Transatlantic race has a winner

British OSTAR sailors finish the course

The 2009 OSTAR transatlantic race is now over, with Will Sayer's Elmarleen finishing the crossing in just 19 days.

The OSTAR (Original Single Handed Trans-Atlantic Race) started in Plymouth and finished in New York’s Rhode Island. OSTAR 2009 began on the 25th May and is the world’s oldest solo sailing race, dating back to 1960.

The race was a hard slog for GB's Katie Miller, a 22-year old Southampton Solent University student who has been gaining a steady reputation in the sailing world and was awarded the Young Sailor of the Year Award in 2007. Katie is also an Ambassador for the Ellen MacArthur Trust, helping children recovering from cancer and leukemia by taking them on sailing trips in the Solent.

Katie kept in touch through her blog, updating from the midpoint:

“Blog 13: ….Well after a short bust at 7knots towards Newport the wind has died down as promised. We are now crawling again. We are edging nearer and nearer that 1000 mile mark. It’s been really frustrating. Normally we cover at least 100 miles a day. Yesterday if anything we went backwards. I know we have lost out a lot on the other competitors and while half of me is really frustrated and almost a bit bitter, the other half is reminding me that it’s the first solo Atlantic and I always said the priority was finishing.”

Katie came in at a respectable 23 days, 19 hours and 10 minutes, which was still only enough to get her second from last placing.

Keeping up the chase was fellow Brit Rob Craige, who remained close to the lead and took third place. Rob Cumming, 19, from Plymouth, had to retire from the race after suffering irreparable storm damage to his yacht ‘Ego-Tripp’.

Read Katie's blog at www.katiemillerracing.com/blog.html

For full results, see www.ostar2009.co.uk