Club Member Chris Hawthorne headed to Cape Town last month to join the crew of Derry-Londonderry-Doire for Leg 3 of the Clipper Round the World Race. The voyage took the fleet from Cape Town to Albany, South West Australia.  Also on the crew was Christine Cunningham from Ballyholme Yacht Club.

From the Team's web site:

"Derry~Londonderry ~Doire has clinched second place into Albany, Western Australia, at the end of Race 3 across the Southern Ocean from Cape Town, South Africa, in the Wardan Whip. It crossed the line at 0932 UTC (1732 local).

The Northern Irish sponsored team has been engaged in a nail-biting duel with Chinese rival Qingdao over the last 24 hours. Its better wind angle enabled it to overtake Qingdao which had to tack and lose its advantage in the process."

The points for this second place plus points for second through the Scoring Gate and fastest crossing of hte Sprint section should see the team at or very near the top of the leader board.

More details of this leg can be found on the Clipper site here.

Photos courtesy of Clipper Race.