HAMBLE yachtsman Neal McDonald missed out on victory in the Volvo Ocean Race yesterday when favourites illbruck claimed the title after a gruelling 32,700 miles of racing.
McDonald brought home ASSA ABLOY second but clung to a slim hope of winning the race after a superb win in the short sprint from La Rochelle to Gothenburg.
He needed to post a fourth win of the race in the last leg to Kiel and see illbruck arrive in fifth place or lower to take the title.
However, Djuice, the boat that struggled all the way around the world, claimed victory in the final leg but it was the German crew who took all the honours at the finish in their homeland port of Kiel.
Sail trimmer and sail designer Ross Halcrow, from New Zealand - the only crew member on board illbruck who has ever won the America's Cup (in 1995) - said: "This welcome has been huge and double as big as whatever I have seen in the America's Cup."
Amer Sports One came third.
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