The Irish entry in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race has set sail from Cape Town following the start day crash that forced her to return to port for repairs. Cork, Ireland has been back in port since Sunday afternoon and a team of boat builders has been working around the clock to get her ready to resume the race to Geraldton, Western Australia.

This lunchtime the marine surveyor pronounced her fit to leave and the crew, who had gathered at the yacht club this morning made their final preparations for the 4,700-mile race that will take them into the Southern Ocean along the Great Circle route to Geraldton, Western Australia.

Cork Crew prepare to leave Cape Town

Cork’s delayed departure follows a collision on the start line on Sunday afternoon when she slammed into Hull & Humber’s port side, causing both teams to return to harbour for repairs. Teams of boat builders from Action Yachting at Royal Cape Yacht Club have been working on the bow of the boat which was damaged in the crash. At 1834 local time (1634 GMT) the yacht slipped her lines, the repairs complete a day earlier than predicted.

Cork’s skipper, Richie Fearon, was keen to get going again. “I’m glad we’re getting away. I’m a bit upset for Hull & Humber that they won’t be coming with us. It’ll be good maybe to get away and get a bit of distance between us and Cape Town to put this incident behind us and move forward from that.

“The crew are great and they’ve been looking after me – I’ve been pretty down about it but they’ve looked after me well, so it will be good to get back out on the water and do what we do best.”

Management of the boat was handed over to Richie and his crew after the surveyor had given the green light and the finishing touches are being put to preparations to leave. Eight of the ten-strong fleet of 68-foot ocean racing yachts have been racing for four days and are already eating up the miles. The tail enders are a little more than 500 miles ahead of Cork and are providing a ready target for the Irish crew.

“We’ll certainly be trying to catch them,” says Richie. “It’s why we came here to the Southern Ocean and we’ll have a good run at it. I don’t think it’s going to change the way we sail the boat because as a team we’ve got to keep the pressure on, keep learning. That’s what we’re here to do, we’re out here to learn every day. So we won’t be changing how we sail at all. The only difference is we’re going to be in a different pressure system because we’ve got two lows coming across. We’ll have a good bit of wind to start the week and we should be able to close the gap on them. It would be nice to pass one or two!”

Race Director, Joff Bailey, said, “I’m really pleased we managed to get the repairs completed so quickly and we’ve been able to get them out racing again. The Race Committee has some decisions to make in the next couple of weeks with regard to the incident on Sunday, but for now we’ll be focussing on getting Hull & Humber’s repairs completed so they can start racing as soon as possible.”

Hull & Humber’s repairs will take a little longer and the English boat is forecast to leave Royal Cape Yacht Club next Tuesday.

Richie says, “It’s unfortunate Hull & Humber won’t be coming with us but we’re taking a couple of their crew members who need to be there to meet their family to get them to Geraldton in time for their Christmas holidays.”

Having been given the option race with their competitors Victoria Strecker and Charlie Mulliner will become members of Cork’s crew for this race only and for 21-year-old student, Charlie, it was a really hard decision to make.

“I’ve got nine of my family coming out to see me in Australia so it’s the difference between them seeing me and not. It’s one of those decisions that I’ve had to make but I feel absolutely gutted that I’ve had to get off Hull & Humber and it’s horrible having to leave our team when we’re just so close knit. But the guys on Cork have been really welcoming and it’s going to be an amazing leg anyway. I’m very excited about it; it’s one of the things I’ve been looking forward to sailing around the world, so to be finally doing it after all this time will be absolutely incredible.”

Round the world crew member on Cork, Michael Lewis, 30, an engineer from Dublin, is also looking forward to racing across the Southern Ocean.

“I’m really looking foward to it. The Southern Ocean’s always been one of the highlights of the race for me so it’s going to be great to get out there, get the boat moving and do what we’re here to do really and get racing again. We just want to get to Australia as quickly as possible and we’ll see how it goes. We’re a long way behind but we’re looking forward to getting across the ocean as quick as we can.”

The Clipper Race is the only race in the world where the crews come from all walks of life, all ages and with all levels of experience. Prior to their training, some 40 percent of the crews had never stepped aboard a sailing yacht before. Clipper 09-10 started on the Humber on the east coast of the UK in September 2009 and the ten yachts and their crews will return there on 17 July 2010.

