Yacht team closing in on finish line

A SCOTTISH team who have been competing in a round-the-world yacht race for almost a year have started the penultimate leg of their journey.

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital started the race in Southampton in July 2011 and are one of ten teams competing in the Clipper 2011-12 Round the World Yacht Race.

They sailed under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Saturday as they began the final 10,000 miles of the world’s longest yacht race.

Interim skipper of the boat Flavio Zamboni said morale was high within the crew of ten.

He added: “The race ahead will be quite different from the Pacific Ocean and we have to push ourselves hard, especially at the start of the race, where the strong winds are expected. But we are excited and will try hard to gain a podium place.”

The seventh of the eight legs of the race runs 5,500 miles from California to New York via the Panama Canal.