About the race
The Clipper Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other.
With no previous sailing experience necessary, before signing up for the intensive training programme, it’s a record-breaking 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on a 70-foot ocean racing yacht. The next edition will be the Clipper 2025-26 Race and will begin in late summer 2025. The route is divided into eight legs and between 13 and 16 individual races including six ocean crossings. You can choose to complete the full circumnavigation or select one or multiple legs.
The brainchild of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world, the first Clipper Race took place in 1996. Since then, almost 6,000 Race Crew from all walks of life and more than 60 nations have trained and raced in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race; the only race in the world where the organisers supply a fleet of
identical racing yachts (eleven), each with a fully qualified skipper and first mate to safely guide the crew. Crew complete four levels of intense ocean racer training before they compete.
Mother Nature does not distinguish between female and male, professional or novice. There is nowhere to hide - if Mother Nature throws down the gauntlet, you must be ready to face the same challenges as the pro racer. Navigate the Atlantic Tradewinds and Doldrums en route to South America, endure the epic Roaring Forties, experience Indian Ocean sunsets, face the mountainous seas of the mighty Pacific - and bond with an international crew creating lifelong memories before returning victorious.
Seize the moment, unleash the adventure.
Join The Race
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You will never conquer or master the ocean but you can endure it. Mother Nature is an unforgiving mistress, always with one last trick up her sleeve for you when you least expect it. ”
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
Race Stats
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is the only event of its type. Anyone, even if they have never stepped on a boat before, can join the adventure.
History of the Race
Since the first Clipper Race crew left Plymouth in October 1996 on board eight 60-foot yachts, the race’s increase in size is almost immeasurable.
Today more than 5,000 people and three generations of Clipper Race ocean racing fleets have competed in what is known to be the world’s toughest ocean racing challenge.
The route of each edition of the race is unique, often formed by Host Ports around the globe. In the race’s twenty five year history, more than fifty cities have played host to the Clipper Race.
Click here to further explore the history of the race.
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The Fleet
The third generation of one-design Clipper Race yachts debuted in the Clipper 2013-14 Race, proving to be faster and more dynamic than previous Clipper Race yachts.
The eleven 70-foot yachts make up world’s largest matched fleet of ocean racing yachts. Designed by renowned naval architect Tony Castro, they are the shining jewel in the Clipper Race crown, perfectly adapted to this gruelling sailing challenge.
Click here to learn more about the Clipper 70s.
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Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
Over 50 years have gone by since Sir Robin Knox-Johnston made history by becoming the first man to sail solo and non-stop around the globe in 1968-69.
One of nine sailors to compete in the Times Golden Globe Race, Sir Robin set off from Falmouth, with no sponsorship, on 14 June 1968. With his yacht Suhaili packed to the gunwales with supplies he set off on a voyage that was to last just over ten months. He arrived back in Falmouth after 312 days at sea, on 22 April 1969, securing his place in the history books.
Sir Robin wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience the challenge and sheer exhilaration of ocean racing because there are far more flags of success on the top of Mount Everest than on the high seas.
Among many other races, in 2007 Sir Robin has circumnavigated again in the VELUX 5 OCEANS race at the age of 68. In addition, Sir Robin competed in the 10th anniversary edition of the Route de Rhum race which started in St Malo, France, on 2 November 2014, and finished at the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.
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