The Race
The Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race starts from the Humber on the east coast of the UK on 13 September 2009. The Clipper Race is the only global competition where people from all walks of life can step out of their comfort zones and sign up to race 35,000-miles around the world. They come from backgrounds as varied as marketing executives, nurses, bankers, engineers and chief executives who represent more than 30 nationalities. The race is contested by ten identical stripped down 68-foot racing yachts, each sponsored by a city, region or country. Clipper was founded by sailing legend Sir Robin Knox Johnston and the Clipper 09-10 Race will be the seventh time his teams of amateur sailors will circumnavigate the planet. The Clipper 09-10 route will take them from the Humber to Europe, Rio de Janeiro, South Africa, Western Australia, Singapore, Qingdao, California, Panama, the Caribbean, New York, Cape Breton Island, Cork and back to the Humber, where they are due to arrive on 17 July 2010.
The Project
The Cork Clipper project is funded by Fáilte Ireland, Cork City Council and Cork County Council with the principal objective of promoting Cork as a tourism and business destination around the world. Working alongside Tourism Ireland, Cork will be promoted to consumers, trade and the media in key markets that the race visits. The culmination of the project will be the arrival of the 10 yachts in the Clipper race to Kinsale in July 2010 for 8 days of festivities which will showcase Ireland to a global market.
Cork Clipper Crew
Around half the Cork crew have no previous sailing experience – but what all of them have in common is that they have put their everyday lives as air traffic controllers, bankers, interior designers, taxi drivers, lawyers, and students on hold to take on this incredible challenge.
The Cork Clipper crew age from 25 to 61 year of age and 40% of the sailors are female. 11 of the crew will sail all legs of the race and the remainder of the crew will change on each leg. The Cork Clipper will carry 17 crew and with a watch system in operation onboard, crew will on average sleep for only 2 and a half hours at a time.
For more information contact Tourism Ireland Tel: (011) 442 0822 E-mail: tourismireland@dpgsa.co.za
