Clipper 11-12 will be the world's longest round the world yacht race - and it's the only global event raced by people like YOU. We've added an eighth leg that will take the race to New Zealand and the east coast of Australia for the first time - and the new Australasian leg delivers another Great Cape for those taking part.
Will you take on the challenge of a lifetime?
The exciting new route for the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race has been unveiled. The addition of an eighth leg to the race delivers a second Great Cape and, at 40,000 miles, Clipper 11-12 will be the world’s longest round the world yacht race.
Keeping with the tradition of the current and previous two editions of the biennial race, Clipper 11-12 will take an easterly route around the world, following the trade winds and producing some exhilarating downwind sailing for the non-professional crews. The addition of a challenging new leg will take the fleet to New Zealand and the east coast of Australia for the first time in the race’s history.
The new Australasian leg will see the fleet dip once again into the Roaring Forties. Leaving Western Australia, the ten 68-foot ocean racing yachts will round Cape Leeuwin on a sleigh ride east towards New Zealand before tackling the huge ocean swells that make Australia’s east coast a paradise for surfers.
The leg that follows, to Singapore and on to Qingdao, will follow a new, tactically demanding route through the islands of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia to reach Asia’s sailing capital.
Much favoured by Clipper crews, the hugely demanding Southern Ocean race from South Africa to Western Australia and massive North Pacific leg remain in the route – the world’s longest global challenge.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is the only place you’ll find vicars and stockbrokers racing against taxi drivers, engineers, students and chief execs. The occupations may be different, their ages span generations, but the adventure in their hearts and steely determination in their eyes identifies them as Clipper crew.
Will you be joining them to undertake the challenge of a lifetime? Taking the opportunity to break away from shackles of everyday life, to pit your wits against the elements, the oceans and all they can throw at you? Braving the icy conditions of the north Pacific, the energy sapping heat of the tropics, the mountainous seas of the Southern Ocean and the frustrating calms of The Doldrums.
According to Clipper Race founder and legendary yachtsman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, a man who knows a thing or two about a challenge, “It is because we are human that we dare. Some dare more than others. So it is with sailing around the world. It is the ultimate challenge in sailing and therefore beyond the comprehension of many. But it starts as a dream for the doers in life and swiftly becomes an obsession.”