Race 4 Day 1: The Derry “LondonDerry” Doire is in third place at the beginning of Race 4 of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
The Derry Clipper is in third place behind lead boat Qingdao and the Henry Lloyd as the fleet begins the crossing from Cape Town in South Africa to Albany in Australia despite not having the perfect start.
Skipper Sean McCarter explained: “We were caught between a rock and a hard place at the start – too early for the spot we wanted on the line but too late to turn back and reposition. We ducked Qingdao and ended up buried behind them and Henri Lloyd.
“The team did really well and a couple of tacks later we rounded the windward mark in about sixth position. The next question was how wide a berth to give Green Point and the Table Mountain wind shadow.
‘We decided that about two-thirds of the way to Robben Island would be our berth and thankfully it panned out pretty well allowing us to exit the bay in the top three positions. Since then, we have been using 30 years of valuable local knowledge kindly donated by Steve Meek along with good boat speed and great team work.”
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