Clipper Race: Roll Call in Rio

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (October 2, 2015) – It’s official, after 32 days at sea, all the Clipper 2015-16 Race teams have completed the first race from Londaon to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Unicef berthed in Marina da Gloria at 0750 local time (1150UTC) where the other teams had gathered to greet Skipper Jim Prendergast and the crew. It was followed an hour later by IchorCoal.

Having faced all the challenges Mother Nature threw at them on their 5,600 nautical mile adventure across the Atlantic Ocean, Skipper Jim says everyone on Unicef made the most of the experience:

“Morale was high the whole way through the race, the crew made sure of that. They were all excited to be in an ocean racing other boats. We had some beautiful downwind conditions that were fast and really fun. The boat is great fun whether that’s at the back of the fleet or at the front. The crew gave it their all.

“It was tremendously exciting, frustrating at times – it was a rollercoaster really. We had a poor start due to a couple of broken halyards, then we fought our way back into the middle of the fleet only to get caught again, then we fought our way back again before hitting the Doldrums. I think we have finished lamentably in twelfth place, but the crew is very excited to be here, they are pleased about what we have achieved and we had a great trip.”

The second race from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, South Africa starts Wednesday 7 October at 1500 local time / 1900 BST.

Event Website – Standings – Team Reports – Facebook

Report by event media.

Background: The 40,000 mile Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race began in London, UK on August 30 for the fleet of twelve identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s. The series is divided into 16 individual races, with the team with the best cumulative score winning the Clipper Race Trophy. Each team is led by a professional skipper with an all-amateur crew.

The teams began the first race on August 30 from London, England to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The ports along the race route are Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Albany, Sydney, Hobart and Airlie Beach, Australia; Da Nang, Vietnam; Qingdao, China; Seattle, USA; Panama; New York, USA; Derry-Londonderry, Ireland; and Den Helder, Netherlands before returning to London by late July.