Coronavirus: Clipper Yacht Race suspended amid Covid-19 concerns

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race for 2019-20 has been put on hold because the boats are not allowed to enter international waters, as countries close their borders.

Instead, the race will resume in 10 months’ time, it has been announced.

The vessels are currently in the Philippines, and are set to remain there for the foreseeable future.

Race founder, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, said: ‘We had been hoping to go to China but clearly the virus has prevented that.

‘Unfortunately, the virus has continued to extend itself and we’re now faced with the fact that most nations are shutting their borders; we’ve got 250 or so people here but there's nowhere we can really take the boats.

‘So what we’ve decided to do is postpone the race by 10 months – then we’ll come back here, pick the race up and carry on completing the circumnavigation.’

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race HQ is based in Gosport.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who lives in Portsmouth, explained how even if the virus clears up sooner, the race cannot continue at a similar pace.

‘The reason it’s 10 months is because of the weather conditions,’ he said.

‘You don't want to go into the Caribbean during the hurricane season – so there is immediately stuff you have got to avoid.

‘But our prime consideration was the crews; the fact they were worried is understandable in the circumstances so we wanted to get the news to them that we had made this decision, but the crews have behaved splendidly.’

The racers had made it halfway around the world, having done their training in Gosport before the race started last year.

Sir Robin added that the competitive racing so far had been ‘great to watch’ as ordinary people turned themselves into fully-fledged sailors.

‘We didn’t have any other choices,’ he said.

‘But we have been looking at this for some time.’