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Spectacular Start To Clipper Race

Spectacular Start To Clipper Race

Date: 2013-11-08
Competitive 4,700 mile Southern Ocean sleigh ride to Albany, Western Australia 

Twelve yachts competing in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race headed out of Table Bay today to start a 4,700 mile Southern Ocean sleigh ride to Albany, Western Australia. Following a parade of sail in front of the Cape Town waterfront, the fleet headed for the start line at 14.30 local time.

Great Britain crossed the line first ahead of Qingdao, closely followed by Henri Lloyd, in 15 knots of wind, with Table Mountain providing a spectacular back drop to the fourth race in the 16 race series. 

However, it was the current overall front runner Henri Lloyd that progressed from third place to pass the first of two windward marks ahead of the fleet, with Team Garmin and OneDLL in hot pursuit. After a sharp tack to the second windward mark OneDLL was the first team to fly its kite and take the lead with Team Garmin making a great comeback in second round the mark with Henri Lloyd in hot pursuit.

Invest Africa, home of the 17 South African's that are taking part in various stages of the race is currently lying in fifth place in the overall standings, with only two points separating them from third place and nine points from the top.

Departing Cape Town skipper Rich Gould said, "The Southern Ocean is one of the big oceans of the race so we expect big weather, big swells, big speeds and hopefully big smiles and a good position. We are looking forward to heading down south and seeing how the boat is going to go with the big waves following us along - the biggest challenge is going to be the weather as the wind and sea state increases everything becomes more difficult on board, it will become an endurance test especially when we're in the big open seas. 

"We are currently lying in fifth, forth is one point ahead, there is a really small margin of points from us and first place so there is still all to play for. I put our mid position down to our bad race on Race 2 but we have proved that we can run a fast boat so we are going to keep pushing hard and hopefully see our overall standings climb when we arrive into Albany."