GoToBermuda has continued its good recent run of form in the Clipper Round The World Race by winning Race 14 from New York to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in what has been described as a super-fast race across the North Atlantic.

Led by skipper David “Wavy” Immelman and first mate Max Rivers, GoToBermuda has not only taken another podium spot, but also its first win of the Clipper 2021-22 Race, a significant achievement in the final ocean crossing of the edition.

Immelman said: “I’m very very pleased for the crew. They’ve had a third, a second and now with all of their hard work they’ve finally got a first. They really deserve it, they’ve put so much hard work and training into it and I’m so pleased for them.”

Tracy Berkeley, the interim chief executive of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, said: “Congratulations to our GoToBermuda crew, led by skipper Wavy Immelman, on their phenomenal win on the Derry/Londonderry race, marking Bermuda’s third top-five finish in this epic race and taking the top spot. We are immensely proud of the entire fleet of adventurers who braved the transatlantic journey from Bermuda to Derry/Londonderry via New York. They have proved how ordinary men and women can achieve the extraordinary.”

Finishing 20 minutes later and claiming yet another podium position was WTC Logistics. This was the third consecutive podium for skipper Dan Jones, Ineke van der Weijden and the race crew on board “Black Betty”, the team’s nickname for the yacht.

“We’ve just finished in second, very close behind GoToBermuda — just four miles behind them,” Jones said. “It was a really fast race where I think we averaged 11 knots the whole way across the Atlantic, giving the crew a really good chance to sail the boat fast. Our top speed was 26.5 knots, helmed by Paul Widdowson, while surfing down a really big wave in about 50 knots of wind! We had a course extension which made it a really tactical end to the race, meaning we had a deep downwind run followed by a hard upwind bash for the finish.

“I’m super proud of all the crew, they really dug deep, especially over the past 48 hours. We’re really happy to be sailing into Derry/Londonderry and to have completed our last ocean crossing.”

The final podium went to Unicef. “After an amazing North Atlantic race, the past 48 hours have certainly been the most testing,“ skipper Ian Wiggin said. ”We recorded 57 knots north of Rockall and large breaking seas. This combined with tide and restricted visibility really tested Unicef and her crew. The conditions were both exhilarating and humbling. The crew are ecstatic with the result. What a race. What an adventure."