Close battle for podium places as Clipper Race fleet reach South Africa

GREAT Britain wins the race into Cape Town © Clipper Ventures

GREAT Britain wins the race into Cape Town © Clipper Ventures

GREAT Britain won Race 3 of the 2013-14 edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race into Cape Town, crossing the line at 08:48:58 UTC, ahead of Henri Lloyd in second place which crossed the line at 11:40:56 UTC in front of the spectacular back drop of Table Mountain. Invest Africa crossed the line in third place, at 12:49:00 UTC.

Skipper of GREAT Britain Simon Talbot (44) celebrated in style after winning his first race of the series and a valuable twelve points. He said, "This is a great boost for the crew who have worked so hard in this race to achieve a well-deserved victory. We led the fleet for the first 8 to 10 hours out of Rio but then came a point we had to make the strategic decision to push further south. We went from first to eighth but then it started to pay off.

"You have to take advantage of the wind that is available and the new yachts go very, very fast when you do. Thankfully it paid off and tactics worked out beautifully on this race and I'm very happy. Well done team!"

One of the biggest victories of the race belongs to Invest Africa. As the rest of the fleet were tightly packed further south a week into Race 3, Invest Africa's tactical gamble took them further south, taking them from last position into second place, only to be overtaken by Henri Lloyd in the final hours of the race.

Rich Gould, skipper of Invest Africa, said, "I looked at the position of the South Atlantic highs in Rio, and we decided that we were going to go as far south as we could. This put us in twelfth position for over a week, but once we were at the bottom of the high and the top of the lows, we had the wind behind us and the heavy weight kit up we just watched ourselves climb up the leader board. We're thrilled to have won a podium position into Cape Town, but frustrated to have lost out on second place to Henri Lloyd so close to the finish line."

Skipper of Henri Lloyd, Eric Holden, added, "It was only in the last six or seven hours that we moved into second place, but we are really happy as a team.

"I think what we will take from this race is never give up as you never know what will happen at the end. We were really lucky to find some wind and overtake Invest Africa. We played it pretty conservatively this race, not heading too far south, and stayed in the middle of the fleet.

"The team is really excited to be here in Cape Town; we won two points on the Ocean Sprint in race 3 which should hopefully put us at the top of the leader board overall."

For those teams who missed out on a podium position into Cape Town, Race 3 offered the fleet the opportunity to win valuable extra points: Jamaica Get All Right and Qingdao were the only yachts that decided to go for the more northerly Scoring Gate, with Jamaica Get All Right claiming the maximum extra three points on offer, and Qingdao two.

The remainder of the fleet will arrive in Cape Town over the next two days. Race 4, Leg 3 to Albany Western Australia, will start on Monday, 4 November.

To see how the fleet is progressing into Cape Town, see the Race Viewer. Or read the Skipper Reports and Crew Diaries. To read about what the crews will get up to in Cape Town, read the destination guide in the Clipper Race 360 magazine.