As they closed in on the finish in Table Bay after 3,300 miles of racing across the Atlantic, the two boats were matching each other mile for mile with Welcome to Yorkshire and New York hot on their heels. As they crossed the line, just five minutes and eleven seconds separated them.

Mark Light and his team on Derry-Londonderry, representing the UK City of Culture 2013, crossed the finish line with a backdrop of Table Mountain at 0505 local time on Thursday morning (0305UTC) followed by Qingdao at 0510 (0310 UTC). Race 3 was won by Gold Coast Australia on Tuesday, completing their hat trick of victories so far in Clipper 11-12, with Visit Finland finishing in second place and De Lage Landen in third.

9 yachts fromn the Clipper Around the World fleet have now berthed in Cape Town.

Upon his arrival in the V&A Waterfront, Derry-Londonderry skipper, Mark Light, said, “It was touch and go – a great finish. Qingdao crossed in front of us and then they had to gybe but we didn’t have to. They crossed probably 200 metres in front of us and we were waiting and waiting for the gybe which didn’t come and all of a sudden we cut inside of them and managed to take them in the last 0.8 of a mile. It was amazing.

“We were disappointed initially not to get fourth but that quickly disappeared because we were massively happy to get fifth place.”

Qingdao’s skipper, Ian Conchie, said, “It’s been a duel all the way in up until the last six hours when we got ahead of them. In very light airs we found yet another wind hole as we approached Cape Town and then on the final gybe, less than a mile from the finish, the wind shifted on us which meant we could no longer hold the kite and they just sneaked in front of us. We were 50 metres off the beach – it was an exhilarating stuff after 3,300 miles.”

By comparison, Singapore managed to secure a relatively comfortable fourth position ahead of the fierce contest for fifth place, with the result set to keep them in the top three overall.

Singapore finished at 0149 local time on Thursday morning (2349UTC, Wednesday 28 September). The team had been in a strong position for most of the race, and managed to see off the competition for fourth place.

Upon arriving in Cape Town, Singapore skipper, Ben Bowley, said, “It was a pretty tough race. It certainly put the crew, the boat and, to a certain extent myself, through our paces. We had some pretty nasty weather in the early part and some very light weather towards the end of it so there were a lot of challenges.”

The 26-year-old yachtsman, the youngest of the ten skippers, continued, “We had a few setbacks early in the race; we went out on a bit of a flyer to try to get more breeze which didn’t quite pay off and sent us down the fleet quite a bit but we slowly spent the rest of the leg clawing back up the leader board and we’re very happy with the position we’ve got. Depending on where these next few boats finish it should put us second or third overall, which is a great position to be going into Race 4 with.”

Two days ago his team was becalmed, their instruments reading a speed of 0.0 knots and they could only watch as the yachts behind them closed in on their position.

“Although we hit the wind hole earlier than the other guys by the time it had passed we were in striking distance of Cape Town,” said Ben.

Welcome to Yorkshire’s skipper, Rupert Dean, said, “It was fantastic to think that after all those miles Welcome to Yorkshire could be dicing it out with four other boats and to miss each other by minutes at the line was just amazing. Everyone was really up for it and they were fighting right to the very end, so it was a good old race.”

Twenty-four-year-old Leonie Sutherland from Leeds will leave Welcome to Yorkshire in Cape Town to return to her job as a paralegal after racing to South Africa from the UK.

She said, “I’m really gutted to be going but for me Legs 1 and 2 were what I wanted and I’ve said before, it’s the mother of all adventures. I’ve done it, I’ve completed it, I’ve tried my hardest, I feel really strong now and I feel like I can go and do anything. It’s what I’d hoped for and it’s awesome.”

Geraldton Western Australia finished ninth after closing a huge gap on Derry-Londonderry, Qingdao, Welcome to Yorkshire and New York but the Australian boat ran out of race track before they could overtake them.

The team led by South African Juan Coetzer, finished less than three hours behind fourth placed Singapore, crossing the finish line at 0752 local time (0552 UTC).

Juan, who hails from Pretoria, and has lived and worked in Cape Town, said, “I’m over the moon and really ecstatic to be here. I’m proud of my crew especially the amount of work they’ve put in over the last 48 hours. We’ve managed to rake in quite a lot of distance. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to catch the boats right at the end, but I’m overwhelmed to be here.”

Gareth Glover and his team on New York crossed the finish line at 0652 local time (0452 UTC) exactly one hour ahead of Geraldton Western Australia.

Like his fellow competitors, Gareth commented on how close the racing had been. “After thousands of miles of ocean racing it comes down to minutes on a few boats and a couple of hours for the others so it has been very close racing,” he said.

