Clipper Round the World Yacht Race & Maritime Festival

5 June – 8 July, 2012 | Derry/Londonderry

The world’s longest yacht race is coming to Derry/Londonderry, and the city is throwing a party. To celebrate the Clipper Round the World Race ’11-‘12 stopping in the port (which also happens to be the UK City of Culture 2013), Derry/Londonderry will host a fabulous four-day Maritime Festival.

Derry/Londonderry will play host to the 10-strong international fleet when it arrives from the final transatlantic leg of the 40,000-mile race, watched by 460 million people around the world. The city’s own representative yacht, aptly named The Derry-Londonderry, has been promoting the city’s title as UK City of Culture 2013 to a worldwide audience during its travels.

The Derry-Londonderry skipper Mark Light and crew set off from England in August 2011 to fully circumnavigate the globe. The crew will cross the Atlantic Ocean, the South Atlantic, the Southern Ocean, the Java and South China Seas, plus the mighty Pacific. They’ll also pass two of the three great capes – Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin – before tackling the Mighty Atlantic Ocean once again on the home leg.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was founded in 1995 by yachtsmen Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and William Ward. Around 450 people take on this daunting challenge every year. The trip, the longest ocean race in the world, can take up to 11 months, so imagine the stories to be heard on the evening they pull in!

Every year, thousands of onlookers gather to watch the arrival or departure of the yachts from the ports, and Derry/Londonderry’s welcome is definitely going to be one to enjoy.