This weekend, Gunwharf Quays will host the epic 14th Clipper Round the World Yacht Race on Sunday 31st August.
Twenty sailing professionals will depart from Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, where they will lead ten teams formed of non-professionals on an eleven-month endurance challenge around the world, before returning next summer.
These teams which are set to race 40,000 nautical miles across the world and crossing six oceans, are built of teachers, chefs, plumbers, students and doctors from over 40 nationalities – some of which have no previous sailing experience.
These individuals will have to face all the extremities of the weather and sea – from hurricane force winds, to blistering heat – and will have to learn hands-on how to live on a rather claustrophobic yacht, with stripped back facilities.
This year is a record-breaking edition with eleven out of the twenty leaders being females, and this event is a true test of both mental and physical fortitude.
Centre Director at Gunwharf Quays, Yvonne Clay, commented: “We’re delighted to be hosting the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race teams at Gunwharf Quays once again. The Clipper Race has become a real highlight of our calendar, and the atmosphere at events is always phenomenal.
“This year is all the more special as we will be celebrating not only the start of another epic journey for the teams as they set sail from our waterfront, but also the 25th anniversary of the very first Clipper Race departure from Portsmouth for The Times 2000 Clipper Race. We’re incredibly excited to share the celebration with the teams and our local community.”
The Clipper Race is a one-of-a-kind event which is broken down into eight legs. The Race Crew are circumnavigators throughout, taking any combination from one to eight legs, and a total 700 people will take part.
Steve Pearce, a former Funeral Director from Portsmouth, is celebrating his 60th birthday this month, and after seeing a poster for the last edition of the Clipper Race Finish, was intrigued to complete it.
Says Steve: “It sparked the thought that I could possibly do this…it gave me something to aim for and it has come around scarily fast!”
Jules, David and Lucy Stocks – a mother, father, daughter trio – will also be racing on competing teams during the final leg of the race.
The race will make up to 14 ports of call on its global route – including Portsmouth (UK), Puerto Sherry (Spain), Punta del Este (Uruguay), Cape Town (South Africa), Fremantle and Airlie Beach (Australia), Subic Bay, (Philippines) Qingdao (China), Tongyeong City (Korea), Seattle (USA), Panama and Oban (UK).
After completing eleven difficult months in choppy seas, the ten teams will be returning to Gunwharf Quays next summer to celebrate all that they have achieved.
Applications are still open for crew to sign up to participate on later legs of the Clipper 2025-26 Race with a FastTrack training programme in place. And the Clipper 2027-28 Race is now recruiting. To find out more: click here.