“Personally I enjoy the tough times, when it gets rough,” remarked Gareth. “I do enjoy the harsh weather when you’ve got to dig down deep and pull something out of the bag to do a sail change in 40 knots of breeze. Really pulling strength out the depths of your inner core is what I look forward to,” he continued.

As the crews arrive in Cape Town they are reflecting on the experience of crossing an ocean under sail. Kwong Chung Kan, 49, a Singaporean bank officer, said, it was a memorable experience to be part of the Keppel-backed team on Singapore.

“The worst moment was when we were going through some pretty heavy waves and storms and you couldn’t even sleep – you hit a wave and you get lifted off the bunk a few inches so you couldn’t sleep for the whole night! That was when I wondered, ‘what am I doing here?’ But when you’re up on deck with good weather and you see the sunrise and sunsets and the days you see the dolphins and the whales, those are the moments that make it all worthwhile,” he said.

Kwong Chung will celebrate his birthday during the stopover in Cape Town and he and the other teams will visit many of the attractions the city has to offer including taking the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, the beautiful botanic gardens at Kirstenbosch and Cape Point which the teams will see from the ocean as they round the Cape of Good Hope in the next race to Geraldton in Western Australia.

The only boat still on the course is Edinburgh Inspiring Capital and Gordon Reid and his team are expected to arrive in Cape Town to a warm welcome tomorrow

“Since leaving Rio we have seen very few ships but today a cargo ship bound for Singapore passed within 300 metres just off our port beam. I think he came for a look and we sailed on a fairly parallel course and for a while it looked like we were overtaking him as he was doing a steady 12 knots and we were easily topping out at 18 knots on the surf,” Gordon said.

However, Gordon said he decided to call the captain on the VHF radio to check the vessel was going to pass within a safe distance as their courses appeared to be converging.

“After a wee chat he sped up and passed around 400 meters in front of us and even he was rolling about on the ocean swell despite his size,” Gordon said.

As they close in on Cape Town, the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital team is still enjoying the wildlife. “The South Atlantic is teeming with wildlife including whales, dolphins and various sea birds. Yesterday there were loads of huge albatross surfing the updrafts on the massive ocean swell. They look so graceful, hardy moving their wings at all, just gliding along nonchalantly,” Gordon said.

“We also had a pod of around eight dolphins come for a visit and together shared the surf for about 45 minutes before they bid us farewell,” he added.

Gordon said that he and his team were aware that sailing around the world was a mental challenge in addition to a physical one. “We’re embracing the challenges with enthusiasm and positive thoughts and we’ll soon be drinking a cold beer in Cape Town!” he said.

Berths are now available for Clipper 13-14, which will see the introduction of a brand new fleet of twelve 70-foot yachts. The Clipper Race runs every two years and is the only event in the world where people from all walks of life can take on the challenge of a lifetime and race around the globe on stripped-down ocean racing yachts.

Anyone in Cape Town interested in signing up to take part can look around one of the current fleet this weekend. Between 1pm and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday the public will be able to get on board one of the yachts at the V&A Waterfront to see what conditions are like on board.

At 9:00 am this morning the final boat still sailing, Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, was 168 nautical miles from the finish in Table Bay.

It is a remarkable achievement for the team led by Southampton-based skipper, Stuart Jackson, who only took command of the yacht in Rio de Janeiro just four days before the start of this race. The crew also picked up the maximum three bonus points at the Scoring Gate during the 3,300-mile race across the south Atlantic.

The 68-foot ocean racing yacht crossed the finish line against the magnificent backdrop of Table Mountain at 2330 local time (2130 UTC) on Tuesday. The team had been in a strong position for most of the race, in the latter stages piling the pressure on second placed Visit Finland.

Berths are now available for Clipper 13-14, which will see the introduction of a brand new fleet of 12 70-foot yachts. The Clipper Race runs every two years and is the only event in the world where people from all walks of life can take on the challenge of a lifetime and race around the globe on stripped down ocean racing yachts.

Anyone in Cape Town interested in signing up to take part can look around one of the current fleet this weekend. Between 1pm and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday the public will be able to get on board one of the yachts at the V&A Waterfront to see what conditions are like on board.

Earlier on Tuesday the race was won by Gold Coast Australia, who has completed a hat trick of victories so far in Clipper 11-12. Richard Hewson and his team secured their third consecutive win crossing the finish line off Cape Town at 1256 local time (1056 UTC) with their latest result keeping them firmly at the top of the leader board.

A while later Visit Finland scored a second podium finish seeing off the challenge from De Lage Landen.