Each Clipper yacht is entered by a city, region or country and sponsors use the event to showcase themselves to the world. On the last running of the Clipper Race, more than 212 million people worldwide followed the adventure through television, print media, radio and online.

Cork is funded by Fáilte Ireland, Cork City Council and Cork County Council with the main objective of promoting Cork as a tourism and business destination around the world. Working alongside Tourism Ireland, Cork will be promoted to consumers, trade and the media in key markets that the race visits. The culmination of the project will be the arrival of the Clipper fleet in Kinsale in July 2010 for eight days of festivities which will showcase Ireland to a global market.

The fleet is expected to arrive in Geraldton, Western Australia for the next stopover between 14 and 18 December.

Cape Town, South Africa: A dramatic start to Race 4 of Clipper 09-10 in Cape Town saw eight of the boats cross the start line for the 4,700-mile race to Geraldton, Western Australia, while a collision between Hull & Humber and Cork, Ireland resulted in the two teams returning to harbour. None of the crew were hurt and the Race Director and the shore team are now assessing the damage to Hull & Humber’s port aft quarter and Cork’s bow.

Start of the Clipper Around the World Race Leg 4 in Cape Town

California had another cracking start in the stiff south easterly breeze in Table Bay and was first across the line to massive cheers from the crew on board.

California was followed by Spirit of Australia, looking for a win on this race to their home port, and Team Finland. The skippers of both California and Team Finland live in Cape Town so may have been able to call on a little local knowledge to press home their advantage as they led the fleet back into the South Atlantic. As they sailed into the lee of Table Mountain, which looked magnificent in the South African sunshine, the winds dropped slightly.

The Clipper Race is hard fought and, as in any sport, the adrenaline is pumping for the crews on the start line.

Race Chairman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, was watching the action on the water and said, “This is a closely contested race and this kind of thing happens in fiercely competitive racing. The race is underway – eight boats are racing off towards Geraldton in Western Australia. For the two damaged boats, repairs will be effected as speedily as possible so they can catch up.”

The Clipper maintenance team, headed up by Justin Haller, has already begun assessing the damage and is in contact with local marine surveyors who will be called in to assist. Both yachts have been taken from the V&A Waterfront to Royal Cape Yacht Club for the work to be carried out.

Hearing of the incident, the Irish Ambassador to South Africa, who was in Cape Town today, has stayed in the city to support the team and is commiserating with them at the yacht club.

Cape Town has proved a huge hit with the crews who have enjoyed climbing Table Mountain – and abseiling down its sheer granite rock face – visiting Robben Island, the gardens at Kirstenbosch. And a few even had the chance to take an exclusive, behind the scenes tour of the brand new Cape Town Stadium which is being built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

As much as they love visiting the stopover cities and countries, the crews are here to race and this morning they were anxious to get back out on the water. As the eight teams who crossed the start line, which was marked at one end by a South African Navy minesweeper, headed back out into the South Atlantic, the current overall race leader Team Finland was just ahead of California. Spirit of Australia, in second place overall, was just behind them in third place, followed by the eagle-emblazoned Cape Breton Island, Uniquely Singapore and Qingdao. Jamaica Lightning Bolt and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital were not far behind.

The teams will round the Cape of Good Hope before heading down into the treacherous waters of the Southern Ocean where the first three boats to reach the scoring gate can gain some precious extra points. The fleet is expected to arrive in Geraldton, Western Australia, between 14 and 18 December.

The ten identical 68-foot yachts participating in the internationally renowned Clipper 09/10 Round the World Yacht Race will be arriving at the V&A Waterfront on Friday 20 November, where they will be moored until they begin the next leg of their race to Australia on Sunday 22 November.

Members of the public who would like to see the yachts will find them in their moorings on the North Wharf, near the Aquarium. The Clipper team will be on hand at their exhibition stand in nearby Market Square to engage with locals and field queries.

On Sunday 22 November, one of South Africa’s best loved single-handed sailors, Bertie Reed, will be honoured at the Clock Tower, when a brass bust is unveiled by his wife, Pat Reed, and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail solo around the world non-stop. The Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Councillor Ian Nielsen, will host a luncheon afterwards.

