Hull and Humber yacht in first Clipper race win

The team beat second place Australia by just 17 minutes

The Hull and Humber team in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race have won the New York to Cape Breton Island leg of the race.

It was the first victory for the team who are currently fifth out of 10 yachts taking part.

The team scraped into first place 17 minutes ahead of second place team Spirit of Australia.

They will be awarded with a trophy of a soaring eagle at a ceremony during a nine-day stopover on the island.

'Hard victory'

Hull and Humber's skipper, Justin Taylor, said it felt "excellent" to have won. He said the team built up a good lead but were almost caught by other yachts near the finish line.

"It was a hard victory, actually.

"At the end Spirit of Australia gave us a bit of a scare but we just happened to take the right tack in and they took an offshore tack and it didn't pay off for them.

"We must have done 10 spinnaker changes, headsails up and goodness knows what else and the guys were just great."

Crew member Arthur Bowers, from Hull, said: "The atmosphere when we crossed the finish line was really good, everyone was hugging each other."

The race set off from hull on 13 September and is due to return there in July after 35,000 miles of sailing.

The yachts will set off on the next leg of the race, to Cork in the Republic of Ireland, on 19 June.