Olly Osborne and his crew crossed the finish line in Table Bay at 2022 local time (1822 UTC) last night. The team had been in a strong position for most of the race, in the latter stages seeing off stiff competition from the Dutch entry.

Arriving in the V&A Waterfront, Olly said, “It really was right down to the wire with De Lage Landen hot on our heels for the last week. It was punch for punch and we were more or less equal at the scheds. To be honest I really thought they had us at one stage but we just pipped them today.”

Meanwhile, the remaining seven boats are still racing and a fierce battle is underway between Welcome to Yorkshire, Derry-Londonderry, New York and Qingdao with just five miles separating the four teams in terms of their respective distances to the finish.

Welcome to Yorkshire has had a good 24 hours, overtaking both Qingdao and New York to move up to joint fifth place, and now posting the same distance to the finish as Derry-Londonderry.

Rupert Dean and his team will be keen to sweep up as many of the remaining points on offer after picking up an additional bonus point for being the fastest team in the Ocean Sprint between 5 degrees west and 2 degrees east.

“It’s all hotting up as the race into Cape Town draws to a close and it looks like there could be a fight to the finish,” Rupert said.

“We have placed ourselves south [of the rest of the fleet] and below a local high pressure system. Hopefully this means we will be able to close the gap further over the final 200 miles,” he said.

Rupert said it his crew had had a busy night dealing with wind shifts and fluctuating wind speeds.

“It was certainly an enjoyable night as, when kept busy, those night watches always pass by much quicker. It was also good to try out a couple of new things so let’s hope our efforts have won us some miles,” Rupert said.

Despite losing a place to Welcome to Yorkshire during a “frustrating 24 hours”, Qingdao remains in the thick of it and has managed to hold the advantage over New York but only just. With Derry-Londonderry and Welcome to Yorkshire just three miles ahead fifth place is within striking distance for Ian Conchie and his crew.

“After days of watching boats pull away from us it has been our turn to close in on the boats ahead of us. The fluky wind has allowed the fleet to bunch which could lead to a mix up in positions,” Ian said.

“The plan for the next 24 hours is to continue trying to sail as fast as we can (5 knots is the current target speed) and try and get the best result we can,” Ian said.

On Derry-Londonderry, currently level-pegged with Welcome to Yorkshire, Mark Light said his team had also had “a very long day and night drifting around going in no particular direction”.

“In a cruel stroke of bad luck we were left completely becalmed for about 18 hours yesterday and we managed to creep less than seven miles in six hours yesterday afternoon,” Mark said.

“We tried everything we could to make our boat speed anything above the depressing 0.0 knots constantly shown on our speed gauge using the Yankee 1, staysail, lightweight spinnaker and windseeker in various combinations,” he said.

“It was very painful to see not only Singapore overtake us, but also to watch New York and Qingdao keep on sailing and eating up the miles between us. All the time we had to just sit there just staring blankly at our precious lead being eroded away,” he said.

“But with almost 150 miles to run I feel that there may yet be more twists and turns left to unfold before the full-bodied lady has finished her solo,” he added.

On Geraldton Western Australia, Juan Coetzer and his crew opted to go into Stealth Mode after taking a chunk out of Welcome to Yorkshire’s lead over them yesterday. When they re-emerge at the 1200 UTC position report today, it will be revealed whether they have managed to keep the pressure on the English team.

Although Juan and his crew are keen to move up the leader board, they do not want to be over-powered as they know they need to preserve their equipment for the long haul. “The crew has been doing head sail changes on a regular basis in order to keep boat speed up and to look after our sails for the long term,” he said.

“The crew is giving it their all but there’s no point in over-pressing the boat with too much sail up as it is bad for the rigging, sails and, most importantly, the steering gear,” Juan said.

On Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, also currently in Stealth Mode, one crew member is particularly looking forward to the next stopover. Nick Barclay, a 30-year-old supply chain manager from Cape Town, is looking forward to catching up with friends and family in his home city.

Nick’s life was transformed by a kidney transplant in 2005, and he is now doing the full 40,000-mile circumnavigation on Edinburgh Inspiring Capital as one of a number of transplant medics and patients to promote the potential of organ donation to transform lives. The project is led by fellow crew member, Steve Wigmore, professor of transplantation surgery and the clinical lead for transplantation at the University of Edinburgh.

“Prior to my transplant it would have been almost impossible to imagine circumnavigating the globe and without the efforts of Professor Steve Wigmore, I probably wouldn’t be here,” Nick said.

“It feels great to be heading back home to see friends and family. I’m looking forward to seeing Table Mountain and enjoying some creature comforts and the sense of familiarity one feels when home,” he added.

