The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Dara Murphy, accompanied by Lady Mayoress Tanya Murphy, was welcomed by the new Cork Clipper Skipper, Hannah Jenner, at the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco on Saturday last. Cork crew Orla Mellett and Marco Giana also joined the Mayoral couple and Hannah. This was the first time that Hannah met her new crew since being made Skipper three weeks ago.Hannah and the Mayor had plenty to catch up on since launching plans for the new Pontoon together at the Port of Cork recently as she unveiled her plans to launch the Cork Clipper 2 in Panama on May 1st.
The original Cork Clipper proved to be unsalvageable after the incident on January 14th where she hit a reef in the Java Sea. The Cork Crew are now sailing on other yachts in the Race until they reach Panama in May and receive delivery of their new Cork yacht.
Cork Crew Gavin Kelly and Noreen Osborne’s maritime adventures didn’t calm onboard the California Clipper as they found themselves demasted in the North Pacific. The California crew endured rolling seas, knockdowns, gear failures. Thankfully the Irish crew were reported safe but tested with Orla Mellett describing in her onboard diary from Cape Breton;
“ It strikes me how much the focus of this passage turned from sailing and racing to simply surviving – Get there safe, in one piece, look after each other for God’s sake – Arrive Alive as the ad goes back home.”
With a very challenging leg behind them the Cork Crew look forward to reuniting and enjoying the challenge of the next leg with their new boat, the Cork 2, and the new Skipper at the helm.
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