Canadian skipper Eric Holden wins eighth leg of round-the-world yacht race

SINGAPORE – The Canadian-skippered yacht Henri Lloyd scored it’s second win in the round-the-world Clipper Race this week and is in second spot, closing in on the event leader.

It’s the eighth competition of the 16-stage yacht race, from Brisbane to Singapore and skipper Eric Holden of Vancouver says after problems in Australia it was good to make a move.

“The toughest part of this race was staying patient,” he said after the win.

“It was long and sometimes it seemed like we were making very little progress and making very little gains to the leaders. We just had to be patient and wait to make our move.”

Henri Lloyd also won the fifth race from Albany to Sydney and had been in first place.

“We had some damage in Australia and missed two races, so really this is like back to back wins for us as the last time we got to race properly was from Albany to Sydney. It’s good to be back on top and show everyone that we’re still here and we’re still fighting.”

The yacht is now just 1.1 points behind race leader OneDLL.

Holden also recently won Sail Canada’s Gerry Rouf’s trophy, an award that recognizes offshore racers, the second consecutive time he has won. Holden, 33, was the weather forecaster for the Canadian sailing team at the 2012 London Olympics.

This is the ninth edition of the Clipper, which started Sept. 1 in London in front of a crowd of 120,000 and will visit 12 countries and have covered more than 64,000 kilometres over 11 months by the time it ends.