“I can’t wait to show my new friends the sights and sounds of Cape Town. I’m very proud of my country and enjoy showing her off to tourists. I’ve done a fair bit of traveling and Cape Town is by far the prettiest city I’ve encountered, and I’m fortunate enough to call her home,” he said.

Meanwhile, with the first three podium positions now claimed, Singapore is gunning for fourth place but a lack of wind is making the approach to Cape Town frustrating for Ben Bowley and his team. In a one-hour period, Singapore logged a depressing zero miles towards the finish putting the prospect of steak, chips and cold beer on hold until the wind fills in.

“About an hour after writing yesterday’s report the dreaded wind hole that I had talked about materialised right over the top of us. We’ve spent the last 24 hours drifting around at times pirouetting through 360 degrees without steerage,” he said.

“We have been fairly resigned to accept our fate and just try and point the boat in the right general direction and hope for the best,” Ben said.

Following the arrival of the first three boats yesterday, Singapore is expected to finish tonight at around midnight local time followed by Derry-Londonderry at 0200. New York and Qingdao are expected at approximately 0400 local tomorrow morning followed around one hour later by Welcome to Yorkshire. Estimated arrival times for Geraldton Western Australia and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital to be posted in due course.

Positions at 0900 UTC, Wednesday 28 September:

1. Gold Coast Australia – Finished at 10:56 UTC 27/09
2. Visit Finland – Finished at 18:22 UTC 27/09
3. De Lage Landen – Finished at 21:30 UTC 27/09

The Australian team logged the joint best 12-hour run of 116 miles with Singapore overnight putting them within 200 miles of the Cape Town finish line on 26 September at 09h00 UTC, after a 3,300-mile race from Rio de Janeiro.

“Gold Coast Australia is now clear of the patch of lighter winds caused by the South Atlantic High and is sailing along with good speed directly towards Cape Town,” skipper, Richard Hewson, said.

Richard added that he was expecting the wind to drop off as his team approaches land, so he cautioned that he was not getting his hopes too high.

“The last few miles of a race always take longer than you think,” he said.

With a third win in his sights, the Australian skipper is feeling confident.

“The crew is sailing the boat really well and everyone has come a long way since the start of the race. Helming and trimming techniques are developing and are now definitely above my expectations for this stage of the race,” he said.

De Lage Landen has also been making good progress as one of the four boats to post a triple digit 12-hour run. Skipper Stuart Jackson and his team are now 92 miles behind Gold Coast Australia after clawing their way up the leader board.

On Welcome to Yorkshire, skipper Rupert Dean and his team have secured the bonus point for the Ocean Sprint between 5 degrees west and 2 degrees east.

Yesterday Welcome to Yorkshire declared a provisional time of 32 hours and ten minutes, the fastest to date. Edinburgh Inspiring Capital has declared their time at 46 hours and 46 minutes this morning. “I would like to credit my crew for our success in the Ocean Sprint. They worked hard, maintained their focus and did our Welcome to Yorkshire sponsor proud,” Rupert said.

Olly Osborne and his team on Visit Finland have opted to go into Stealth Mode as they close in on the finish. They will emerge from the invisibility shield at the midnight UTC position reports tonight and until then they will keep everyone guessing about whether they have managed to keep the pressure on Gold Coast Australia and see off the challenge from De Lage Landen.

“It is beginning to look like this could be a really close finish with the leading boats converging again on the rhumb line. We are desperately trying to hold off De Lage Landen at present but she is sailing well and no amount of trimming and spinnaker peels seem to open the gap between us,” Olly said.

“This may well be due to her more southerly position, but it is a great incentive to hunt for the last ounce of boat speed and keeps the watches focused. With more than 400 miles of spinnaker work ahead of us it promises to be a fantastic finale to this race,” he added.

On Derry-Londonderry, Mark Light said his crew was also looking forward to the downwind conditions despite some “spinnaker shenanigans” in the early hours of this morning.

Mark said his team had been carrying out regular checks for chafe on the loaded lines and hoisting or lowering the halyard by a few inches on an hourly basis, a practice known as ‘exercising the halyard’ to prevent excessive heat build up and pressure which can lead to failure.

“As night fell we had double checked everything and even secured a second spinnaker guy onto the end of our pole so that the pole would stay in position if our existing guy was to break. All these checks and measures are routine on boats these big and powerful Clipper 68s with oversize spinnakers that can exert massive forces on lines and huge stresses on the boat,” he said.

Despite all the checks and precautionary measures, the ‘all hands on deck’ call was made in the early hours of the morning. In the darkness, Mark worked out that the spinnaker guy snap shackle that attaches to the sheet had opened and allowed the spinnaker to detach from the pole.

