Four More Power over the line in Punta del Este Leg 3 Ocean Globe Race.
Fabulous Finnish Finish, Maiden Make their Mark, Neptune Nail It & Triana Triumph!!
- Nail bitingly close finish for Spirit of Helsinki FI (71) and Maiden UK (03) in Punta del Este. The Finns crossed the line at 02:17 UTC on 16th February after 33 days at sea. Maiden crossed at 03:01 UTC.
- Maiden takes second place from HELSINKI after one-hour time compensation granted for diverting to investigate a suspected life raft sitting. Adjusted finish time 02:01 UTC, just 16 mins ahead of Spirit of Helsinki.
- Neptune FR (56) cross line at 20:32 UTC, provisionally 4th in line honours and 7th in IRC – after a 36hr time penalty is applied.
- Triana FR (66) crosses line at 07:16UTC to take FIRST IN IRC for Cape Horn Leg 3.
- Explorer AU (28) completes fleet Cape Horn passages.
- Yacht Club Punta del Este’s Commodore Juan Etcheverrito Zerboni welcomes OGR at the press conference
Spirit of Helsinki FI (71) powered across the Punta Del Este finish line in a nail-bitingly close end to the Cape Horn leg of the McIntyre Ocean Globe. After days of too-close-to-call back and forth between the Finnish Swan 651 and the 58-foot Bruce Farr-designed Maiden UK (03), Spirit of Helsinki (71) swept in just 43 minutes ahead of Maiden in a dramatic finish.
But after 6500 nm of racing, taking in the South Pacific and the infamous Cape Horn, Maiden has placed 2nd on the leaderboard when a one-hour time compensation was deducted. On January 31ST the crew stopped racing for an hour to investigate a suspected life raft sighting three miles distant. In fact, it turned out to be a large orange fishing buoy.
The two former Whitbread yachts have raced into Punta del Este in previous Whitbread Round The World Races. Spirit of Helsinki in 1985, then known as Fazer Finland and Maiden in the 1989 race when she took 3rd place. So, it was the perfect opportunity in Leg 3 for frantic match racing since Cape Horn with Maiden taking the lead after rounding the horn but within just miles from Punta del Este, Spirit of Helsinki, stole it back.
