Written by CLIPPER NEWS – The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has launched a new international crew recruitment campaign urging people to ‘achieve something remarkable’ by swapping the tedium of their daily routine for the excitement of racing across some of the most challenging oceans on the planet. No experience necessary!
The ‘watch my story’ campaign launches today (17 September) across the UK and will roll out globally in key overseas markets later this year. It features real amateur crew from the last race with a link to watch their stories online.
The Clipper Race was founded 16 years ago by legendary yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo, non-stop, around the world in 1968-9. It is the world’s longest ocean race at 40,000 miles. The extraordinary factor is that anyone 18-years-old or over is eligible to apply without any sailing experience. The selected crew members are put through three weeks of intensive pre-race training.
Sir Robin said: “I want people coming back from this race and saying ‘it’s the best thing I’ve done in my life,’ and then adding ‘so far’. Nearly half the people who take on the adventure of the Clipper Race have never sailed before but we give them a comprehensive training and supervise them with professional skippers.”
Clipper Ventures’ CEO, William Ward added: “This campaign goes to the root of what Sir Robin and I set up all those years ago – swapping your everyday life with an adventure of a lifetime.
“This is our last call for crew for the 2013-14 edition of the Clipper Race and will undoubtedly increase the interest we already have for the 2015-16 edition.
“The Clipper Race is bigger than ever, with the last race reaching a cumulative global media audience well in excess of a billion people. To meet the growing demand from sponsors and for crew berths, we’ve invested in twelve brand new 70-foot yachts.”
The campaign drives readers to a new microsite at www.clipperroundtheworld.com, where they can find out more about featured crew members, watch on board footage and register their interest. The individual crew videos explore why the featured crew members signed up for the race, including the highs and lows of their adventure.
Marketing Brand Manager, Terri Clarke said, “We’ve got strongly behind crew stories to achieve emotional engagement. We’re lucky to have such extraordinary people taking part who have chosen to put their normal routine on hold for up to a year to race around the world; each with a different background and reason for doing so. Their stories and achievements are what are really inspiring.”
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