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Commissioner Roy finds his sea
legs
23.05.11
UNTIL this year,
Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioner Roy Devine
wasn’t a sailor – now he’s just finished 'Coastal
Skipper' theory exams as part of his training to
join the 4,000 mile final leg of the Clipper
2011-2012 Round the World Yacht Race.
“What I am really looking forward to most of all is
sailing up the Foyle on our return and the welcome
we will get in Derry. To be on the Derry-Londonderry
yacht coming into the city – that really will be
something special.”
Roy has no background in seafaring of any kind. A
former finance director of Coolkeeragh Power Station
in Derry, he’s semi-retired since the station’s sale
to the ESB in 2007. He holds several directorships,
including Chairman of Derry City Airport, and has
been a Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioner
since 2007.
He first thought about taking part in the Clipper
Race four years ago, but couldn’t get away at the
time. “I was really looking for a challenge and
Clipper ticked all the boxes. When I heard it was
coming to Derry I decided then to do one leg of the
race”
Since early this year, he’s been in serious
training, with just one low point. |
“In February when we
began training in miserable, cold, wet and stormy
conditions I began to think – what am I doing? It
was a baptism of fire.” But he praises the Clipper
training regime and says the practical boating and
yachting skills will apply to any class of yacht,
not just the 68-foot Clipper vessels.
When he joins the Derry~Londonderry boat in New
York, Roy’s life will revolve around a four-hour
watch system. Along with other crew members, he will
take his turn below decks with cooking and cleaning
duties as well as on deck, helming and trimming the
sails, as he and the Derry-Londonderry crew strive
to win the Clipper Trophy. |
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Roy Devine. |
The 40,000 miles
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race sets off in
August this year, with combined crews of almost 500
ordinary men and women. The Clipper Race is the
brainchild of Clipper Ventures founder Sir Robin
Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail around the
world single-handed and non-stop. It will finish in
Derry in July 2012 having crossed the Atlantic,
Pacific and Southern Oceans on the eight-leg race.
For Londonderry Port, the race has meant ensuring
that the infrastructure is in place to handle an
event of this scale, a job that’s fallen to Harbour
Master, Captain Bill McCann, himself a keen sailor.
“To secure the Clipper Race for Derry has been
unbelievable. It means a lot to all of us –
including the local sailing community - to have the
longest boat race in the world coming to the Foyle.
”
Captain McCann says they have invested heavily over
the years in creating the infrastructure for events
of this scale, with the development of a new pontoon
in the city, “which fits perfectly into the city’s
strategy for marine leisure and tourism. We will be
ready within 6 months and then the facilities at
Derry will be second to none.”
He believes that the Clipper Race will renew
interest in sailing and maritime events, and that it
will increase the Foyle and the city’s chances of
securing similar large scale events in the future.
“The Clipper Race will finish at the mouth of the
Foyle between Greencastle in Co Donegal and
Magilligan in Co Derry - it would be hard to find a
more visually stunning spot on the planet, and it’s
an ideal start or finish point for any race.”
The city’s participation in the Clipper 11-12 Round
the World Yacht Race is in partnership with Derry
City Council, Londonderry Port and Harbour and Ocean
Event Management. It is supported by the Northern
Ireland Tourist Board, Ilex URC and Sail West. |
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