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The Clipper Ventures Round the World Yacht Race is internationally renowned as the only amateur race of its kind. Since its inception in 1996 more than 1500 amateur yachtsmen and women have trained for this major undertaking. So how did it all begin?
1995, world famous solo yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston conceived the idea of a Round the World yacht race crewed by amateurs but with professional backup. The race was named ‘Clipper’ and its aim was to allow people of all ages with a spirit of adventure to take part in an experience, which would normally be denied them. With only a year to the start date, his small team started planning the race - the boats had to be specified and built, crews had to be recruited and trained and the race route had to be planned. Whilst all this was going on, the company Clipper Ventures Plc had to be formed, the event needed financing and race skippers were selected.
The choice of boat was quickly arrived at. The Camper and Nicholson ‘Bluewater 58’, a well-proven cruising yacht, was modified for ocean racing and put into production as the ‘Clipper 60’. The first of the eight boats was delivered in January 1996 with the last one arriving in early October, just a fortnight before the start of the race. On 16th October, the yachts set out from Plymouth at the start of the race on their 35,000 mile journey.
Over the next ten months, the boats put in at Madeira, Fort Lauderdale, Panama, Galapagos, Hawaii, Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seychelles, Durban, Cape Town, Salvador, the Azores and ending back in Plymouth. Since that first race, the concept has changed only in detail. In 1998, New York was substituted for the Azores and Mauritius for the Seychelles. Cape Town became the only South African port. (Durban regained its status at the expense of Cape Town for the 2005/06 race.)
Clipper 2000 started and finished in Portsmouth with Jersey also being inserted into the itinerary. A further development that year was the naming of boats after international cities. Ports of call around the world recognised the opportunities for promoting themselves by entering into sponsor partnerships with Clipper Ventures. In return, each would have a yacht prominently named after them, thus placing themselves in the spotlight as the race became the focus of the worlds’ media on entering and leaving each port. Since that time, international participation has developed to the extent that the yachts sponsored by these cities are being increasingly crewed by men and women from those countries.
In 2002, the race started and finished in Liverpool and from that point on a close bond was formed between Clipper and that city. This bond will be especially significant in the 2007/08 race when Liverpool will bask in its status as European Capital of Culture.
Naturally, the boats have evolved enormously since 1996. The 2007/08 race will be competed in ten identical Dubois 68’s. These yachts benefit from the lessons learned during the previous Clipper races and are lighter, faster and steadier than their predecessors. Navigation is now largely accomplished using electronic charts instead of their paper counterparts; tide and lights tables are now on CD, whilst boat manuals and drawings are stored digitally. On-board communications have similarly advanced with the continued development of satellite technology. Emails can be sent and received and satellite telephone calls may be made from mid-ocean. A major benefit of improved communications has been to bring the race closer to its sponsors, supporters and followers. Position reports can be supplemented with personal messages from crew members. This represents an enormous change from nearly four decades ago, when Sir Robin was out of touch with the rest of the world for eight months during his epic round the world voyage.
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