Northern Ireland Clipper Yacht Heads for South Africa in Fine Style

13th October 2013

#clipper – The Northern Irish entry, Derry~Londondonderry~Doire got off to a flying start today crossing the line in second place as the twelve yachts competing in the world's longest ocean race started Race 3 off the Brazilian coast, in a 3,390 mile South Atlantic challenge to Cape Town, South Africa.

Skipper of Derry~Londonderry~Doire, Sean McCarter said ahead of Race Start today, "I'm delighted with we are in the fleet and the team's performance. We are actually ahead of where we wanted to be at this stage, although results wise we expected more of ourselves as the Doldrums in the lead up to crossing the Equator really slowed us down.

"Our strategy and tactics have been fairly solid until now; it's the same as in Race 2 when we were planning to get west and I warned them at it might not look too good in the early weather reports, but hopefully it will pay off four or five days into the race and we don't need to be leading out.

"We would like to do well in this Race. We deserve to do well and we did by winning the two points in Scoring Gate, and we came in sixth overall with the redress. We will be pushing hard and hoping for a result."

The fleet are due into Cape Town towards the end of the month and will be berthed at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Following a brief stopover, the fleet will then continue on via Albany in Western Australia, Sydney (including the world famous Rolex Sydney Hobart Race), Brisbane, Singapore, China, San Francisco, Panama, Jamaica, New York, Derry Londonderry and Dan Helder in the Netherlands before returning to London's St Katharine Docks for Race Finish in July 2014.

The Clipper Race will return to the UK in July 2014 after a total of 670 crew race 40,000 miles and visit 15 ports on six continents.

Published in Clipper Race

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Clipper Round The World Race

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About the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is undoubtedly one of the greatest ocean adventures on the planet, also regarded as one of its toughest endurance challenges. Taking almost a year to complete, it consists of eleven teams competing against each other on the world’s largest matched fleet of 70-foot ocean racing yachts.

The Clipper Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo, non-stop, around the world in 1968-69. His aim was to allow anyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, the chance to embrace the thrill of ocean racing; it is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors. Around 40 per cent of crew are novices and have never sailed before starting a comprehensive training programme ahead of their adventure.

This unique challenge brings together everyone from chief executives to train drivers, nurses and firefighters, farmers, airline pilots and students, from age 18 upwards, to take on Mother Nature’s toughest and most remote conditions. There is no upper age limit, the oldest competitor to date is 76.

Now in its twelfth edition, the Clipper 2019-20 Race started from London, UK, on 02 September 2019.