Clipper Race to return to Portsmouth for milestone circumnavigation

Clipper 2023-24 Race © Clipper Race

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is returning to Portsmouth to kick off its next lap of the globe. When its fleet departs from Gunwharf Quays this August, the event will be celebrating two milestones - the 25th anniversary of its first departure from the city (for The Times 2000 Clipper Race) and 30 years of training people to cross oceans and sail around the world.

Partnering with Gunwharf Quays on the event, the Clipper Race will run a four-day festival from the 28 August, taking over the venue and its surrounding waters, culminating in a grand departure for the competing teams on 31 August. Building on the success of its last event in the city (in 2024), the Clipper Race hopes to bring an even bigger number of domestic and international visitors to Portsmouth.

Those who take on the Clipper Race need no previous sailing experience before being intensively trained to face the record breaking 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on a 70-foot ocean racing yacht. For one crew member, the departure will be all the more special as she will be departing from home waters. Amy Walshe, a Portsmouth local, will be waving her hometown goodbye, after she decided to do something extraordinary and signed up to take on the Clipper 2025-26 Race.

Describing herself as 'your everyday person', after visiting the event's Race Finish celebrations at Gunwharf Quays last summer, Amy couldn't resist enrolling to be one of the next Clipper Race crew members.

She said: "Since signing up for the Clipper Race, it does feel like it's joining a big family, and I like that. And because I'm local it's great to be involved in everything I can in the build-up to my leg (from Portsmouth to South America)."

Each team of Race Crew, which is led by a professional Skipper and First Mate, will wave goodbye to Portsmouth Harbour as they buckle down for eleven months of battling storm-force winds, towering waves, and the relentlessness of racing 24 hours a day for up to 30 days at a time, across some of the world's most unforgiving oceans. This will be the second consecutive departure from Portsmouth, for the Clipper Race after the event's Race Start (and Finish) was hosted in Gunwharf Quays for its 2023-24 edition.

Clipper 2023-24 Race - photo © Clipper Race

The Race Start Festival opens its doors on 28 August, and at the heart of the family friendly programme of events will be the Race Crew about to embark on this adventure. Visitors will be able to hear from them their individual stories about why they chose this epic feat, with a hope they inspire someone else to pursue their dreams of becoming an ocean racer. They'll also be opening the hatches to the Clipper 70 yachts they will be calling home as they race around the world, giving the public a rare glimpse inside what life at sea can look like, both above and below deck.

The announcement marks the Clipper Race as the closing event on a summer of sailing in the city, which will see the Ocean Globe Race Europe, and Sail GP host their events on the Solent earlier in the year.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, President and Co-Founder of Clipper Ventures, said: "It is great for Clipper Ventures to call the Solent home, especially when it is going to be the heart of such a packed sailing agenda over the summer months.

"To announce that for a second edition running we will be back at Gunwharf Quays for our Race Start and Finish celebrations, and with the fleet based just over the water at our HQ in Gosport, it gives us the opportunity to re-engage with a local community that we know are invested in our race and its crew.

"Over the coming months we look forward to sharing a programme of events that will get the whole family out to witness the spectacle that is the Clipper Race."

The event, which will focus on building engagement with the local community is hoped to bring with it a boost to the local economy through increased footfall from both inside and outside of the city.

At the Clipper Race Grand Finale celebrations in July 2024, over 90,000 people descended on the centre to witness the fleets return - and over 50% of those travelled from outside of the local area. These visitors brought an estimated economic impact of over £7.5m to the area through spend on accommodation, food and drink and local travel.

Of the ongoing partnership with Clipper Race, Yvonne Clay, Centre Director at Gunwharf Quays, said: "In 2023, we were privileged to host the start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, and last summer it was amazing to welcome the teams back as they crossed the Finish Line. The atmosphere on both occasions was phenomenal and we are delighted to be involved again. This year, we will proudly welcome the Clipper Race as they embark on their epic journey to circumnavigate the globe, setting sail from our very own waterfront.

"The event has become a highlight on our calendar, and we know our guests will share our excitement in watching the fleet of yachts once again this August."

The full Clipper Race Start Festival programme will launch in early summer, along with the opportunity to book a place on one of the spectator boats that will get up close to the action. The Clipper Race is a Hampshire run company, based in Gosport, where it operates its HQ and on the water training centre.

Follow @clipperrace on Instagram or @clipperroundtheworld on Facebook for all the up to the minute event information. Or visit clipperroundtheworld.com for all the latest.