Prince William, owned and operated by the Tall Ships Youth Trust, claimed the Tall Ships Challenge Cup in the first ever tall ships match race in Portsmouth yesterday.

Prince William won the first day’s racing by two minutes and 17 seconds, but finished three seconds behind her twin, Stavros S Niarchos on day two of the race. However, overall finishing times declared Prince William the overall winner, by two minutes and 14 seconds.

Captain Darren Naggs, of the winning ship commented: “It has been a fantastic two days. Our ships are identical, so it was all down to teamwork, skill and determination. We had a nail-biting race today, with just three seconds separating the ships, and the race belonged to anyone this morning. The crew worked brilliantly as a team in very choppy sailing conditions and we just managed to pull through with our overall finishing times.”

Rival Captain Bob Stephenson added: “Despite coming a close second, we’ll still celebrate the hard work that everyone put into the event, and look forward to a rematch next year. We can go away knowing that we did our best.”