The start of the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race is nearing. The yachts leave on Sunday 30 August at 13.00 hrs from St Katherine Docks on the River Thames, London.
The start of the tenth edition of the world’s longest ocean race for amateur sailors, the brain child of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, will be marked by the full Gosport based fleet passing through Tower Bridge in a colourful parade down the Thames accompanied by a flotilla of spectator boats.
More than 700 crew members representing 42 different nationalities will participate in the 40,000 nautical mile race. The eight leg race route will visit six continents and will take 11 months to complete.
Around 400 crew members hail from the UK and 130 specifically from London – double the figure of the 2013-14 edition – while 42 nationalities will be represented in total including New Zealand, Australian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Canadian, Irish, Singaporean, Russian, Pakistani, Latvian and Romanian, among others.
The amateur crew are largely novice, with 40% having never sailed before starting their training, but each yacht is under the command of a professional skipper.
They will be racing the latest generation fleet of 12 Clipper 70ft ocean racing yachts, specially designed for the extreme endurance test.
The details of the event on Sunday 30 August are as below:
11:00 hrs to 18:00: Free entertainment in the Race Village
13:00 hrs: Official crew departure ceremony opens with teams on stage
14:15 hrs: Fleet departs St Katharine Docks and parades in River Thames
15:30 hrs: Fleet parades through Tower Bridge into the Upper Pool
16:00 hrs: Fleet parades back through Tower Bridge to head down river
IIMS is proud to be the coding Certifying Authority for the Clipper fleet and wishes them well and a safe passage for all involved in the race.
You may also be interested to read an article that IIMS specially commissioned entitled ‘Preparing the Clipper race fleet to sail’.