Irish Sailor Helps Secure Tongyeong Home Port Win

20th March 2026

Afloat.ie Team

Spray Day Delight — Team Tongyeong celebrates a historic home port victory in the Clipper Race, with Dublin First Mate Brian Uniacke among the jubilant crew after winning Stage 8 in Korea

A Dublin sailor has helped secure a landmark victory in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, as Team Tongyeong won the stage into its Korean home port.

First Mate Brian Uniacke of the National Yacht Club was part of the crew that topped the podium on arrival into Tongyeong on 16 March, alongside Skipper Lou Boorman.

The result is historic. It marks the first time the global race has stopped in Korea — and the first time a Korean team entry has won on home waters.

Speaking on board at the finish of Stage 8: Sprint to Gyeongnam, Uniacke said: “I’m so happy for the team, and I’m so happy for Lou. We worked hard, and we got it. It’s a dream come true.”

Team Tongyeong doubled its points haul by playing its Joker card for the stage, earning 20 points and boosting its overall standing.

Green Glory — Dublin First Mate Brian Uniacke shares a quiet moment dockside after Team Tongyeong’s Clipper Race stage win in Korea, reflecting on a landmark home port victory

“It was a really hard-going race, but it’s great to get it done. Twenty points! Over the past three races, we’ve doubled our points on the one before, and it’s changed everything for us,” Uniacke said.

The Clipper Race trains amateur sailors to become ocean racers, with more than 40% of participants starting with no prior sailing experience. Crews face extreme conditions across six ocean crossings in an 11-month, 40,000-nautical-mile circumnavigation.

Uniacke, who left a corporate career to pursue sailing, said the opportunity remains unique. “I want to be able to look back and be satisfied that I always gave my all… but I won’t lie, I want to get on a podium too.”

The fleet will remain in Tongyeong for a week of cultural events before departing on the North Pacific leg, bound for Seattle.

Korean crew member Han Kim, returning a decade after his own circumnavigation, said: “I’ve been working on getting the Clipper Race to come to Korea for over ten years… we made it, number one.”

The race will continue via the United States and Panama before finishing in Portsmouth this July.

Published in Clipper Race, National YC

Published in Clipper Race

Tagged under

Clipper Round The World Race

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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.