clipper yacht race training

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RACE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

Clipper 2025-26 round the world yacht race.

Raced by people like you, this global ocean race is an endurance challenge like no other. Crew come from all walks of life and nations around the world to tackle one or multiple legs of the record-breaking circumnavigation. Train from novice to become an ocean racer as part of a team onboard a 70-foot ocean racing yacht. Guided by a professional race skipper and first mate you’ll face the world’s most extreme ocean conditions and mental challenges before returning victorious.

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THE WORLD IS YOUR RACE TRACK

Led by a professional Skipper and Mate, you can choose to compete in the full 40,000 nautical mile circumnavigation, or test yourself on one or more of the eight unique race legs to suit your schedule and budget. This bucket list experience can see you taking on the notorious Atlantic, Southern Ocean and North Pacific including stopovers in some of the world's most spectacular destinations.

We take lessons from having raced more than 3 million miles and apply them to our pioneering four-level training. Even if you have never sailed before, our mandatory program will enable you to take on some of the most extreme environments on the planet with confidence. As part of your training package we'll kit you out with cutting edge foul weather gear, tried, tested and approved by the world's top professional sailors.

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Discover what we are looking for in our Race Crew, the selection process, training for ocean race conditions and what you can expect from the Clipper Race experience. Find out everything you need to know and get your questions answered live.

DISCOVERY WEBINAR

"BY TAKING ON MOTHER NATURE’S TOUGHEST CONDITIONS, WE WIDEN OUR HORIZONS AND HAVE MEMORIES TO CHERISH THAT CAN ONLY BE WON THROUGH EXPERI ENCE AND TEAMWORK"

SIR ROBIN KNOX-JOHNSTON

The world's first solo, non-stop circumnavigator, chairman | clipper round the world yacht race.

+44 (0) 2392 526000

1A Granary & Bakery Building Royal Clarence Yard Weevil Lane Gosport,  PO12 1FX 

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WE KNOW YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES,   BUT DO YOU?

Let the sea set you free.

Release the shackles of normality.  With adventure your guide, courage your companion you'll chase unfamiliar stars to distant lands and follow the horizon to its edge and keep going. You will be humbled by the fury of mother nature and rewarded in equal measure, with vibrant displays from the natural world.

The Clipper Race will challenge you to step outside your comfort zone, stretching both your physical and mental limits. Whether you're looking for the challenge of epic ocean storms, facing 15m waves and hurricane-force winds, or the tactical challenge of navigating the Doldrums now you can prove to yourself what you are truly capable of.

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This will be the race of your life.

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Position / Team		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14		Gate Points	Ocean Sprints	Penalty Points	Overall Points	Joker Played
1		1	2	2	11	11	2	7	11	7	22 Joker Played	10	6	—	—		9	15	0	116
2		11	10	10	5	6	7	8	10	6	8	3	4	—	—		10	8	1	105
3		3	7	9	10	9	11	10	7	8	9	4	10	—	—		8	1	2	104
4		4	8	22 Joker Played	9	10	3	2	9	4	2	6	8	—	—		6	9	3	99
5		9	4	5	7	7	5	9	5	10	12 Joker Played	7	9	—	—		6	2	2	95
6		8	6	1	6	3	18 Joker Played	5	6	11	5	5	7	—	—		5	0	1	85
7		6	1	6	3	5	8	11	4	9	10	11	11	—	—		3	3	8	83
8		10	11	8	1	1	6	6 Joker Played	8	3	7	8	2	—	—		5	3	0	79
9		7	9	6 Joker Played	4	4	4	6	2	5	4	9	5	—	—		2	0	2	65
10		5	5	4	2	2	10	4	3	1	3	2	6 Joker Played	—	—		0	1	4	44
11		2	3	7	8	8	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	—	—		0	6	5	37

Level 4 Clipper Race Training – Exhilarating & Exhausting

Level 4 Clipper Race Training is the last of the 4 weeks of training that Clipper provide ahead of the biennial Round the World yacht race. And it is known to be incredibly tough. Offshore for 7 days, sailing round the clock in watches, honing ‘drills and skills’, the week also includes a cross channel drag race against the rest of the Clipper Race fleet. I’ve just completed my Level 4 Clipper Race training, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Here I’m going to blog about one of the most tiring, exhilarating, intense, exciting, and downright exhausting weeks of my life. I’ll warn you now, you may want to grab a cuppa – I hope you enjoy the read.

