The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a biennial sailing race that takes paying amateur crews on one or more legs of a circumnavigation of the globe in 11 specially-designed identical yachts owned by Clipper Ventures. Professional skippers and additional qualified persons (AQPs) lead each teams on the 10-month journey. All participants must complete a four-week training course before starting the race. The race was conceived in 1995 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and is run by Clipper Ventures plc. The race has been held every two years since 1996, although in 2004 there was not a race and biennial racing resumed in 2005.
In contrast to the now-defunct Global Challenge, the Clipper Race route follows the prevailing currents and winds and uses lighter, faster boats. The current fleet of 11 yachts are Clipper 70 yachts that were first used in the 2013–14 race. Previous race fleets were composed of eight Clipper 60s and ten Clipper 68s.
Initial races did not feature corporate or sponsor branding. But in 2000, The Times newspaper signed on as title sponsor and a portion of the fleet was sponsored by international cities. Since then, the yachts in the fleet have been sponsored by countries' tourism boards, port cities or corporate sponsors. Clipper Ventures gifted the naming of a yacht to UNICEF to help raise awareness and funds for the organisation.
In 2018, Wendy Tuck was the first female skipper to win the Clipper Round the World Yacht race with her team. That year also saw another record with Nikki Henderson being named as the youngest skipper ever at just 25 years of age. Nikki Henderson and her team came in second place in the 2018 race.
Origin
The race was conceived in 1995 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston who together with William Ward (CEO), founded Clipper Ventures, a company that would run the race. Jeremy Knight initially joined as Finance Director in 1998, but later became the chief operating officer.
The origins of the race name "Clipper" comes from the historic tea clippers. In the 1830s tea clippers were small, fast, cargo carrying sailing ships. Premium prices were paid for the season's first consignment of tea to reach London from China. In the Great Tea Race of 1866, four of these ships held an unofficial race, and this inspired the name of the modern day race. The eight Clipper 60 yachts were initially named after tea clippers including Ariel, Blackadder, Taeping and Thermopylae.
Since 1996, the Clipper Race has taken almost 5000 people from all walks of life and from all around the world and turned them into long distance racers. Almost 40% have no previous sailing experience.
Trophy
Teams competed for the Times Clipper 2000 trophy, made of lead crystal. In 2015 the trophy was replaced with the Clipper 'Race Globe' trophy.
Yachts
Clipper 60
The fleet for the 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 races featured the "Clipper 60", a 60-foot yacht designed by David Pedrick and built by Colvic Craft. The design was based on the Camper and Nicholson Bluewater 58 cruising yacht. Modifications were made to the cruising version including a new deck layout better suited to ocean racing and an enlarged rig. Eight Clipper 60s were built. After the 2002/3 race, some of the Clipper 60s were initially retained for use in crew training and corporate events, but all have now been sold (for example Antiope now operates as a charter yacht based in Iceland).
Yacht names
Clipper 68
For the 2005 race, a new fleet of Clipper 68s was built to replace the Clipper 60s. The 68-foot yachts were designed by Ed Dubois and the fleet increased from eight boats to ten. The Clipper 68's longer hull line, taller mast, lighter overall weight (two tons lighter than its predecessor), and a flatter bottom meant faster boat speeds. The Clipper 68s have logged downwind surfs approaching 30 knots. The yachts were built in China, the first time a fleet of racing yachts had been built in mainland China. Clipper Ventures managed the build themselves with Jeremy Knight heading up the project. In 2010 an additional Clipper 68 was built to replace one which was lost when it ran aground.
The Clipper 68s were retired after the 2011-12 race. Two of the yachts are now based in Australia where they are used for crew training and corporate sailing.
Yacht names
CV5 and CV10 were delivered to Australia where they are used by Clipper Ventures for crew training. CV1 and CV11 are for sale.