Tipperary sailor Nessa Maloney from Nenagh just misses out on podium finish in Clipper Race

Nenagh sailor Nessa Maloney narrowly missed out on a podium finish when her yacht Visit Seattle finished fourth into Fremantle in the  Clipper Round the World Race.

Nessa, who joined the race for the tough Cape Town to Western Australia leg, spent more than three weeks at sea in the South Atlantic battling wind and calm.

Visit Seattle lost out on a third place finish to Great Britain by just seven minutes, a remarkable achievement following a race covering 4,700 miles.

Nessa, who works for the Irish Naval Service, is daughter of Liam and Deirdre Maloney from Ballycommon.

The leg had been hit by bad luck from the off at Cape Town with the yacht Greenings going aground while, for only the third time in its history the race suffered a fatality when British sailor Simon Speirs, a crew member on board CV30, Great Britain, was swept overboard when his safety chain broke, and, despite being found some 35 minutes later, died.

He was buried at sea on November 19.