Clipper fleet for Round the Island Race

by Clipper Ventures on 22 Jun 2007 Clipper Ventures Plc’s fleet of Clipper 68s that are preparing for the start of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race later this year will be racing in the JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on Saturday 23 June.

It is the first time that the fleet of matched 68-foot race yachts has taken part in the annual race. Compared to the ten-month round the world race that lies ahead for the fleet, the circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight will be a very different challenge with close racing in a fleet of almost 1,800 yachts.

The Clipper Fleet, along with three of the marine events company’s Clipper 60s, will be racing alongside Clipper Race Chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on his Open 60 LOMBARD Marine Finance. Sir Robin has recently completed the VELUX 5 OCEANS round the world race and will oversee the sixth Clipper Round the World Race when the 200 non-professional crews head off from Liverpool in September.

Sir Robin said: ‘It’s great that our fleet of Clipper 68s will be taking part in the Round the Island race for the first time this year. It will provide the crews with some great racing practice ahead of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race that starts later this year.’

Clipper Race crews are getting in some race practice ahead of the start on 16 September in Liverpool and corporate guests are looking forward to getting a taste of racing these state of the art yachts. The 12-strong fleet will start at 0500 BST on Saturday morning.

Ahead of the racing on Friday evening, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston will accept a cheque for £7,500 on behalf of the Philip Green Memorial Trust presented by Campbell Fleming, Head of UK Business at JPMorgan Asset Management, sponsor of the Round the Island Race.

The company has made the donation to the Clipper Race’s official charity Philip Green Memorial Trust after JPMorgan's South West regional sales manager Philip Thitchener signed up to take part in the first three legs, covering 15,000 miles from Liverpool arriving in Fremantle, Western Australia in December.

Philip’s fundraising campaign for the Philip Green Memorial Trust has been kickstarted by this donation fro his employers.

Philip said, 'The race represents a dream come true and I realise how privileged and lucky I am to be able to take part. When I learned of PGMT's work I wanted to help those who whose dream is simply to be better. I am extremely grateful to JPMorgan for allowing me the time off to fulfil my ambition and the generous donation will help lots of youngsters less fortunate than me.'

The aim of the Philip Green Memorial Trust is to help children who wish to be healthy. The Trust helps sick and disabled children all over the UK and overseas. It supports welfare, medical and educational projects as well as helping individual children lead a normal life. Since its inception it has distributed in excess of ₤3,000,000 to over 200 organisations and individuals.