Clipper Race starts on August 20

The eleventh edition of the biennial Clipper Round the World Yacht Race gets underway on August 20 in Liverpool, UK. Twelve teams begin the 40,000 nm race in the matched fleet of 70-foot racing yachts. The event, which pairs a professional skipper with amateur crew, has attracted 712 people representing 41 nationalities to complete in the 2017-18 race, making it the largest to date. Divided into thirteen races, the first course extends 5968 nm from Liverpool to Punte del Este, Uruguay.

Live video streams of the departure ceremonies will be carried on-line from 0800 BST local time (0700 GMT/UTC) covering the crews’ farewell ceremony on stage, manning their boats and departing their moorings in Albert Dock. This will be followed by the fleet entering the Mersey and conducting a parade of sail along the waterfront for the tens of thousands of spectators anticipated to line both sides of the river.

At 1200 Noon BST (1100 GMT/UTC) the on-line feed will feature a special one-hour live TV show which will also be beamed around the world to include the race start at 1230 BST local time including live helicopter footage of the yachts racing around a tight circuit in front of the crowds before heading out to sea towards Punta del Este in Uruguay, their next port of call in this year-long 40,000 nautical mile ocean race around the planet. It will capture the true Corinthian spirit of these ‘everyday’ people taking on this remarkable challenge.

The 1-hour TV show will be broadcast on a range of international TV channels and news websites worldwide including Fox Sports, Eleven Sports Network in the US and parts of Asia and Europe, and to the Nautical Channel’s global audience of 20 million people.

The live TV show and web streams are being produced by the Clipper Race Official Host Broadcaster, 1080 Media TV, voted ‘Best Online Broadcast Company 2017’ and producer of the award winning global documentary series ‘The Race of Their Lives’ which goes behind the scenes to follow Clipper Race crew as they participate in this unique global event. The previous series in 2015-16 was broadcast in 171 countries and reached 914 million households around the world.

“There is huge interest in the Clipper Race from international broadcasters and audiences on six continents,” said Cliff Webb, CEO at 1080 Media TV. “No other event takes everyday people and trains them to take on the world’s toughest oceans. It is a very compelling human story and the success of the 7-part TV series speaks for itself. In addition, a growing global online audience now complements traditional live television coverage, attracting substantial audiences.”

The live feed can be viewed on the Clipper Race website at: www.clipperroundtheworld.com/livestream or on the You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/clipperrtw; it will also be on the Clipper Race Facebook Live channel.

Technical note: Feed optimised for Chrome, Edge and Safari browsers (recent versions from last 3 years). Firefox and Internet Explorer are not recommended. If you experience problems try the You Tube or Facebook feeds.

LIVE FEED SCHEDULE – TIMES BST (GMT/UTC+1)
0810-0910 Opening Ceremony as each of the twelve teams take their turn on the stage before boarding their boats.
0915-0950 Each yacht casts off to transfer from Albert Dock into the Canning Half Dock
1015-1050 The fleet enters the River Mersey
1115-1200 The fleet performs a parade of sail along the Liverpool Mersey river front.
1230-1310 Race start followed by an initial course around marks/buoys in front of the Liverpool waterfront to complete a circuit before heading out to sea towards Uruguay.
1310-1330 Fleet races out of the River Mersey

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