oat Liverpool 2018 departs the Race Start for the 2017-18 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, Albert Dock, Liverpool.
Credit: Onedition
The 40,000 nautical mile Clipper Round the World Yacht Race started on the Irish Sea this afternoon. The race is the only event which trains non-professional sailors to complete a circumnavigation, and is one of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet.
The first of the race’s 13 stages will take the twelve teams 6,400 nautical miles to Punta del Este in Uruguay.
The teams will return to Liverpool almost a year later on July 28, July 2018.
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The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is undoubtedly one of the greatest ocean adventures on the planet, also regarded as one of its toughest endurance challenges. Taking almost a year to complete, it consists of eleven teams competing against each other on the world’s largest matched fleet of 70-foot ocean racing yachts.
The Clipper 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. Around 40 per cent of crew are novices and have never sailed before starting a comprehensive training programme ahead of their adventure.
This unique challenge brings together everyone from chief executives to train drivers, nurses and firefighters, farmers, airline pilots and students, from age 18 upwards, to take on Mother Nature’s toughest and most remote conditions. There is no upper age limit, the oldest competitor to date is 76.
Now in its twelfth edition, the Clipper 2019-20 Race started from London, UK, on 02 September 2019.
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