Amateurs to Conquer the Mighty Pacific

Downtown Seattle’s Bell Harbor Marina is preparing to welcome the Clipper Round the World’s 12 70-ft one-design boats for the first time in the 20-year history of the race. The fleet is currently in Qingdao, China, anticipating Sunday’s start of Race 9. Each race within the circumnavigation has a descriptive name, and the 6,000-mile passage to Seattle is called ‘Conquer the Mighty Pacific’. The boats are expected to arrive in Seattle April 15-20, and will depart for the Panama Canal on April 28, with New York their only other US destination. In recent editions, they’ve stopped in Santa Cruz, Oakland, or San Francisco, but Seattle will substitute for a California port this year.

"We’re getting the boat prepped for the race to Seattle," writes Mike Moore, the circumnavigating Bay Area resident we profiled in the October 2015 issue of Latitude 38. "The last leg was a tough one, especially the last bit in the Yellow Sea, as we hit a big storm with headwinds in the 70s and temperatures dropping to near freezing. Lots of excitement in the shallow waters and sharp seas filled with fishing boats, nets and commercial shipping. We have lots to do to repair the damage from the storm." We’ll hear more from Mike, who’s racing aboard Sponsored by Mission Performance, in the next Latitude.

The skippers of each yacht are paid professionals, but the crew are all pay-to-play amateurs, hailing from 44 different countries. They can choose single or multiple legs, or go all the way around the globe. The race, which started from London on August 30, makes 14 stops in nine countries before returning to London after an 11-month odyssey. LMAX Exchange is currently leading the standings. See www.clipperroundtheworld.com.