The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2023-2024 edition started in September and saw participants from 55 countries compete on a matched fleet of 21-meter ocean racing yachts. The route is divided into eight legs and between 13 and 16 individual races including six ocean crossings.
It is known as one of the toughest endurance challenges in the world and sees over 700 people from across the globe participating.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2023-2024 edition started in September and saw participants from 55 countries compete on a matched fleet of 21-meter ocean racing yachts.
The route is divided into eight legs and between 13 and 16 individual races including six ocean crossings.
The race started in the United Kingdom (UK), before sailing to Spain and Uruguay and then heading to Cape Town.
On Thursday 9 November, the teams arrived in Cape Town.
The race is the only event of its kind that trains people from all walks of life to become ocean racers, and many have no previous sailing experience.
It was founded in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world.
Participants sign up for the intensive four levels of training before racing.
Led by a professional Skipper and First Mate, Race Crew can complete the full eleven-month circumnavigation or choose to test themselves on one or multiple legs.
The top three teams are:
- Perseverance led by female skipper Ineke Van Der Weijden currently in first place.
- In second place is Dare to Lead led by South African Skipper Ryan Gibson
- And third place is Yacht Club Punta Del Este led by Fernando Anita Bernardez.
People’s Post caught up with the teams at the V&A Waterfront on Thursday before they embarked on an 8 797 km journey to Fremantle, Australia on Saturday 18 November.
The 2023-24 race sees 24 South Africans participating.
Six of them got to experience the pride of sailing into their home country, and seven embarked on the next stage of the adventure from Cape Town to Fremantle in Australia.
Retief Jordaan from Gqeberha says he will be doing the full circumnavigation. “It’s been unreal, the people that you meet on this race, and everyone is so supportive. My experience of the race has been more than ever expected.”
He explains that his team had a taste of winning as they won leg 2 of race 3.
“Now we have to do it again, so the pressure is still on us even though we did really well. We have to keep focus and keep pushing.”
Katie Mulholland from New Zealand is a doctor by profession and says she decided to take off a year from work to participate in this year’s race.
“I wanted to do something adventurous, so I decided to take off and joined the month-long training in the United Kingdom in London.”
Chris Harris, race crew recruitment manager, explains that he first joined during the 2015-2016 edition.
“I decided that I needed to try something new. I decided to leave my job to take part in leg five which was going from Australia to Vietnam and then to China. It was an experience, there were so many times when I thought, why did I sign up for this? We had extreme heat, then we had snow on deck once. We had an amazing experience when we crossed the equator.”
He explains that the race is about creating lasting memories and meeting people from all walks of life.
“As a crew you really bond, I now have friends for life all based around the world. This is what the Clipper Race is about, the friendships you form on board, it’s all about the people.”