The fleet, accompanied by NSRI boats and local yachts from the RCYC, where the boats have been berthed from 14 November, will perform an honourary sail past the Bertie Reed bust as they exit the Waterfront area, after which they will gather for the parade of sail at 12:15 (depending on the weather). This last event of the race should not be missed as it will give everyone a chance to see the boats in full sail as they make their way around the harbour.

The next leg of the 35 000 mile race, to Geraldton, Australia, will officially begin at 14:00, and the boats will mark this by racing a short course in Table Bay before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Aghulas and heading across the notorious Southern Ocean to Western Australia.

Capetonians will have an excellent view of the action as the teams depart, and are urged to take advantage of Sunday’s beautiful weather to give the departing fleet a rousing farewell. Great vantage points along the coast stretch from the Breakwater, past the V&A Waterfront to Mouille Point, Green Point and all the way to Sea Point.

Once the yachts are out into the open, ocean race followers will be able to check on the progress of their favourite team on the race viewer at www.clipperroundtheworld.com, where positions are updated every three hours.

Martin Pollack

Cape Town is gearing up to welcome the ten yachts participating in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race.

The fleet of identical yachts, all of which are crewed by amateurs, are on the second leg of a 35 000 mile race around the world, which started in Hull, England on 13 September 2009. They left Rio de Janeiro on 27 October for Cape Town.

The first boats crossed the finish line under Table Mountain on Thursday 12 November, two days ahead of schedule, and the whole of the fleet should be in port by Monday 16 November. After a period of recovery at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, they will move to the V&A Waterfront on 20 November to ready themselves for the start of the third leg of the race to Geraldton, Western Australia on 22 November. Members of the public who would like to see the boats will find them in their moorings on the North Wharf, near the Aquarium. The Clipper team will be on hand at their exhibition stand in nearby Market Square to engage with locals and field queries.

Capetonians are expected to descend on the Waterfront in their thousands to welcome the yachts. Crew members, who number 17 per boat, come from all over the world and all walks of life. These are ordinary people who pay to participate in the race, either in its entirety, or for one or more legs. One such person is Capetonian Marlon Jones, crew member on board ‘Cork, Ireland’ which won this stage of the race. Twenty-year-old Marlon only started sailing five years ago and has shown a natural talent, rising through the ranks of the Izivunguvungu Sailing Academy to represent his country in the 2009 Laser SB3 World Championships, where he and his team finished second. Eero Lehtinen, who skippers ‘Team Finland’, the winner of the first two races in the Clipper 09-10 series and currently just behind ‘Cork, Ireland’ also lives in Cape Town, as does Pete Rollason, skipper of ‘California’.

The yachts are all stripped down 68-footers owned by Clipper Ventures and are sponsored by cities, regions and countries around the world. The ten are: ‘Hull and Humber’, ‘Qingdao’, ‘Uniquely Singapore’, ‘Cape Breton Island’, ‘Spirit of Australia’, California, ‘Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, ‘Jamaica Lightning Bolt, ‘Team Finland’ and ‘Cork, Ireland’. On their return to the Humber in July next year, the participants, who number 430, will have traversed all the world’s major oceans and visited ports on six continents.

Whilst in port, besides restocking on supplies, repairing damage, and welcoming new crew members on board, the crew will visit key attractions tourist attractions, including Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch. These visits will be televised as part of a reality series that will be broadcast around the world in June next year, providing invaluable exposure for the mother city. An estimated 212 million people around the globe are watching the race, or following the website, which is available in 179 countries. The publicity presents a unique opportunity to showcase Cape Town as a world class events and travel destination, which is all the more pertinent in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

To follow the race into Cape Town visit the following website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/index.php/Follow/RaceViewer

Cape Town resident, Eero Lehtinen is skipper of Team Finland.

Eero has three children: Alex, 14, the top-ranked Optimist sailor in South Africa, Ed, 13, also a keen sailor, and Hanna, 9. For the last few years he has been combining sailing and management development, which have a natural synergy, and he is ready to apply that to his role as skipper in Clipper 09-10.

“My biggest achievement at the end of the race will be to have a happy crew and to still be receiving Christmas cards from them five years after the race has finished!” he says. “Team building, putting all the pieces together and the people in the right roles, keeping the wheels turning under pressure and tight schedules – they’re all going to be the most challenging parts of this race.”

Martin Pollack.