23/09/2025
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race
On Friday 29th August, several club members took up the offer to tour one of the Clipper Yachts ahead of the race start from Gunwharf Quays on Sunday. What a fascinating session it was hearing first hand from Clipper alumni describe
what it's like to take part in the race and work, live and sleep on the yacht. John Wolstenholme summarises what we found out ...
What a really interesting tour of the Clipper racing yacht. In a nutshell the yacht is 70ft in a fleet of 10 racing each other, setting off on 8 legs around the world, leaving
Portsmouth on Sunday 31st August.
The full trip takes 11 months. Each boat has a professional skipper and mate, plus a paying crew of 20, which is made up of sailors and previous non-sailors.
Each person undergoes 4-6 weeks training beforehand to get up to speed and they can do 1 leg, several legs or the full trip.
Country stops include Spain, Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, Korea, China and the US, with a total of 40,000nm. The boats are quite sparse inside, with utility and speed
the priorities; no showers here!
What an amazing event, potentially a life-changing event for many participants and probably accurately described by Clipper as "The race of your life".
