Clipper 2025-26 Race Start | Open Boat Tours

Tour a Clipper Race yacht | Gunwharf Quays Marina | Saturday 30 August 2025

***Walk-Ons will be available on the day if the pre-booked tickets are sold out***

Take a look around a Clipper 68; one of our ocean racing yachts that have been used to train crew ready to depart on 31 August from Portsmouth, UK, for a 40,000nm race around the world.

These yachts have already circumnavigated the world four times previously. Go below deck and imagine yourself at a 40-degree angle, mid-ocean and thousands of miles from land. Check out the Nav Station, galley, bunks and stowage, and see where each of the 20 Race Crew live when not on deck. Above deck, take the helm or try your hand on one of the eleven winches capable of lifting the sails up the mast.

Tours are hosted by former Clipper Race crew, so this is your chance to learn everything you want to about training, ports of call and the selection process for a wet, windy, hot and cold adventure of a lifetime.

FREE Entry

**Note: The Yacht will remain stationary for the duration of the tours

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ABOUT THE CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE

The Clipper Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other. With no previous sailing experience necessary, this is a record breaking 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on a 70-foot ocean racing yacht. All that is asked of participants is a good level of fitness, an age over 18 - and a thirst for adventure into the unknown.

Divided into eight legs and up to 16 individual stages, over 700 Race Crew, representing over 50 nations and from all walks of life, complete the full circumnavigation or select individual legs. It is the only race in the world where the organisers supply a fleet of identical racing yachts, each with a fully qualified Skipper and First Mate to safely guide the crew.

Normally the domain of seasoned pros, this supreme challenge is taken on by ordinary, everyday people. Having completed a rigorous training course, participants are suited and booted in the latest extreme protection gear to commence the race of their lives - an unparalleled challenge where taxi drivers rub shoulders with chief executives, vicars mix with school teachers, students work alongside bankers, and engineers team up with rugby players.

The sea does not distinguish between Olympians or novices. There is nowhere to hide - if Mother Nature throws down the gauntlet, you must be ready to face the same challenges as the pro racer. Navigate the Doldrums en route to South America, endure epic storms in the Roaring Forties, experience South African sunsets, face the mountainous seas of the North Pacific - and bond with an international crew creating lifelong memories.

Applications are now open for the Clipper 2025-26 Race and the Clipper 2027-28 Race. Seize the moment, unleash the adventure.

Race Start from our previous edition. Get a taste of the celebrations and what to expect on this forthcoming Clipper 2025-26 Race Start Day, 31st August 2025.

Meet our Clipper 2025-26 Race Skippers!