Rory Gillard new skipper for Glasgow Clipper

by Clipper media on 29 Dec 2005 Clipper Ventures PLC has announced the appointment of Rory Gillard as the replacement skipper for Glasgow Clipper to take over from Graeme Johnston for the next instalment of the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race.

Graeme resigned a week ago upon arriving in Fremantle for personal reasons and Rory will take over in time for the restart on New Year’s Day.

Rory, 35, who skippered one of the eight Clipper 60s in the previous Clipper Race, will take over at the helm and lead the Scottish team for the remainder of the race back to Liverpool.

Born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Rory started sailing on the Irish Sea with his family, and now lives in Gosport, Hampshire. He took over as skipper on London Clipper in the Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race in Hawaii and finished 6th overall with 57.5 points.

Since completing the last Clipper race, Rory has been working for On Deck Sailing, managing its fleet of Farr 65s, and most recently he has been working as a freelance professional skipper both in the UK and in the Caribbean.

Talking to the Race Team shortly before he flew out to Fremantle, Rory said: ‘I’m looking forward to meeting the crew and taking the team forward. I’ll be very proud to sail on Glasgow and hope that we can produce some good results for the city.’ His experience of the Clipper Race and of taking over part-way round will stand him in good stead and he will be hoping to improve on Glasgow’s results so far of three tenth places and a ninth in the four races to date.

Rory is due to arrive on Friday 30th December 2005, when he will meet the crew and go for a training sail with the team on New Year’s Eve ahead of the restart on New Year’s Day.

Glasgow is currently lying in tenth place overall with 4.5 points, behind Jersey in ninth place with 12 points. westernaustralia.com, skippered by Australian David Pryce, is building a commanding lead overall with a total of 32.5 points.