"There’s a whole world out there": Meet Clipper sailors as Round the World Yacht Race to start in Portsmouth

The Round the World sailing extravaganza will set off from Gunwharf Quays to cheering crowds. Everyday people including teachers, chefs, plumbers, students, accountants, firefighters, retirees, geographers, lawyers, software developers and doctors will be taking on everything that Mother Nature will throw at them.

The Clipper Race spans 40,000 nautical miles around the world, crossing six oceans and facing all extremities of weather and sea states. From hurricane force winds, to blistering heat, the isolation of the North Pacific Ocean to learning to live on a yacht with stripped back facilities in close quarters with their teammates – this event is a true test for anyone who dares to undertake it.

Thomas Roy, from Hamble, is the youngest Clipper sailor and is taking on the challenge in honour of his mum. He will be racing on the Team Tongyeong yacht.

“After my mum passed away, I had some funds and the opportunity to take part in the Clipper Race,” he said. “I am taking a gap year between college and university, and I am a dinghy sailor, and my mother was always a sailor, so I thought I would go for it.

“All my friends are busy buying things they need for university – and I am also packing - but it’s a bit more hectic, it's very different things and my bag is a lot smaller. I have done lots of dinghy sailing around the Solent, and bigger boat cruising but this is very different.”

"There’s a whole world out there"

Adrian Poole, from Hook, would normally be sending emails while working in the tech industry, but decided to take on a more exciting challenge. The budding sailor, racing on with Team Yacht Club Punta del Este, said: “I'm excited but a little nervous. My three daughters, wife and close friends are coming down to wave me off.

“I think my family will be in tears; I’m welling up just thinking about it. I am really going to miss them. They know I love them, and I know they love me, and we will stay in touch when I get into port. I have sailed and windsurfed throughout my life, but I have wanted to do some of the big stuff – sail oceans, cross equators for a long time. This has been on my bucket list for about 20 years. The opportunity came up and I wanted to grasp it.”

Wendy Greaves, a secondary school teacher from Lytham near Blackpool, decided following the death of her husbands. “I lost my husband to motor neurone disease, and with my son off to university I didn’t want to rattle around the house and when the Clipper Race popped up on Facebook it looked like the perfect distraction,” she added. “I wanted to do something challenging, that would put me out of my comfort zone. This will certainly be a challenge.”

Recently retired city worker Gareth Brown, from Colchester in Essex, said: “The best years of your life are spent commuting, or behind a desk and I am done with that now. There’s a world out there, with different lives to be had. I want a taste of that whilst I am still fit and able to.”

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List of teams

Taking charge of the 10 race teams will be 20 sailing professionals, who will lead on an eleven-month endurance challenge around the world. This is the 14th edition of the Clipper race, founded by sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1995.

The endurance test is broken down into eight legs, with crews being able can take on any combination of one, through to all eight legs. These stops include Puerto Sherry (Spain), Punta del Este (Uruguay), Cape Town (South Africa), Fremantle and Airlie Beach (Australia), Subic Bay (Philippines), Qingdao (China), Tongyeong City (Korea), Seattle (USA), Panama, Washington, DC (USA) and Oban, before returning to Portsmouth next summer.

List of teams, with Skipper and First Mate pairings:

• David Sautret (France) and Lorraine O Hanlon (Ireland) | Team Yacht Club Punta del Este
• Angela Brandsma (The Netherlands) and Amy Smith (UK) | Team Power of Seattle Sports
• Heather Thomas (UK) and Millie Apperley (UK) | Team Scotland
• Lowri (Lou) Boorman (UK) and Brian Uniacke (Ireland) | Team Tongyeong
• Gavin Rees (UK) and Zoe Longley (UK) | Team London Business School
• Ella Hebron (UK) and Charlie Cullen (UK) | Team Washington, DC
• Oliver Irvine (UK) and Otto Kulow (UK/Germany) | Team GOSH
• Philip Quinn (Ireland) and Faith Nordbruch (UK) | Team Qingdao
• Dylan Kotze (South Africa) and Jade Golder (UK) | Team Warrant
• Guy Waites (UK) and Diana Vega (UK) | Team UNICEF