Elliot Browns Excitement is Growing

Elliot Brown Clipper Round the World Race

With the clipper round the world race right around the corner the twelve strong fleet of matched Clipper 70 foot ocean racing yachts will return to Liverpool for the first time in a decade today for an Official Civic Welcome ceremony at the historic Albert Dock, following a white sail parade on the Mersey. The Clipper Race skippers and their crews left Gosport on Wednesday 9 August and have been sailing up along the west coast of England, past Wales, and into the Irish Sea to be poised to enter the River Mersey on Monday.

“The sun is shining, we have light winds, and the crew are getting used to the watch system and enjoying it. We had some spinnaker practises yesterday and it was good to see those balloons up. The plan for today is to hoist our last spinnaker and see what it looks like, as well as some splicing and finishing some jobs. Just one more day then we can do our parade, dock the boat, and have a good shower!” – Skipper Gaëtan Thomas, Garmin Yatch

“We have had a fantastic few days of sailing, especially when we were leading the pack down the English Channel on a fast run to Land’s End. We have been doing some drills and have gone through various sail evolutions which have been good practise ahead of Race Start.” – Dale Smyth, Dare to Lead yatch

“We are making good progress towards the north of Anglesey. The wind is due to move to the south today and increase to 10 to 15 knots so we should have a nice sail.  Lots of seamanship going on at the moment and all on board are looking forward to the stopover in Liverpool.” – Roy Taylor, PSP Logistics yatch

The fleets arrival into Liverpool also marks the opening of the Race Village at Albert Dock to the teams and the public which will allow them to take a look around and get their last few practises in throughout the week leading up to clipper round the world race start. The Albert Dock will be the centre of entertainment and activities for the entire race start and you are welcome to look around one of the Clipper 70-foot ocean racing yachts, ‘About the Clipper Race’ free public talks, as well as displays and demonstrations by our Official Partner s and Suppliers.

On the day of the clipper round the world race start you can expect a fascinating show and the Departure Ceremony starts on the stage at Albert Dock at 0800. The twelve yachts will slip lines from 0915, before forming a spectacular parade of sail on the River Mersey from 1115 to 1200.

At 1230, the Clipper 2017-18 Race start gun will mark the beginning of the 40,000 nautical mile circumnavigation across the world’s oceans. The race will start with a short course on the River Mersey, a chance for spectators to get close to the action and wave the teams off as they begin the 6,400 nautical mile journey to Punta del Este, Uruguay.

If you’re feeling up for the challenge you can sign up to enter the Clipper round the world race at the Village as soon as it opens this morning. Are you brave enough?