On 19 June the ten strong Clipper fleet will depart Cape Breton Island for Ireland on the latest leg of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht race (www.clipperroundtheworld.com) which will see the stripped down ocean racing yachts race across the Atlantic to Kinsale, Ireland. The latest edition of the biennial race is due to finish on the Humber on the east coast of the United Kingdon on 17 July after ten months and 35,000 miles of ocean racing. The Clipper fleet: Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, Jamaica Lightning Bolt, Uniquely Singapore, Cork, Team Finland, Qingdao, Cape Breton Island, Hull & Humber, Spirit of Australia and California will push off from the docks and head across the Atlantic on the solstice weekend. Two years ago, in the last running of the Clipper Race the boats participating in Sailstice were almost half way across the Atlantic on the morning of the solstice.
In the prior leg from New York to Cape Breton Island Hull & Humber claimed debut line honours in Clipper 09-10. In a tense finale to Race 11 from New York to Cape Breton Island, Hull & Humber crossed the finish line ahead of the rest of the fleet to secure their first line honours of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. They beat Spirit of Australia by just 17 minutes and crossed the line 40 minutes ahead of Cape Breton Island who finished third.
As the front-running pack of six yachts rounded Scatarie Island on the easternmost point of Cape Breton Island the margin between first and sixth dwindled to ten miles and, as they closed in on the finish line, just two miles separated the leading trio of Hull & Humber, Spirit of Australia and Cape Breton Island.
A large crowd turned out to greet the first arrivals, some waiting for more than four hours to see the yachts arrive at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion, while along the banks of Sydney River more people flashed their car headlights and sounded horns in welcome and came out in boats to greet the yachts.
"All the way down the river there were people along the shore with their cars flashing their lights, boats coming out - an amazing turn out," commented Cape Breton Island's skipper Jan Ridd as he and his team arrived in port to loud cheers and applause.
During the nine-day stopover a packed programme of entertainment has been planned including concert and two huge firework displays. On Tuesday 15 June the founder of the Clipper Race, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, will be skippering Hull & Humber in the Cape Breton Clash of Legends. He will compete against two of Canada's greatest yachtsmen, John Hughes, the first Canadian to complete a solo circumnavigation, who will skipper Qingdao, and Derek Hatfield, the nation's most successful ocean racer who is about to begin his campaign to complete a second solo circumnavigation and who will take the helm of Cape Breton Island.
Now they’ll enjoy long hours of daylight in the high northern latitudes as they make their way towards the finish of the 2009/2010 running of the Clipper Race. The next event, which you can join, will run in 2011/2012!