Clipper crew welcomes new skipper aboard

A NEW skipper is to take over Edinburgh’s entry in the Clipper Round the World yacht race.

Flavio Zamboni will take over from Gordon Reid, who is standing down for personal reasons, having been on board since the fleet left Southampton last July.

Mr Zamboni will act as interim skipper during the next leg of the race, from San Francisco via the Panama Canal to New York. The 38-year-old, who was born in Venice and lives in Southampton, has a competitive racing background, and won the first ever RORC Caribbean 600 race in 2009.

He has also worked as a trainer for crews preparing for the Clipper race for the past two years.

He said: “I am looking forward to meeting the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital crew and discussing with them their goals for the next few races. I hope I can help them fulfil their potential. We will have a week or so on shore before the start of the next race, which will give us some time to get to know each other.

“I hope we will be able to take the boat out sailing for a day to help with the settling in process. As an Italian, I can guarantee to improve the quality of food on board!”

The Clipper fleet will sail for Panama on Saturday.