Clipper Ventures, owners and organizers of the Clipper Round the World Race, recently expanded their business with several key acquisitions. The Clipper Race is already an international affair, with week-long rests in between legs in Australia, South America, Asia, and North America, and Seattle is often chosen as their West Coast stop. Clipper recently established Clipper China, a sail training division set up to take advantage of the country’s growing interest in offshore sailing.
Clipper also purchased the Hamble School of Yachting, a leading 35-year old yachting school in the United Kingdom. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Clipper Race chairman and co-founder, hopes that the acquisition of Hamble will improve Clipper’s training abilities. “The decision to buy the Hamble School of Yachting is part of a wider strategy to develop our offering within the offshore sailing industry,” Knox-Johnston explains.
The Hamble instructors’ experience will benefit the new Clipper China expansion and the training of new Clipper Race participants. Nearly 40 percent of Round the World racers have zero sailing experience and must complete several months of intense training before being allowed to participate in the race. Clipper is planning on using their new training facilities to improve the quality of the training and increase their pools of Clipper Race skippers and crew.
Chris Rushton, the principal of Hamble, said, “The Hamble School of Yachting is well established in the U.K. sail training industry, but to link up with Clipper Ventures and be able to share our commitment to increasing sailing participation and top-class standards on a truly global level makes this a very exciting move…”
