The crew of New York crossed the finish line at 06:58 local time (10:58 BST) today to finish Race 2 in 9th place after their first ocean crossing in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. The team had managed to overhaul Jamaica towards the end of the race, but were unable to make up enough ground on Qingdao to move further up the fleet.

Qingdao crossed the finish line at 00:43 local time (04:43 BST) to become the eighth boat to finish. They were greeted with fireworks and the traditional Brazilian cocktails – despite the hour: “It’s great to be here,” said a suprisingly sprightly Marcus Cholerton-Brown, skipper of Qingdao. “It’s been a long crossing and four days of trying to get through the Doldrums were particularly harsh. The race has been a massive learning curve for everyone and we’ll use this stopover to take stock and focus on the challenges ahead.”

Qingdao was first over the start line 26 days ago in La Rochelle but they were one of six boats that chose the risk of sailing through the Canaries and suffered the consequence of the islands wind shadow. They remained one of the most easterly boats and for a while had a battle for position with other Asian entry, Uniquely Singapore. However they were unable to overtake the Singaporean team who crossed the line in seventh place nearly five hours ahead of Qingdao.

All teams have been greeted by friends, family and fellow 07-08 race crews on arriving at the Terminal Maritimo da Bahia, before getting on with maintenance and deep cleaning ahead of the start of Race 3 to Durban next week.

Jamaica, the final boat racing, is expected to finish the race later this afternoon to join the nine boats already in Salvador. This evening the teams will attend the prize giving ceremony for Race 2 when the podium finishers – Durban 2010 and Beyond, Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and Nova Scotia will receive their race pennant to proudly fly on their boats.