On Level 4 race training, crews are on-board with their race skipper and the crew that they will actually be sailing with. My skipper is Gaetan Thomas, and my crew are thus called Team GT. Some of the crew will be circumnavigating together with GT, and others (like me) are ‘leggers’, and we will join the race for specific legs.

My crew are an eclectic mix ranging from approx. 23 yrs or so in age, through to probably 65 yrs, encompassing people from all walks of life, with mixed sailing ability and fitness. But we have one common goal, and that is to take ourselves out of our day to day, and join the race of our lives across the world’s oceans. Ahead of level 4, some of us have previously sailed together, or met at crew allocation , but there were also a few newbies on-board that I’d not met. And it was fantastic to finally put faces to names.

The crew are committed, led by GT we are very well gelled. Each finding our place within the team. I couldn’t have been happier with our crew this week. The support, the smiles, the laughs (I haven’t laughed so much for a very long time), the determination and the hard work. There were no rifts, no conflicts, and no un-pleasantries – just respect for each other and for our dedicated and hard-working skipper, GT.

Drills and skills…

On the first couple of days of training we completed various ‘drills and skills’ which we might need during the race. We also had various safety briefings. We all concentrated hard and listened intently, hoping that we wouldn’t ever need to deploy any of these skills. This is absolutely no laughing matter, this could be in some cases the difference between surviving and not surviving if a situation arises.

Training included towing another Clipper Race yacht, boat to boat transfers of supplies and of a casualty, fire safety, collision and flooding drills, a medivac, and a coordinated live Dan bouy AIS test. The AIS test was a site to behold – all of the level 4 boats rendezvoused at specific coordinates, one by one the 70 ft racing yachts appeared with their excited crews, ready to spring in to action. The coast guard had been notified, as this was a live drill and were on standby, and then over the radio the command came to begin. We activated our AIS and threw the dan buoy overboard, tracking movement and position on the AIS receiver. This is effectively what we would see and hear if we were in a real life man overboard situation. It is both frightening, and yet reassuring. The system is highly effective, and the skippers are incredibly well drilled.

Day 2 – A rude awakening and a Mayday call…

After a day of drills and skills, we’d anchored off Osbourne Bay with the imposing Osbourne House keeping watch on us, perched upon the picturesque cliff top on the Isle of Wight. We’d all done a cycle of anchor watches over night, in perfectly calm waters. But at 5.30am I was woken by the sound of the hull slamming in to the waves, the halyards were pinging… it sounds like the wind may have arrived. A short while later, there’s a shout of ‘muster!’ The wind is too high, we need to pack up and leave the anchorage.

We set sail, and a few are struck with nausea, namely the unfortunate ‘mothers’ who had to remain below deck in choppy conditions to get breakfast ready. The VHF is quite busy this morning, with the rest of the fleet out, we are coordinating with each other on ch 77. And then comes something none of us expected to here, ‘Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is CV 31…’ One of the fleet put out a Mayday call, we couldn’t quite understand what was wrong, and we were too far to help. But a Mayday call is serious, reserved only for situations when someone’s life is in grave or imminent danger. The crew all ponder what may have happened, concerned for our fellow racers, we all hope to god that they are OK.

Alas, we must remain focused. We’re now in our watches, with half the crew on watch and half off. I am assigned the responsibility of assistant watch leader. I am more than happy with that. We’re off watch 12pm – 4pm, then on from 4-8pm, off for 4 hours, and then back on from 12 – 4am. The watch system is highly effective, allowing enough time to recoup, and ensuring that we all have maximum energy to give. My watch head off to bed after our 12 – 4pm shift, as we climb down the companionway hatch we discuss the possibility of a man over board drill being sprung on us and all agree that we should sleep in our clothes and keep shoes and life jacket to hand. And sure enough, we guessed right. Shortly after falling asleep, we were woken to frantic shouts of “man overboard”, eyes open with not a second to pause for thought, life jacket on, shoes on. Think! We’re all well drilled on this, and all know exactly what needs to be done. And we perform a seamless drill. MoB recovered, and back to bed for ‘off watch’.

