won't be sleeping much! One part of me thinks it's going to be incredible and the other part of me just wants to get everyone home safely. There's a level of stress onboard a racing yacht that you just can't imagine unless you do it - think about driving down the motorway at night at full speed with your lights off, and you get some idea of what it feels like!"

The yachts are berthed in Marblehead in Massachusetts, where the crews are the honoured guests of the Corinthian Yacht Club. After the prize giving most of the crew will depart and be replaced by the crews for Leg 2 of the race, who have been following this event knowing that in just a few days it will be them stepping aboard to take on the challenge of a lifetime.