Gearing up for Clipper start

Published on August 30th, 2023

The 14th Clipper Round the World Yacht race will start from a line off Southsea Castle in Portsmouth, UK, at 1600 on September 3, 2023.

The 11 identical 70 foot yachts, manned with 24 crew aboard each, coming from 63 different nationalities, (105 sailors from the USA,) will sail to Cadiz in Spain and then on to Punta del Este in Uruguay on the first leg of their 40,000 mile circumnavigation of the world.

Some crew are doing one leg of the race, there are eight to choose from, and some are going all the way around the world, but all will cross at least one ocean.

So far, in the 27 years since the Clipper races started, some 6000 people have sailed in the previous Clipper races made up of people from all walks of life from CEO’s of Companies to youngsters from places like the townships of Soweto in South Africa. All share the same risks and rewards.

There are two fully qualified and experienced professional sailors aboard each yacht. In this race two of those skippers are Ladies, who were Mates in the previous race, and three of the new Mates are Ladies. More than 30% of the crews are women.

Some 40% of the crews have never sailed before they undertake the compulsory 4-week training and to prepare the crews for this race Clipper has provided over 3000 weeks of practical training to get all the crews to a standard of safety that is essential with long ocean crossings where the nearest humans might be in the Space Station.

The race continues to South Africa, Australia, Viet Nam, China, the USA and Scotland before finishing back in Portsmouth next July.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69. His aim was to allow anyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, the chance to embrace the thrill of ocean racing; it is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors. While the start date is not yet confirmed, the 2023-24 race will be the 13th edition with the fleet of eleven identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s to will tackle the multi-stage 41,000+ nm course.

Race details: www.clipperroundtheworld.com