Shifts come and go, we’re remembering past training, and building on it as well as learning new skills. The weather is beautiful, sunny with a nice breeze, we couldn’t have asked for more. Still no news on the May day call. I get on the helm for the 12 – 4am watch. Helming under the near full moon and stars is an incredible feeling. I feel lucky. The wind is perfect, I touch 11.5 knots a few times. The boat is heeled over and the water is skimming on to the deck. This is why we’re here, the rush that this gives is phenomenal. Working as a team, getting the boat going, I’m proud to be here.

I reluctantly head back down below at 4am, not wanting this feeling to end. But am soon up to cook breakfast for everyone at 7am. I am mother for the next 24 hours. My job is to keep the crew fed and watered, a huge responsibility as food is so important when on-board, as is timing of it! After a lot of pot washing (17 empty porridge bowls, and a similar number of coffee cups, along with a giant pot with porridge nicely cemented to its inside edge) I head on to deck for a 2 hour stint on the helm. We’re upwind sailing, and I’ve got the boat over at a near 45 degree angle. We are flying.

Next for some downwind sailing, spinnaker up, lots of gybe’s and another MoB drill – our 1st under spinnaker. And I’m proud to say that we nailed it. In under 15 mins we’d dropped the kite, and staysail and recovered our casualty. My mother duties come and go throughout the day, with my last stint of cooking in the evening, I’m then washing up until 11pm, just in time for my ‘mooring buoy watch’ at 11pm. It’s then more sleep, and up at 5am for another stint. By now my body is aching, and I’m so unbelievably tired.

What day is it?

It’s now Saturday, day 4 I think? All days merge together, with watches coming and going. We have breakfast and are then called on to deck. GT says he wants to share something with us, and then he continues to tell us of a horrendous personal situation that his family have recently gone through and what an impact it has had on him. There is shock upon the faces of the crew, my eyes fill with tears and I am thankful for my sunglasses. GT is someone who we all admire so much, and when you hear of this news that admiration only builds. His ability to do his job and do it so well, even when there are so many other things going on in the background is astonishing. He keeps a calm head and puts us first. He’s an incredibly inspiring man. One thing that I will never forget is, when we first gathered as a crew, at crew allocation he stood in front of us and laid down how he feels, “I will die for you. I will always put you first”. And you know when he says it, he means it. So to hear him sharing such sad news with us, cuts us all in the heart. I want to offer him some comforting words, but I know that I won’t be able to hold myself together, so instead I (like most others) am lost for words and say nothing, we walk away heads bowed and carry on with the task in hand. One crew member was strong enough to offer the supportive words that were needed, and so I was grateful for that. I was also thankful to GT for sharing this personal news with us, he is a super-human, but he is still human.

We finally have news of the May day. A crew member was briefly knocked unconscious, and the coast guard attended. We’re reassured to hear that all is now well.

It’s time to race…

It’s now Sunday morning, and someone accidentally woke me up at 5.30am for anchor watch! Nooooooo! Those precious moments of sleep. Gone. But alas it is race day.

We’re briefed and ready for a practice Le Mans start. We have to stand behind a specific line on deck and wait for a countdown. Following the countdown, we all have to spring in to action and hoist the fore sails as fast as we can. We’re all so excited, I have nervous butterflies, and I just want the countdown to come already. The fleet of CV boats are mustering, we all mill about near the start line, like sharks circling their prey, and then when the 4 min countdown begins we form an orderly line in the water. 10, 9, 8… the countdown comes on the VHF, and then it’s GO GO GO! We hoist like our lives depend on it, and are rewarded with being the first off the line with our foresails up. An amazing feeling. What team work.