“Our LegenDerry crew once again excelled themselves by getting the sail down very quickly and with no damage, and after a thorough inspection of all lines, we found nothing untoward, so re-hoisted, trimmed and carried on at a steady 10 knots of boat speed,” Mark said.

Following their success is the Ocean Sprint, Rupert and his team on Welcome to Yorkshire are hunting down Qingdao and New York.

“Right now on Welcome to Yorkshire, we have a race within a race. We’re hunting down New York and Qingdao ahead of us, whilst looking over our shoulder at Geraldton Western Australia behind,” Rupert said, acknowledging that more “twist and turns” were likely before the finish.

On Qingdao, Ian Conchie and his team are doing everything they can to hold their position. As the wind swung round to the west, the Chinese team headed south and hoisted their biggest spinnaker to maximise boat speed.

“With each position report we have been looking at the rest of the fleet wishing we had the same wind and finally this morning we have,” Ian said.

However, this morning the team is paying the price for flying the biggest but most delicate of its spinnakers. “During the night we managed to rip our lightweight spinnaker all the way from top to bottom giving Dave, our sail repair crew member, a huge amount of work to do in Cape Town,” Ian said.

With just two miles separating them from Qingdao, New York is keen to hang onto this small lead. At the time, skipper Gareth Glover is aware of the threat posed by Welcome to Yorkshire after posting the fastest time in the Ocean Sprint thanks to their southerly position.

“There is big wind developing in front us and at this point looks like the lead boats might just get through but we’ll to keep up our speed above 10 knots to squeak through,” Gareth said, adding that he hoped he would be able to hold the medium weight spinnaker to the finish.

On Geraldton Western Australia, Juan Coetzer said his team had dealt with a tear on the leading edge of one of their spinnakers. He said he called for an immediate drop and opted for a guy-run drop, keeping the guy attached to prevent flogging, to avoid further damage.

“This was something the crew had never done before but they listened to the orders I gave and we managed to save a really big disaster,” Juan said. Adding that crew member, Pete Phillips, had spent four hours doing a repair. “It’s now up and flying again so happy days,” he said.

On Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, Gordon Reid and his team are alternating between a poled out headsail and the heavyweight spinnaker as they endeavour to make best speed towards Cape Town.

“In the dynamic game of ocean racing, nothing ever stays the same and especially not the wind on the edge of two South Atlantic pressure systems,” Gordon said.

The Edinburgh Inspiring Capital team is taking advantage of the downwind conditions to gets some maintenance done ahead of their arrival in Cape Town.

“Being on a downwind or beamy course means the boat is invariably flatter allowing the crew to crack on with our never ending jobs list. On any yacht your jobs list should never be empty as there is continual ongoing maintenance and there are always improvements and efficiencies to be discovered,” Gordon said.

Singapore is making good progress and along with race leaders, Gold Coast Australia, logged the best 12-hour run overnight. Skipper Ben Bowley said his team had changed down from the heavy weight spinnaker to the medium weight kite as the wind abated giving them an extra 1.5 knots of boat speed.

“As the wind had slowly backed round through the night we are happy with our position for our final run into Cape Town having gybed over this morning.  We are still making sure we stay a little south of the rhumb line to ensure that we don’t end up going upwind on the final 100 miles into the finish,” Ben said.

As their second transatlantic race of the two-month series draws to a close, Ben and his team are looking forward to making landfall in Africa.

“As we enjoy a wonderful sunrise just in front of our sponsored spinnaker with fresh coffees in hand, all thoughts are turning to our imminent arrival in Cape Town after what had been a challenging leg. Fingers crossed that this wind holds for just long enough,” Ben said.

The Clipper Race Team has now arrived in Cape Town and is busy preparing for the arrival of the Clipper fleet over the coming days. The ten boats will be berthed in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront until the start of Race 4 to Geraldton in Western Australia. Gold Coast Australia is expected to finish not before 1000 local tomorrow, and further estimated arrival times will be posted in due course.

Positions at 0900 UTC, Monday 26 September:

1. Gold Coast Australia – 187nm (Distance top Cape Town)
2. De Lage Landen – 279nm (+92nm (DTL – Distance to Leader)
3. Derry-Londonderry – 346nm
4. Visit Finland – 351nm
5. Singapore – 379nm
6. New York – 463nm
7. Qingdao – 465nm
8. Welcome to Yorkshire – 503nm
9. Geraldton Western Australia – 570nm
10. Edinburgh Inspiring Capital – 834nm

Gold Coast Australia at the start of the Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town leg. Image credit: Daniel Zeppe/onEdition

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.

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.

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

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.