Sanya Serenity Coast clinches overall Clipper Race win

Chinese boat Sanya Serenity Coast has won the 2017-18 Clipper Round the World Race on Friday.

The overall win makes the boat's Australian skipper Wendy Tuck the first woman to lead a team to win a round-the-world yacht race.

Wendy Tuck and her crew on the Sanya Serenity Coast during their voyage. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

The other Chinese boat Qingdao capped off a perfect day for China by winning the final leg of the Clipper Race in Liverpool.

Sanya Serenity Coast is the second Chinese boat to take home the triumph in sailing after the Dongfeng Race Team became the first Chinese boat to win the Volvo Ocean Race overall in June.

The fleet departed from Liverpool on July 20, 2017. It sailed more than 40,000 nautical miles in over 11 months, anchoring in 13 cities that include Chinese coastal cities Qingdao and Sanya. It crossed the Equator twice and sailed across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.

Sailboats in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race crowd together as they make a turn during a two-lap, short course race in Elliott Bay, Sunday, April 29, 2018, in Seattle. [Photo: AP/Elaine Thompson]

Tuck and her crew had to overcome extreme weather conditions like high waves, hurricane force winds, and extreme heat. They also had to cope with the challenge of a broken electronic navigation system, relying instead of traditional navigation techniques and having a lookout on duty 24 hours a day.