The race start follows a fantastic stopover in the stunningly scenic city that has hosted the global sailing event nine times． Crowds of supporters lined the marina at Cape Town’s Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to see the teams off， and following a colourful Parade of Sail in balmy conditions， the race officially got underway at1200 UTC （1400 local time）．

First to cross the start line， ahead of a triangular course in Table Bay， was Capetonian Dale Smyth’s Dare To Lead team， closely followed by Visit Seattle， led by youngest ever Clipper Race Skipper Nikki Henderson， and HotelPlanner．com， Skippered by Conall Morrison from Derry－Londonderry．

Sanya Serenity Coast was first to the next mark with its kite up， followed by Greenings， Unicef and HotelPlanner．com．

This Southern Ocean stage of the Clipper Race is seen as the first major test of nerves and courage as the teams head into the notorious Roaring Forties， an area laying between40 and50 degrees latitude which is respected by sailors as one of the best places to fully appreciate Mother Nature in her most raw and powerful glory．

Early tactical decisions will need to be made after leaving the fickle winds of Table Bay， and passing the Cape of Good Hope， as the twelve teams negotiate a potential wind hole when crossing the Agulhas Bank， an area notorious for very disturbed seas where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet．

Once reaching the strong easterlies， spinnakers are likely to appear and ocean racing tactics will be in full flow as the matched fleet of Clipper70s will aim to reach downwind surfing speeds of more than25 knots as they steam towards Australia．

Greenings has won both stages of the Clipper2017－18 Race so far but is currently in second place in the overall standings after receiving two penalty points from Race1， lying behind Dare To Lead， which elected to play its Joker Card in Race2 and came second into Cape Town．

This is the first race that two teams， Qingdao and Greenings， have elected to play the Joker Card， meaning that both teams will double their race points once final positions are confirmed in Fremantle． Teams are expected to arrive into Fremantle， Western Australia， between21－25 November．

OVERALL CLIPPER2017－18 RACE STANDINGS （AFTER PENALTY POINTS AWARDED FROM RACE1）

1 DARE TO LEAD31

2 GREENINGS25

3 GREAT BRITAIN24

4 QINGDAO21

5 SANYA SERENITY COAST19

6 GARMIN16

7 VISIT SEATTLE14

8 LIVERPOOL201814

9 PSP LOGISTICS11

10 HOTELPLANNER．COM10

11 NASDAQ6

12 UNICEF5

You can keep up to date with the progress of the fleet via the Clipper Race Viewer．