Sir Robin Knox Johnston's Clipper Ventures is renowned for the training it gives inexperienced crew members before they embark on its demanding round the world yacht races.
The sixth biennial Clipper race will start in September from Liverpool. The route is enticing: a short leg to Europe and then a long Atlantic crossing to Brazil, followed by a second crossing to Durban in South Africa. Then crews will get a taste of the Southern Ocean en route to Fremantle, in Western Australia, in time for Christmas. Next stop is Singapore, followed by Qingdao, the Olympic sailing venue in China, and then a short leg to Pusan in South Korea. After that it's across the Pacific to Hawaii, then the West Coast of America, through the Panama Canal, and on up to New York. Then crews will cross the Atlantic for the third time to a European destination yet to be confirmed, before an expected return to Liverpool in early July 2008.
Some places aboard the matched fleet of Dubois designed 68-footers are still available on the race, for those with some time and money to spare. (It costs £27,000 to be aboard for the entire circumnavigation. But if you can't take most of a year off to do the race, it is divided into seven legs, which cost around £4,000 each, and crew can elect to do one or more legs, according to budget.)
This year, for the first time, the crew training programme, which costs £2,950, is open to people who are not going on to sail round the world. Officially launched at the London Boat Show, Clipper Training now also offers “world class training” aboard the Clipper race fleet as part of a foundation degree in Global Yacht Operations, thanks to a new collaboration with the Falmouth Marine School.
“This is a major step forward for Clipper Ventures,” said chairman Sir Robin, speaking from Fremantle shortly before the start of the second leg of the Velux 5 Oceans race (which is also run by the company). “Through this partnership with Falmouth Marine School, our training will form part of an academic degree and will now be available to the public and not just Clipper race crews.”
Three separate eight-day courses afloat, the standard race training programme for Clipper Crew, will count as modules towards the two-year foundation course, which will be validated by Plymouth University.
The first course afloat is Big Boat Sailing, which covers the theory and practice of crewing and living aboard a racing yacht. This forms the Yacht Theory and Practice module for the degree course and the RYA Competent Crew qualification is part of the syllabus.
The second course is Big Boat Racing, “taking the initial skills of being a safe, competent crew members and transforming them to those of being a safe, efficient racing sailor.”
This course is sea-based, and includes overnight racing, watch-keeping and so on, and forms the Yacht Operations module of the degree.
The third course is Sail Strategy, which is designed to show the student how to use all the tools and skills learned in the previous two courses to make the boat go faster in a race environment.
To transform those three practical courses into the foundation degree requires a further 15 shore-based modules. But the sailing courses can be taken separately.
“The success of the Clipper Round the World race has been nothing short of incredible,” said Sir Robin. “Over 1,400 crew have sailed round the world as part of it since its inception in 1996. This success has not just been for Clipper, but also for all those who have dared and achieved so much, especially those who started with no knowledge of the sea and who finished as experienced sailors.
“Our three part training programme has been the bedrock of this success. Therefore we think it's time to open up this amazing learning programme to everyone who dreams of sailing an ocean-going race yacht. For the first time it is not just those lucky few who are chosen to race the world that will be able to learn the 'Clipper way' to race - it is open to all.”
He added: “This ground breaking degree course will satisfy those who seek a formal qualification from their practical endeavours. It has been a personal mission of mine to get as many people from as many walks of life to find out what life at sea is like.”
For more information visit www.clipper-ventures.com
