Clipper Race Fleet Sets Sail for Portsmouth Homecoming

21st July 2026

Afloat.ie Team

Home Straight — The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race fleet leaves Oban on the final leg to Portsmouth after almost 11 months at sea and more than 40,000 nautical miles of ocean racing.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race fleet is on the final stretch home after almost 11 months at sea and more than 40,000 nautical miles of racing. With the overall winner already decided, the battle for the remaining podium places will be settled during the final race to Portsmouth.**

The ten Clipper 70 yachts departed Oban on Sunday for the last leg of the global circumnavigation, with the fleet due to arrive back in Portsmouth on Saturday, 25 July, where the race began in August 2025.

In a first for the Clipper Race, overall victory has already been secured before the final finish. Team GOSH wrapped up the title in Washington, DC after building an unassailable points lead during the penultimate leg.

Attention now turns to the race for second and third overall. Six teams remain in contention: Power of Seattle Sports, London Business School, Tongyeong, Scotland, Yacht Club Punta del Este and UNICEF.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is unique in training people from all walks of life to become ocean racers. Apart from the professional Race Skipper and First Mate on each yacht, crews are made up of amateur sailors who undergo intensive training before taking on six ocean crossings.

Crew members include doctors, teachers, students and business professionals who have spent almost a year racing through some of the world's most demanding oceans, encountering everything from tropical heat to freezing conditions and prolonged heavy weather.

Among them is Hamble sailor Thomas Roy, who postponed a place at Oxford University to complete the circumnavigation.

"I can't really believe it," Roy said before leaving Oban. "It's a bit surreal to be here on the last race start day.

"I was looking for a challenge and to grow in confidence, and I think I've achieved that and more – way more than I could ever have expected or hoped for."

The fourteenth edition of the Clipper Race started from Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth on 31 August 2025. Since then, the fleet has visited Puerto Sherry, Punta del Este, Cape Town, Fremantle, Airlie Beach, Subic Bay, Qingdao, Tongyeong, Seattle, Panama, Washington, DC and Oban.

Oban hosted the race for the second time after making its debut as a stopover port in 2024.

Kay MacDonald of Bid4Oban said the return visit had delivered significant benefits for the town.

"It's been incredible to see the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race return to Oban this year," she said.

"Many of our members have reported a record week in terms of business and we've heard many of the Clipper Race crew describe this as a highlight of the whole race. We wish them a safe and successful onward journey."

The fleet is expected to complete its circumnavigation with a ceremonial finish in Portsmouth on Saturday, bringing to a close one of the world's longest and most demanding amateur ocean racing events.

Published in Clipper Race, Scottish Waters

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.