Qingdao led a parade of sail at London's Royal Docks on Saturday after finishing as the overall winner of the 2019-20 season Clipper Round The World Yacht Race.

The journey started in the summer of 2019 from London, but was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic until this March. After racing over 40,000 nautical miles around the world, Qingdao, representing the Chinese sailing city, claimed the overall champion with a total of 145 points.

"It's really good feeling," said 35-year-old British Chris Brooks, who skipped Qingdao for 11 months and won five races in the 2019-20 edition. "It's brilliant to see the team just enjoy themselves and the combination of all their hard work. They are having a fantastic time and it makes me happy. So that's good."

Brooks, who started his sailing life at seven, believes winning a competition as tough as the Clipper race needs a good team.

"You need to build a good team. And I think it's important that the team respect each other. And installing that into the team is really important because it makes everyone answerable to each other and no one wants to let each other down.

"I think that's how we have done well in this competition. It's that people care about each other and they know that everybody else wants to do well, so they want to do well too."

Brooks felt sad that they could not stop in Qingdao because of the pandemic, but Chinese sailer Zheng Yi tried his best to introduce his hometown to people around.

"I feel so proud that I could represent Qingdao, China to compete in the whole race and I'm thrilled for what we have achieved," said Zheng, who started to practice sailing at 10.

"As a Qingdao native, I feel at home while on board of Qingdao," said Zheng. "I want to show Qingdao to people all around the world through sailing."

Sanya and Zhuhai, the other two boats representing the Chinese cities, finished sixth and ninth respectively.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, founder of the Clipper race, said, "I'm delighted the race was finished, but I'm sad we have to miss China."

"Normally, we are going to China. It gives people opportunities and it's a very interesting country."

Knox-Johnston hopes the Clipper fleet could go to China when the next edition begins and he looks forward to see more Chinese crews. "They can give us a sample of China and we can give the Chinese a sample of Clipper."

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