GREAT Britain yacht entry set for launch in Trafalgar Square

The 70-foot ocean racing yacht GREAT Britain will be launched in land-locked Trafalgar Square by Sports Minister Hugh Robertson tomorrow (Wednesday), where it will remain on public display until Sunday evening 4 August, allowing anyone interested in the race a rare opportunity to get a close encounter with a new Clipper 70 ocean racer out of the water.

This evening it will be transferred by road in a major operation which will see the 30 ton 70-foot yacht transported on the back of a specialist trailer in a convoy under police escort which will pass landmarks such as Big Ben, pass Downing Street on Whitehall (on the wrong side of the road) and finally against a one-way system to arrive in Trafalgar Square just after midnight. A large team will be awaiting her arrival to insert a mast and build a surrounding structure ready for the 9.30am launch on Wednesday morning.

The GREAT Britain yacht will sail back into the capital with the rest of the 12-strong Clipper Race fleet over the August Bank Holiday weekend to spend a week in St Katharine Docks, central London’s only marina, prior to departing from Tower Bridge on the Thames on Sunday 1 September on its 40,000-mile race around the world; the fleet will return to London almost 11 months later in July 2014.

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