Yesterday was Crew Allocation Day for the Clipper 09/10 Round the World Yacht Race. Over three quarters of the total crew members for the race travelled to Portsmouth for a morning crew briefing which culminated in the Race Skippers each opening a sealed envelope containing the names of their crew.  The Clipper Ventures race team had received over eighty requests to be on the host-port boat but with less than forty available places there was bound to be disappointment for some.  Not for me ho...

With just under 4 months to go until the start of the Clipper 09/10 Round the World Yacht Race - the teams are starting to be firmed up. Today the Skippers for each yacht have been named.  Piers Dudin will take to the helm of our local Yacht the Hull & Humber and will hopefully steer our region to victory.  For further details of the announcement go to:
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/New-Hull-Humber-skipper-chosen/article-1003490-detail/article.html

To see the full list of Skippe...

After an intense seven days locked in a classroom at Clipper HQ in Gosport, I'm proud (and relieved) to announce that on Sunday I passed my Yachtmaster theory exam. It was a tough week with a steep learning curve but the camaraderie amongst the group on the course and a not insubstantial amount of red wine, got me through it! I'm starting to believe I might get the hang of this Sailing malarkey!  If you don't believe me read the article submitted to Scuttlebutt Europe by  Eero Lehtinen - one ...

I keep getting asked which route the race will be taking and which ports we'll be stopping at. The answer is that it's not all confirmed as yet - but here's what I know so far.

Leg 1  Hull - La Rochelle, France - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Leg 2  Rio - South Africa (likely to be Cape Town but tbc)
Leg 3  South Africa - Western Australia (port tbc)
Leg 4  Western Australia - Singapore - Qingdao, China
Leg 5  Qingdao - San Francisco, USA
Leg 6  California - Panama - Caribbean (Island tbc)
Leg 7  Caribbean...