This Sunday sees the start of the 35,000-mile Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race from Hull. The crews will travel to Brazil, South Africa, Australia, China, California and the Caribbean before returning to Hull in July 2010. What makes the race unique is that nearly half the 400 people taking part had never been aboard a sailing yacht until they started training for the event.
Carolyn Burgess (our chief exec and the president of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce) got a small taste of what the crews will be up against when she took to the ocean for a few hours aboard the Hull & Humber yacht. As befits the head of a language company, she soon picked up the lingo — to an extent. "I was at the helm," she said, "and I did the ropey thing, too."
Hull & Humber will be up against nine other teams from all over the world, and this blog will be keeping a close eye on their progress over the coming months.