Historic win for Aussie female sailor Tuck

london — Australian mariner Wendy Tuck became the first female skipper to win the Clipper Round The World yacht race when the 11 month marathon finished where it started in Liverpool on Saturday.

The 53-year-old — who like the other skippers is a professional yachtswoman but in charge of amateur crews — totalled 143 overall points in her boat Sanya Serenity Coast over the eight leg race covering 40,000 nautical miles in what was the 11th edition of the biennial race. “I hate banging on about women,” Tuck told The Daily Telegraph.

“I just do what I do but I am very proud.” Tuck added she was experiencing “a bit of shock, disbelief, joy, sadness — you name that emotion, I’m probably feeling it right now”.

Tuck edged out another female skipper Britain’s Nikki Henderson, who made her own history in being at 25 the youngest ever captain in the race, who totalled 139 points.

“We didn’t get the win but I am so proud of how my team dug deep and kept fighting right until the end,” said Henderson, who is the daughter of a Conservative Party lawmaker Anne Milton.

The previous youngest skipper to compete was Alex Thomson, who at the age of 26 led a team to win the Clipper Round The World race in 1998.

Thomson finished second in the gruelling solo round-theworld Vendee Globe race in January last year. This edition of the race did not pass off without its share of incident and tragedy.

In November the Greenings yacht, one of 12 which originally left Liverpool, ran aground off the coast of South Africa forcing the vessel to be withdrawn due to damage.—