Cork Clipper to be left on reef as salvage impossible

THE Irish entry in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which hit a reef in the Java Sea off Indonesia on Friday, cannot be salvaged and will be lost to the sea.

Surveyors and salvage experts examined the Cork Clipper over the weekend and advised the race organisers, Clipper Ventures, last night that the boat would be so weakened by the pounding she has taken on the reef that she would not survive being dragged off the shelf, made buoyant and a 450-mile tow to Singapore.

And even if this were possible, the extent of the damage put the vessel beyond economic repair, they said.