After a grueling twenty-seventy day race of survival from Airlie Beach in Australia, in which the crew of Clipper Round the World Yacht Race confronted various range of weather conditions. Derry Londonderry Doire came as victorious to a huge crowd of awaiting watchers as well as media in Da Nang, Vietnam today, observing the finish of Race 7 – Da Nang New Discovery of Asia Race.
The victory marks Northern Irish entry’s highly awaited first win of the fourteen stage Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race, the one and only race of this type that stays for amateur sailors. Garmin hit the second position, also recording its top finish till now, and Great Britain came 3rd, with the rest of the twelve strong Clipper Race pack also coming into the Vietnam throughout the rest of the day.
Coming off the yacht at the Han River Port to a special arrival ceremony that included lines of drummers, special Vietnamese wreaths and flag bearers, all conducted in front of a grand scrum of national media. Daniel Smith, the captain, stated that this feels really great to finally be standing on the top of the podium, and this has been a great victory. It was a really demanding race, both physically and mentally.

He added that the led this race from the primary stages and all crew worked indefatigably on board to defend, then extend their lead, and at last defend it once again over the rest of the pack. They were looking constantly over their shoulder as the 11 squads behind pushed hard to try and catch them. The contest has been really tough to beat, but now that this is over and they are finally standing there in Da Nang as the champs, it feels brilliant and they are all happy to be celebrating the result of their hard work.