A practice race start (different to Le Mans) then follows, we aren’t quite in the right position and winds having dropped to virtually nothing. We cross the line last. Our bubble is burst. We’ve felt success and now a short while later, failure. It does not feel good. But with every failure, comes a learning. The real race start is imminent and we must do better.

Winds teeter away to nothing, this is frustrating. The claxon goes over the radio and we’re off. 3rd across the line, we look back and see several boats struggling to get across the line. We work hard, trimming, and every small gain we make is great for morale. Spirit on-board is at a high. When it comes to ‘off watch’, it’s difficult to leave deck – I need the sleep, but don’t want to miss a beat. I have spent a lot of time on the bow and have to pass the baton on and step away to conserve my energy. This is a long race. We’re heading from Gosport to Portland Bill, then over the channel to France and back again.

The longest four hour watch (ever)…

After 3 hours sleep, I’m back on deck for the 12 – 4am shift. I’m pleased to see that we’re still in 3rd/possibly 4th position. We’re 8 miles off the mark. As soon as we round the mark, we plan to hoist our spinnaker for a downwind run. We heave the tennis course sized sail on to deck and rig her ready to fly. We are very close to 2 other boats, and intermittently you can see torches on the bow flick on and off, as other crews check their sail trim anxiously. Every time one boat lights up their sails, the other boats do too, not wanting to miss a trick or lose position. It is utterly nail biting, the pressure is building. We could overtake after the mark. We’re now 3 miles from the mark.

GT does a final deck check, to ensure we get the quickest possible hoist, when a series of expletives in Flemish can be heard from the foredeck. The bobstay is swinging wildly in the water. The shackle which should be holding the stay in place, gone. We have no replacement on-board, just a smaller version, that will have to do. The shackle needs to be fixed just above the waterline on the bow. This requires someone donning a harness and going over-board. GT duly kits up and we are now on the mark. We round the mark and then lower him over the edge. I’m with him on the foredeck controlling the halyard on which his life depends. We’re all frustrated. And watch as the lights of the other 3 leading pack disappear in to the distance. Our opportunity is gone. GT is hanging just above the water, under starlight he successfully manages to attach the mini shackle. The bobstay is fixed and we hoist our kite.

But the drama is far from over. The spinnaker nearly collapses a few times, and then we notice that one of the sheets is trapped under another sail that’s lying on the bow. I head up to the bow, clipped on with a tether. I heave and heave at the sail. It’s heavy work. I call back and others join me. On calls of “2-6-heave” we shift it. And after a 15 minute struggle in the darkness of the night, we are now alone in the channel, but the sheet is freed. A crew member, Dave bares a war wound as his blood spills on to the deck. My whole body is sweating, and I am shaking with the physical exertion of the last couple of hours. But we’ve done it! We fixed the bobstay, we freed the sheet, and all in darkness. It’s time to smile. The ‘off watch’ appear in the companionway, bleary eyed and oblivious to the drama that has unravelled as they slept. We gladly head to our bunks, safe in the knowledge that all is good, and we are now back in the game and on the hunt for our competitors.

The hunt is on….

Before long, it’s time to get back on deck. We’re still sailing downwind, and unfortunately make some helming errors which cost us dearly. With the wind shifting repeatedly by 90 degrees we struggle to keep up and start to lose our ground. Slowly we find ourselves sliding to the back of the fleet. Yet again our bubble is burst. We’ve worked so hard and are physically exhausted. But we can’t give up. We debrief and draw a line under the last few hours. It’s now upwind sailing, we keep an eye on the AIS and competition ahead of us, we begin to chase them down one by one.

We have Qingdao in our sights next, after passing two others in close succession. We’re on a roll. The wind is really picking up now, it’s 25 – 30 knots, and we’re heeled over. We chase them for hours gaining ground slowly but surely. Finally after a battle, we pass them. The feeling is immense. The hard work is paying off. But moments later they’re fighting back hard and making attempts to pass us.

