Clipper Round the World

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Cork will welcome the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race on 01 July 2010. The ten entries in the race will arrive in Kinsale from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia for 8 days of festivities which will culminate in a farewell from Cork Harbour on 09 July 2010. It is expected that thousands of friends, families and supporters will visit Cork for the celebrations.

The Clipper Race is contested by ten racing yachts each sponsored by an international city, region or country (Edinburgh, Jamaica, Singapore, Cork, Finland, Qingdao, Cape Breton Island, Hull & Humber, Australia and California). All of the yachts are crewed by amateurs who have taken time out of their normal lives as air traffic controllers, interior designers, taxi drivers, lawyers, and students to take on this incredible challenge.

The Cork yacht is skippered by Hannah Jenner and the crew comes from Ireland, UK, Australia and China. 6 of the Cork Clipper crew will sail all legs of the race and the remainder of the crew will change on each leg. The Cork Clipper will carry 12 crew and with a watch system in operation onboard, crew will on average sleep for only 2 and a half hours at a time.

For the crew this will be no walk in the park as they sail 35,000nm around the world pitting themselves against all the elements. The race started in Hull, UK on 13 September and visits La Rochelle, Rio de Janeiro, Capetown, Australia, Singapore, China, San Francisco, Panama, Jamaica, New York, Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia, Cork, the Netherlands and finishes in Hull on 17 July 2010. The race will be a mixture of long, tactical ocean races where endurance is tested to the limit and short, technical sprints. Weather will range from virtually flat calm to raging seas and storm force winds, enough to test the mettle of even the bravest.

The Cork Clipper project is funded by Fáilte Ireland, Cork City Council and Cork County Council with the main objective of promoting Cork as a tourism and business destination around the world. Working alongside Tourism Ireland, Cork will be promoted to consumers, trade and the media in key markets that the race visits.

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