Clipper 09-10 - Flying start gets underway from Cork, Ireland

by Heather Ewing on 10 Jul 2010 Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race - the second last race of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race is underway. At 1700 local time (1600 GMT) the cannon fired from the Royal Cork Yacht Club’s start line at Weaver’s Point near Crosshaven at the mouth of Cork Harbour to set the teams on their way in the 550-mile race to Ijmuiden, Holland.

In wet and overcast conditions with a breeze of 15 knots from the south, the fleet got off to a flying start. Uniquely Singapore was first to cross the start line, closely followed by Spirit of Australia, whose crew has vowed to race hard for another podium finish, despite needing just one more point to clinch overall victory. Cape Breton Island was just a couple of boat lengths behind them, as Hull & Humber, Jamaica Lightning Bolt, California, Team Finland, Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, Qingdao and Cork began the long beat towards the Land’s End and the Scilly Isles, where they will turn into the familiar waters of the English Channel.

Earlier thousands of people turned out in Cork to bid farewell to the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race fleet.

The departure ceremony got underway with a rousing performance by the Band of the first Southern Command on the main stage before the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Michael O’Connell officially said goodbye on behalf of the city.

'The rain has never dampened the spirit of Cork people before and it certainly won’t dampen us today. We’re all absolutely delighted that the race and the boats have brought so much happiness to the people of Cork over the last days. If you saw them in their full sail as they came up the river the other day it was absolutely outstanding. I’m sure that the people of Cork will wish them well on their journey to Holland and to the finish next week in Hull. It has been an absolutely tremendous time here in the city.

'We would like to say thanks to our Cork boat and skipper Hannah Jenner – they have given us enormous pride since they arrived here and over the last couple of months as well. We wish them very well now on their voyage over to Holland over the next couple of days.

'And I want to thank everybody for coming down here today for giving such a massive send off.'

On stage Cork skipper Hannah Jenner recalled the welcome the team received arriving in Kinsale 12 days ago. 'It has been one of the best moments of my sailing career to get such support from everybody and it has continued here into Cork City, so let’s hope we can get a good result in the next two races. We have had a brilliant time and I know that all of us and our friends and families who came to visit will be back in our own time in the future to continue to enjoy such a great city.'

Spirit of Australia is likely to secure the Clipper 09-10 title on this race and Brendan Hall, skipper of the Australian entry, says they’re going to be racing as hard as ever.

'We’ve got our eye on the major prize in Hull. I’ve talked with the team and we’ve decided these last two races we’re not strictly racing for points because we don’t need a huge number of them anymore but we’re doing it for pride. We’re doing it because we want to finish this race in the style we started it and we’re going to be putting it all in so we can look at ourselves in the mirror at the end and say we couldn’t have done anything more.'

The Cork Clipper project is funded by Fáilte Ireland, Cork City Council and Cork County Council with the principal objective of promoting Cork as a tourism and business destination around the world.

45,000 people attended the festival in Kinsale last weekend and tens of thousands more have visited the Cork Clipper Festival over the last three, enjoying the food and culture of Ireland’s gourmet capital and the craic of the city named by Lonely Planet as one of the top ten in the world to visit.

As he prepared to leave the dockside, Brendan said, 'I loved Kinsale, it was a really friendly, warm welcome and Cork has been an amazing party as well – it’s a shame we didn’t have a little longer here but Holland calls.'

The race to Ijmuiden is expected to take three to four days and the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race will finish on the Humber on Saturday 17 July.

website click here