The only Australian skippered team in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has arrived on home soil after a gruelling leg through the Southern Ocean.
The PSP Logistics team, made up of amateur crew predominantly from New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, finished in seventh place within the 12-yacht fleet of identical 70 foot ocean racers and is currently third overall in the 11-month long race.
It crossed the finish line near Albany Waterfront Marina, on Western Australia's southern coast, at 13.27pm (WST) on Wednesday and will remain there for five days before sailing to Brisbane.
The cheer of "Aussie Aussie Aussie!" went up as they docked and an Aboriginal flag was erected on the vessel, honouring indigenous team member Matt Murphy.
Skipper Chris Hollis, 34, said it was an incredibly challenging leg.
"One of the storms we faced was bigger than we thought it was going to be, but we managed to stay racing and escape unscathed," he said.
PSP Logistics smashed the 300 mile a day Clipper record, covering 310.5 nautical miles in 24 hours between Africa and WA.
The team was also beset by wind holes, sailing slowest of all competitors for six hours when they covered only eight miles.
"Chris thought that was funny, to be both the fastest and the slowest," his mother Sally Hollis told AAP.
She and husband John have travelled from Sydney to see their son and say they couldn't be more proud of him.
"And we're so glad that he's arrived safely," John Hollis said.
A notable member of the crew is Queenslander Nigel Brennan, a photojournalist who was in 2008 held hostage in Somalia for 462 days.
"Crossing the Southern Ocean was incredibly tough," Brennan said.
"At times there was snow on the deck and 100 knots of wind."
After the team arrived, four yachts came in within three minutes of each other.
