IchorCoal back to emotional welcome, Qingdao 2nd in around the world race

IchorCoal Friday arrived in Rio de Janeiro as one of the last two teams in the first race of Clipper Around the World Race.

All the crew members of the IchorCoal team wore black arm bands in memory of Andrew Ashman who used to be one of them while waiting crew from all teams and many supporters came out to show their support with applause.

A British amateur sailor, Ashman, 49, died after being hit by a sail less than a week into the race. It was the first death in the race's 19 years of history.

The incident resulted in the team diverting to Portugal where the crew made the unanimous decision to race on in Andrew's honor. Using this as motivation, IchorCoal made up a 700 nautical mile deficit to overtake back runner, Unicef, in the race.

"The crew is really good. We are a strong team and much stronger because of what happened with Andrew. We have built and built on that really," IchorCoal skipper Darren Ladd said.

"We have daily meetings and there is a lot of talking and soul searching. We've all had our moments but I think that's what has really brought us together and as a race team now we are right on it," he said.

When the Race 1 course ended, IchorCoal was in 11th place, but this position is expected to be improved once the Race Office has applied official redress of 81 hours 11 minutes.

Lmax Exchange won the Race 1 when they arrived on Sept. 25 while China's Qingdao crossed the finish line on Sept. 27.

Qingdao, named after the Chinese port city and the sailing venue for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, steadily improved its position as the race went on.

They moved up to second place on Day 18 and kept ahead of chasing boats including Great Britain ever since.

As part of its sponsorship the city of Qingdao offers local sailors the chance to train and each take part in a leg of the race with the aim of inspiring increased sailing participation in China.

The only Chinese crew member who will take part in all 14 legs are a 22-year-old college student Zhu Jiangbei. She took a year off her study to join the race. Endi