THE race is back on today for Hampshire sailors competing in the round the world Clipper race which was halted last week amid safety fears.

The first nine yachts have departed Hong Kong and restarted Race 9 after completing repairs to the forestay bottlescrews.

Last week organisers ordered the 12 yachts, which are identical, to stop racing from Singapore to Southampton's twin city in China, Qingdao, after three developed problems with their rigging.

They had to switch on their motors and make for Hong Kong.

All teams have since restarted Race 9 after crossing the restart gate.

The race will be decided upon elapsed times into Qingdao, China, organisers say, with the start times of each of the fleet listed in due course.

Team Garmin, Old Pulteney, Qingdao and Henri Lloyd all arrived overnight and departed at 10am British time after the repairs.

Jamaica Get All Right is expected to arrive in Hong Kong on Monday morning while PSP Logistics andOneDLL are due on Tuesday morning. The fleet is expected to arrive into Qingdao between March 10 and 12