Two women on world yacht race tell of their joy at reaching UK

Two Scottish women taking part in this year's Clipper Round The World Yacht Race have spoken of their joy at arriving in the UK after crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Sue Smith, 67, and Joanne Currie, 56, were among the hundreds of sailors who arrived in Oban, Argyll and Bute last week, having sailed 3,115 nautical miles from Washington DC in the US.

It marked the end of the 12th stage of the competition, which began on 31 August last year when the 10 70ft yachts sailed from Portsmouth to Puerto Sherry in Spain.

It is only the second time the 40,000-nautical mile race has come to Scotland, following its stop-off in Oban in 2024.

The crews were warmly welcomed on arrival, with a piper and cheering spectators, while each adventurer was treated to a dram of whisky on reaching shore.

The yachts will remain in Oban until Sunday, when they will depart for Portsmouth on the final stage of the 25/26 edition of the race.

Ms Smith, from Helensburgh, was part of the Team Scotland crew that made the crossing in just under 16 days - despite some challenging weather conditions.

"It was really hot for probably a week, and then the rain started, and it was like day and night, endless rain for about five days, and you were just wet all the time," she said.

Ms Smith, who completed three legs of the previous edition of the race, said the boat then spent a week in "a lot of fog" before finding itself becalmed in a "windhole" within sight of land.

She revealed there are days when "it's just quite hard" - but crew members have no choice but to "get on with it".

She added: "It's just the kind of relentlessness. When it's a bit rough, well, everything is just so hard to do."

The former massage therapist, who joined this year's race in Washington, spoke of her joy at finally crossing the stage finish line, about two miles off Oban.

"We had a great reception," she said.

"There were a lot of boats that had come out to wave and cheer and blow horns.

"Then we were met by some dolphins leaping about, which was really nice. Then we motored into Oban, and it was just like people in the dock and people shouting.

"It was great, and the bagpipes were playing, and so I think everyone actually thought, 'oh, this is good'.

"For me, when I hear the bagpipes, it's quite emotional sometimes. So, the reception was just fantastic."

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Ms Currie, who is originally from Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute but now lives in Falkirk, also joined the race in Washington.

She was on the Power Of Seattle Sports boat that made the Atlantic crossing in 16 days, 15 hours.

Ms Currie said: "Within the first week I had seen the big wide open skies that I wanted to see, and just experiencing ocean sailing, helming, seeing dolphins and whales. That was fantastic."

She was the first person on her boat to spot land on Friday evening.

"We could see Jura, Colonsay, so the scenery was fantastic.

"(We hadn't had) phone signal for about two weeks, so everyone was checking their phone to see if we could get phone signal, and we all made the first phone calls or first texts to friends and family."

(c) Sky News 2026: Two women on world yacht race tell of their joy at reaching UK