Promising regular updates on the Clipper Round the World Race, our dedicated yachting reporters have shaken the salt from their hair and settled in to bring you news from Rio.
To recap, The Clipper Round the World Race opens the world of off-shore performance yacht racing to virtually everyone, keeping alive the jaunt factor and the grand adventure that can only be found on the high seas. Crews sail with seasoned skippers around the world, racing aboard thoroughbred boats.
For the first leg in the series, a boat named LMAX Exchange, skippered by Frenchman Oliver Cardin is first into port. At the victory carnival, amid the music and cheers and other related festivities, Cardin addressed well-wishers.
“I feel very good,” he said. “We led the race for the past two weeks and I’m really proud of the team effort. I’m very confident in my crew who did a great job. I know the teams behind are really competitive so we are certainly not taking this win for granted.”
Cardin said his crew will take time to study the plan for the next race and will push hard again. “But for now it is time to celebrate a team victory that we will never forget as long as we live,” he told reporters.
There it is. Yacht racing, especially round-the-world yacht racing, has its finer points. Where else can a sportsman crash upwind on raging seas, fighting waves, spray and weather, hauling sheets and cranking winches, making landfall in a place like Rio, where he’s celebrated as a champion, and can then relax in a world-famous party town?
Of course, it was the triumphant Roman commander, returning from the campaigns, who was always reminded with a whisper that “all glory is fleeting,” while enjoying his celebration. The same is true for Cardin and his crew.
The next race, from Rio to Cape Town in South Africa, is a spinnaker run through the infamous southern Atlantic. Boats will reach speeds nearing if not exceeding 20 knots, and eleven other crews will be competing to beat LMAX Exchange. Indeed. The race is on. And the angry sea hates a coward.
