'Legenderry' Welcome Awaits Clipper Race Fleet At Foyle Maritime Festival In 50 Days

20th May 2016

Clipper Race visit – This is the third time the race has visited Derry-Londonderry

Today marks 50 days until the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race fleet arrives in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, to conclude a 3-race, 6-year, relationship which has seen its transformation as the UK’s first City of Culture to being positioned alongside the world’s most famous destinations as part of a sustainable legacy of trade, tourism and community development.

Before the Clipper 2015-16 Race even got underway, there was already chatter and excitement about the popular stopover in Derry-Londonderry scheduled for July 2016 as part of the Homecoming Leg. Among well-renowned and impressive stopover destinations around the globe such as Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Sydney and New York, this Host Port holds its own, as the Northern Irish city throws its arms open wide to welcome the Clipper Race crew and supporters.

This is the third time the race has visited Derry-Londonderry and the hospitality and warmth exuded by the locals has made it an exciting and fitting climax after the final ocean crossing in the 40,000 nautical mile circumnavigation. The Foyle Maritime Festival which is centred around the stopover will run from 9 – 17 July and promises to be even bigger and better than ever before.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, the Host Port and Team Sponsor, Cllr Elisha McCallion says: “We are hugely excited about the arrival of the Clipper Race fleet in just 50 days’ time and are putting the final touches to our exciting programme of events for the Foyle Maritime Festival. Everyone in the city is thrilled to see our Derry~Londonderry~Doire yacht blazing a trail by winning the last three races and up there in the front pack in the PSP Logistics Panama Cup. We are all looking forward to giving the crew a hero’s welcome when they arrive in the city for what promises to be a spectacular week of celebration.”

When the fleet begins to arrive around 7 July, the banks of the River Foyle will be lined with well-wishers, happy to share their historic city with our international crew. The festival kicks off in earnest on 9 July inside the Walled City, before moving down to the Quayside from 13 July. Showcasing all the city’s finest assets, there will also be a food festival at Ebrington Square called Clipper Race Kitchens where celebrity chefs will host live cook offs and food vendors will tempt you with tasty local produce.

There will be free public open boat tours on the quayside but you can also go one step further and register for a free motorsail on board a Clipper 70 on certain days throughout the festival. For more information on dates and times, visit the What’s On page on the Foyle Maritime Festival website.

As the stopover has been a huge success in the past, local businesses are keen to support the festival and some are working with the council to be Team Hosts for the Clipper Race crew. All twelve teams have a local business there to support them and hold an event in their honour during the stopover.

The Team Hosts are:
ClipperTelemed+ - The City Hotel
Da Nang – Viet Nam - RoCo
Derry~Londonderry~Doire - The Everglades Hotel
Garmin - Da Vinci’s
GREAT Britain - The Blackbird
IchorCoal - The Bentley
LMAX Exchange - Bishop’s Gate Hotel
Mission Performance - Pyke ‘N’ Pommes
PSP Logistics - Walled City Brewery
Qingdao - Browns in Town
Unicef - The Sandwich Co
Visit Seattle - Granny Annie’s

More details of what they have planned for the teams will be revealed in due course.

The Clipper Race fleet leaves New York on 20 June and is expected to arrive in Derry-Londonderry between 7-11 July. For more information on the festival, places to stay and what to do in Derry-Londonderry visit the Foyle Maritime Festival website.

To download press releases, images and media background information, please register for immediate access to our media portal http://mediaportal.clipperroundtheworld.com/auth/login

The crew will be available for interview in New York, Derry-Londonderry and during their crossing from America to Northern Ireland. Print interviews can be carried out with the crew while racing via email through the Clipper Race communications team. Broadcast interviews may also be possible via Skype or satellite phone. If you would like to follow their journey across the Atlantic Ocean then please contact the us to set up live, as live and print interviews.

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About the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is undoubtedly one of the greatest ocean adventures on the planet, also regarded as one of its toughest endurance challenges. Taking almost a year to complete, it consists of eleven teams competing against each other on the world’s largest matched fleet of 70-foot ocean racing yachts.

The Clipper Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo, non-stop, around the world in 1968-69. His aim was to allow anyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, the chance to embrace the thrill of ocean racing; it is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors. Around 40 per cent of crew are novices and have never sailed before starting a comprehensive training programme ahead of their adventure.

This unique challenge brings together everyone from chief executives to train drivers, nurses and firefighters, farmers, airline pilots and students, from age 18 upwards, to take on Mother Nature’s toughest and most remote conditions. There is no upper age limit, the oldest competitor to date is 76.

Now in its twelfth edition, the Clipper 2019-20 Race started from London, UK, on 02 September 2019.