CLIPPER RACE TO RESTART IN 2022 AS IT RECEIVES SPECIAL EVENT PERMIT FROM THE PHILIPPINES
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has announced it will be resuming its 2019-20 edition in March next year after receiving a Special Event Permit from the Philippines. After sailing halfway around the world, the sailing event was suspended 18 months ago in Subic Bay, Philippines, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This new permission will enable Clipper Race organisers and Race Crew to return to the country, with the restart to take place in March 2022.
The eleven strong fleet of Clipper 70 ocean racing yachts had raced over 20,000 nautical miles (nm) from London, with stops in Portimão (Portugal), Punta del Este (Uruguay), Cape Town (South Africa), Fremantle and The Whitsundays (Australia), but have remained in Subic Bay Yacht Club, since March 2020 after organisers and Race Crew had to return home.
Before the current edition was postponed, Clipper Race crew had crossed the Atlantic Ocean (North and South) and Indian Ocean, raced towards the Roaring Forties, and sailed around the Australian coast. They have also crossed the equator twice, experienced tropical heat and frigid cold and faced huge seas and flat calm.
The Clipper Race is the only event of its kind which trains people from all walks of life to become ocean racers. Participants sign up to compete in one or multiple legs, or the full eleven month and 40,000nm circumnavigation. Founded by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the sailing event recently celebrated 25 years since its first edition in 1996.
The Clipper Race Team, including Co-Founders, Sir Robin and William Ward, met the officials from the Philippines Department of Tourism and Tourism Promotions Board at the recently concluded World Travel Market in London to finalise the entry and logistical requirements and health protocols for the event in Subic Bay.
Once the fleet departs the Philippines next year, the sailors’ next big challenge will be tackling the mighty North Pacific Ocean, which is known as ‘the big one’. The teams will be racing towards Seattle and expected to arrive in the US city in mid April 2022
