After 39,500 miles at sea the Derry Clipper received a tumultuous welcome when it arrived in its home port this evening.
The Derry-Londonderry-Doire finished leg 12 (from New York) of the round the challenge in second place behind LMAX Exchange.
The lead had changed hands on several occasions overnight but the overall race leaders pulled away to cross the finish line off the mouth of Lough Foyle to win by just over half an hour.
LMAX Exchange got a great reception from the hundreds lined the quayside when it berthed at the pontoon at the Foyle Marina shortly after 6.00pm.
But it was nothing to the reception the local boat received it arrived just under an hour later..
Welcoming the crew home, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, told them ; “You may have been second in the race, but you are first in our eyes.”
After 15 days crossing the Altantic Ocean, there were cheers all round when they were informed they would be staying the Everglades Hotel until the start of the next leg when the fleet will set sail again on the penultimate leg on 17 July bound for Den Helder in Holland.
After their passports were checked by emigration officials, the crew which included locals Danny Bryce, Sinead Diver, Sharon O’Donnell and Kieran Lynch, the crew were led from the pontoon by a lone piper to waiting family and friends – who had been waiting hours - on the quayside
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