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Posted - 29 Apr 2007 : 14:51:56
South African crew wanted for Clipper 07-08 to defend national pride!
Durban Clipper will be competing again in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race when it sets off from Liverpool, UK, on 16 September this year.
This will be the second time Durban Clipper has taken part in the race – having finished on the podium in a very creditable second place in Clipper 05-06. With the exception of the skippers, none of the crews are professional sailors and many of those taking part have never sailed before beginning their comprehensive race training.
It is not too late for people from South Africa to sign up to take part in this 35,000-mile ocean race. Durban Clipper was narrowly beaten to second place on her first outing by westernaustralia.com Clipper, so there is a great deal of Southern Hemisphere pride to play for!
Clipper Operations Director, Colin de Mowbray, is visiting South Africa this week recruiting crew members to defend national honour. He will be holding a series of presentations around the country for people who are interested in competing in the race including:
Wednesday 25 April 2007, 6pm at Point Yacht Club in Durban;
Monday 30 April 2007: 5.30pm at Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town;
Wednesday 2 May 2007: 6pm at the Hilton Hotel, Sandton, Johannesburg.
To register interest or book a place, please email Clipper Crew Recruitment Manager, David Cusworth at dcusworth@clipper-ventures.com or call +44 (0) 2392 526000.
The Clipper race is the brainchild of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the renowned round the world yachtsman who was the first man ever to sail solo non-stop around the world. He wanted ordinary people to have the chance to do something extraordinary by experiencing the exhilaration of ocean racing, normally accessible only to the rich or to professional sailors.
Sir Robin, currently competing in the VELUX5OCEANS solo round the world yacht race, says, “There are fewer people that have raced a yacht around the globe than have climbed Mount Everest. Taking on the challenge of nature in the raw and aiming to become a round the world sailor is the ultimate challenge.
“As race organisers, we have one very simple philosophy,” he explains. “We want people to finish the race saying, ‘That’s the best thing I have done in my life.’ We hope they will add, ‘So far,’ because then we know we have literally widened their horizons.”
Craig Millar, Skipper of Durban Clipper in the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race, and now Manager of the Durban loft for Quantum Sails where the new sails for the Clipper fleet are being made, is backing the call for South African crew.
“To represent your city and your country is a fantastic experience and I would urge anyone to consider taking part,” he says. “As well as getting some of the best ocean racing training in the world you are an ambassador for South Africa around the globe.”
This will be the sixth Clipper Round the World Yacht Race with the event logging more than 1.5 million miles and so far more than 1,400 people have taken part in it. The race, which lasts ten months, is divided into seven legs and crew can chose to take part in the whole circumnavigation or one or more of the seven legs. Anyone over 18 years old can take part and there is no upper age limit.
After leaving Liverpool, UK, on 16 September 2007 the fleet will race to Europe, Brazil, Durban, across the Southern Ocean to Fremantle in Western Australia, Singapore, Qingdao (host city for the Beijing 2008 Olympic sailing events), across the Pacific to Hawaii, the west coast of North America, Panama, Caribbean, New York, back across the Atlantic to Europe and into Liverpool in July 2008 as part of the city’s European Capital of Culture celebrations.
Anyone who would like to find out more about taking part in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race is invited to attend one of the forthcoming presentations.
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