Man rescued after falling overboard in Pacific taken to hospital in San Fran

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race team Derry~Londonderry~Doire has finished its toughest leg yet, with rescued British crew member Andrew Taylor going to hospital upon arrival following the man overboard incident in the Pacific Ocean last week.

The yacht crossed the finish line in sixth place at 14:28 UTC under San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge, after 5,600 miles of racing. A rescue operation saw Andrew recovered after spending 90 minutes in the extreme cold of the Pacific after going over the side while racing on 31 March.

After an examination and x-ray of his leg, the doctors at the Saint Francis Memorial Hospital have confirmed it is not broken, but he is suffering with a serious deep contusion, or bruising.

He will see an orthopaedic surgeon on Monday for further assessment on the leg to see whether he can continue with the race following the injury sustained when he hit the starboard rudder shortly after going over the side.

Andrew said: "I'm under no illusion that I am a very lucky man. I'm very happy to be here in San Francisco - I need to say thank you to a lot of these guys behind me for the work that they put in for the search and rescue operation. I also need to thank Olly Cotterell, the skipper of OneDLL, and the crew of OneDLL who suspended racing to come and assist in the search operation immediately. I need to say a massive thank to the Clipper Race team and the work that they did - in particular liaising with my family which is not an easy thing to do. They did an amazing job - my family speak very highly of them.

"It was horrific, the storm in particular - it was hard for these guys on the boat, it made the search harder but the storm treated me very badly. It beat me up badly.

"I kept myself really busy whilst I was in the water. There was a lot for me to do a lot for me to concentrate on and what I needed to do to survive. The guys on the boat were doing everything they needed to do so it was important I did the same. There were a few times I did wonder if I was going to get back on the boat or not but I'm here and on the boat, many thanks to the crew. It was an epic piece of work to find me."

Derry~Londonderry~Doire arrives into San Francisco - photo © Noah Berger

Skipper Sean McCarter said the race had been long and difficult. "The morale on board is pretty good, it's always pretty good, obviously with some worrying moments but the guys dealt with everything incredibly well. We took it easy once we got Andrew back on board probably for around 24 hours – I wasn't sure how everyone was feeling or how they would react to getting back onto race mode but I think it was the best thing for us and once we concentrated on that we went back to normal and since then it's been great. We've had a good time and a good race. Unfortunately we fell off the back of the weather that the leaders came in on which was a bit unfortunate but we are just so happy to be here."

The new design third generation fleet of Clipper 70s has sailed a fast race in predominantly downwind conditions, with the front runners completing the 5600 nautical miles in just over 24 days, averaging around 230 miles a day, despite a few frustrating wind holes towards the finish. The Pacific is the world's largest ocean and has a reputation for relentless, punishing, conditions that have battered the Clipper Race fleet many times before.

The Mighty Pacific is one of the most challenging legs of the Clipper Race and is a test of endurance for the entirely amateur crews in one of the earth's most hostile environments. The leg saw two medical evacuations and winds gusting over 70 knots at times with the biggest sea states faced so far by the teams, but it was also characterised by very fast sailing and impressive racing.

Justin Taylor, Clipper Race Director: "It is a huge relief to see them come in - I'm very happy for them. The first half of the race they were doing really well and were one of the fastest boats leading the fleet before the Man Overboard incident. Thankfully Andrew was recovered and the team did a great job. The Pacific leg was very eventful race right down to the finish, where just 30 miles separated the top three teams after 5,600 miles of ocean racing.

"The conditions were pretty frightening at times and most sailors would have baulked at 70 knot winds, ten-metre waves and big storms, but the teams had already come through the worst Southern Ocean crossing in 20 years during Leg 3 so were well prepared.

"This Race 10 has been 16 per cent faster than the last edition, a testament to the new boats and their downwind sailing ability," he added.

Some of the yachts have not seen any other boats for weeks during this leg of the Clipper Race. At times the nearest other humans to the teams were those passing overhead in passenger aircraft or on the International Space Station orbiting roughly 300 miles above the world's largest expanse of water.

The feet will be berthed primarily at the South Beach Yacht Club, Pier 40 in San Francisco. Race 11, the PSP Logistics Panama 100 Cup, starts from San Francisco on 19 April and sees the teams transit the Panama Canal in its centenary year. They will then cross through to the Caribbean side to carry on racing to Jamaica before finishing this US coast-to-coast leg in New York.

The remainder of the fleet's progress can be tracked through the Clipper Race Viewer at www.clipperroundtheworld.com/raceviewer

Expected arrival times for the remainder of the fleet are currently as follows:

• Old Pulteney - Fri 11 April 1800-2200
• Switzerland - Fri 11 April 1900-2300
• Team Garmin - Sat 12 April Early AM
• Mission Performance - Sun 13 April Early AM
• Jamaica Get All Right - Sun 13 April AM
• PSP Logistics - Sun 13 April PM