IT HAS been confirmed that the Cork clipper that hit a reef in the Java Sea off Indonesia last week cannot be salvaged and will be lost to the sea.
The disappointed crew in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race have arrived at Nongsa Point marina, Batam, Indonesia. The next few days will allow them to rest and begin to come to terms with their experience.
The race started from the Humber on the northeast coast of England on September 13th last and will return to there on July 17th next. It is the only event in the world where people from all walks of life can race around the globe on stripped-down 68-foot ocean racing yachts.
Organisers are examining the option of providing a replacement boat so that the Cork colours can rejoin the race in the later legs.
The crew, including some eight Irish, five Britons, two Australians and one Chinese, used life rafts to get off the reef and head out to two other participants in the race, California and Team Finland who were lying off shore.
Cork is skippered by Richie Fearon from Derry and among the crew are Gavin Kelly from Limerick, Kevin Austen from Dublin, Marco Giana from Cork, Noreen Osborne from Belfast, Orla Mellet from London, Sarah Boyle from Cork and Jacqui Browne from Kerry. Crew member Keith Hale said they were finding it hard to “come to terms with what had happened. But the California crew have looked after us brilliantly. . .”