Old Pulteney Enlists Scots To Create Spirited Celebration in Brazil

Our Clipper Race crew celebrated their arrival in Brazil in style

To make sure our intrepid Clipper Race crew celebrated their arrival in Brazil in style we organised a spirited Scottish welcome in Rio de Janeiro. An official ‘Welcoming Commitee’, made up of four residents from Coatbridge and Glasgow, greeted the twenty five-strong team as they completed the first dramatic leg of the prestigious Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

To complete the first leg, the 70-foot Old Pulteney yacht set sail from London on 1st September passing through Brest, France before finishing on the 7th October in eighth place in Brazil. To mark this epic 4,800 mile voyage, our Welcoming Committee surprised the crew by greeting them in Brazil with Scottish flags, banners and celebratory drams of our award-winning single malt scotch whisky.

The Committee’s leader, Jim Clarke, is a fifty one year old Xaverian Missionary Priest from Coatbridge and the brother of Old Pulteney’s Senior Brand Manager Margaret Mary Clarke, who is also from the area. He has worked in Brazil’s Amazon region on and off for seven years taking small groups of volunteers to experience the work of the Church of Brazil and discover more of the Brazilian culture. Accompanying him are volunteers and fellow Coatbridge locals Annie McIntosh and her daughter Ellen and Brazilian Claudio Ferreira, who currently works as an assistant bar manager in Glasgow.

Margaret Mary Clarke, Senior Brand Manager, Old Pulteney commented:

Old Pulteney is immensely proud of its Clipper Race team and wanted to mark their incredible first leg in a special way. By chance my brother was in Rio de Janeiro at the same time as the crew and was delighted to organise a surprise greeting at the port with his group of volunteers.’

On this occasion, supporting the crew has been a real family affair and it is this personal touch which makes Old Pulteney’s approach so unique.’