We’re neck and neck. The seas are lumpy and seasickness has returned for some of the crew. All this, while the mothers are cooking our evening meal! Life at sea is relentless and unforgiving, and what-is-more racing life at sea is even tougher, it’s not just a battle against the elements, but against other boats. It’s exhausting.

The battle with team Qingdao continues all evening. As darkness falls we can see their tri-colour light twinkling on the mast in the distance behind us. We’re ahead, but they’re hunting us down. At times we make ground, and then we lose it. This is a fight to the finish line. It’s 12.30am and they’re roughly 5 miles behind us, but are gaining ground. We’re roughly an hour from the line. We dig in and persevere and finally cross the line at approx. 1.30am. We held our position and came in 3rd. what a feeling! To have come back from last place, we couldn’t have wished for more. A short motor to Gosport, flake all the sails and put them to bed. We head to bed at 4am. And then are up at 6.45am for a deep clean.

The week is done. There’s been highs and lows, and stresses and strains. We’re all battered bruised and exhausted. But on a high nonetheless. Our only wish… we want to do it all over again. Level 4 Clipper Race training, you were amazing.

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5 thoughts on “level 4 clipper race training – exhilarating & exhausting”.

Nicely written recap of Level 4!

Thank you. You have a great blog too. Someone shared your link with me the other day. 🙂

What a load of shit. An adventure holiday for the idle rich. Absolute bollocks. Good riddance. You don’t belong in the real world.

Oh, if only there was a crying laughing emoji available here. “holiday” “idle” “rich” . Great comment which will amuse many. Thank you Jack. (p.s. a spot of troll/anger management for you might not go amiss – you have commented before on my posts and they’re always a little ‘off’, but I understand that you just can’t keep away). 🙂

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TRAFFIC ALERT: US-50 eastbound between MD-552/Dominion Road and Piney Creek Road. All lanes blocked

Round-the-world racing yachts dock at The Wharf in DC — see them up close

Neal Augenstein | [email protected]

June 17, 2024, 12:03 PM

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The more than 40,000 mile “Clipper Round the World Yacht Race” made an impressive arrival before docking at The Wharf in Southwest D.C. Monday morning.

Eleven clippers will remain there for a week before setting off on the final leg back across the Atlantic Ocean.

Hannah Brewis and a first mate are the only professional sailors on the yacht sponsored by Events DC, which was the first of 11 identical 70-foot racing yachts to dock at The Wharf on Monday morning.

“The rest of the crew is made up of total amateurs, with a wide difference, variety of sailing experience,” Brewis said, standing on the dock, shortly after the D.C. team was welcomed by several dozen early-morning supporters. “Some have never sailed, some have sailed a little bit.”

The trip began Sept. 3, 2023, in Portsmouth, U.K., where the race will finish.

“We’ve been to Spain. We’ve been to Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, Vietnam, China, Seattle, Panama — that’s our route so far, and now, finally into Washington, D.C.,” Brewis said.

The race leg from Panama ended near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on Friday and Saturday. Monday morning’s travels to The Wharf was a short commute for the yachts, which also caused an approximately 15-minute delay for commuters in vehicles.

“We had to wait for it to be opened. The tricky part was we had to make sure the fleet was there at exactly 4:45 in the morning,” Brewis said. The Virginia Department of Transportation has warned commuters to expect a brief delay.

🚧Traffic Alert – #Alexandria : Woodrow Wilson Bridge (I-495/I-95) to open at approx 4:45 am today and tomorrow, Mon 6/17 & Tues 6/18, to allow passage of 11 yachts as part of Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race. Expect delays. #DMVTraffic More: https://t.co/Tq21o3rWry pic.twitter.com/eYu15PxIom — VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) June 17, 2024

“We got there with perfect timing. We all transited through, no stress. It was really great, it was really cool,” Brewis said.

The yachts will remain docked at The Wharf all week. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, “you can actually come onboard, and see what it’s like to be on one of these big ocean racing yachts,” Brewis said.

On Tuesday, the clippers will set off on the race’s final leg across the Atlantic, heading toward Portsmouth, U.K. The send-off will be open to the public and include fireworks.

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Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

• @AugensteinWTOP

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