Third place for Angela Brandsma

Angela Brandsma, as skipper, sailed her team to third place during the first leg of Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

The professional sailor from Sneek managed to sail her yacht Power of Seattle Sports, crewed by non-professional sailors, during a challenging nine-day 1275 nautical mile race from Portsmouth, across the Bay of Biscay to the finish line in Puerto Sherry, Spain.

On arrival at Puerto Sherry Marina in Spain, Angela said, “What a race! What a wind! What conditions! It was great – really, just so good. We were in the top three pretty much the whole time, and that’s thanks to the crew. They are enthusiastic, determined and very cool – that made it a lot easier for me! It was no easy way to start a race around the world! But we have a great first team and Amy Smith, my first mate.”

After a particularly tough opening round-the-world race, Dale Smyth, director of the Clipper Race, added when speaking to the teams on arrival: “That was really tough. The first few days and again in the Bay of Biscay there were difficult headwind conditions – that’s not an easy way to start this race, so we’re really proud of you guys.
“It was a baptism of fire – a real baptism of fire!”

The Clipper Race, founded in 1995 by sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, is a 40,000-nautical-mile round-the-world sailing race open to all, regardless of previous sailing experience. The race consists of 10 teams racing identical, stripped-down ocean-going yachts. The non-professional crew is led by a professional skipper and first mate and sails a route divided into eight stages.

After a stopover in the Spanish port, the Clipper Race fleet has now embarked on stage 2 to Punta del Este, Uruguay. A race that will include a mix of conditions, extreme heat and an equator crossing. From Uruguay, the fleet will sail to Cape Town (South Africa), Fremantle and Airlie Beach (Australia), Subic Bay (Philippines), Qingdao (China), Tongyeong City (South Korea), Seattle (USA), Panama, Washington, D.C. (USA) and Oban (Scotland), before returning to Portsmouth.

In total, around 500 race teams from 40 nationalities will take part in the Clipper 2025-26 Race, including teachers, cooks, plumbers, students, accountants, firefighters, pensioners, geographers, lawyers, software developers and doctors.

Source Watersports TV

Our article about the first stage

Windassist sponsor