Clipper Round the World Race Report from Will Sargeant
Published 14:23 on 1 May 2026
Leg 6 Qingdao China to Seattle USA via Tongyeong South Korea
Race 8 Qingdao to Tongyeong
450 NM 4MWF 5 days
The fleet left China on the 10/03 after being treated to some great, (if slightly formal) hospitality in Qingdao. The port had previously hosted the sailing at the Beijing 2008 summer Olympics. If you ever visit, the beer factory tour is highly recommended. We got the opportunity to tour the first new Clipper hull for the next edition. They are definitely going to be comfier than the current clipper 70s but may lack some of the raw sailing experience.
The fleet motored off shore to get race 8 underway via a leman start. With a tight deadline to meet as a big arrival ceremony was planned in Korea the first race was abandoned as the fleet entered into a large wind hole. We continued to motor for another day before trying to start again. Unfortunately, after another 12 hours the race was abandoned for a 2nd time. We were concerned at this time we might just be motoring to Korea! Fortunately, on the third start the wind filled in enough for the fleet to commence a very short sprint race.
We had to tow Seattle onto the start line due to them having prop wrapped a fishing line and being unable to use their motor. This led to a poor start and we had to fight our way through the fleet. After 24 hours the entire fleet entered a wind hole and were sat for 3 hours all pointing in different directions trying to find some wind. Finally, we all accelerated quickly as a new line of breeze hit the fleet and we had to rapidly change down headsails. We arrived in to South Korea having achieved a 4th place holding off Seattle by 0.002 NM it was truly a nail-biting finish.
Tongyeong were absolutely fabulous hosts going above and beyond. This was the first time that they have been a host port and treated us to a clipper branded beer, a jazz concert as well as a mini festival with DJ live music and even some Korean opera. The whole town got involved and I am sure the Clipper fleet will be back.
Race 9 Tongyeong to Seattle - The big one
5,482 NM 10 - MWF 28 days
The fleet left Korea on 22/03 bracing themselves for the North Pacific crossing. We were all aware this was going to be a real test of stamina and mental strength as we were going to have to battle for 4 weeks in freezing temperatures. At race start we were treated to very light winds which allowed us all to enjoy some truly stunning views of the islands laying of Korea.
We had a good start and lead the fleet south to the bottom of Japan. We had a couple of mandatory gates to pass through but had very pleasant sailing for the first few days. We were then hit by the first low pressure of the trip and this was the largest one with over 50 knots one night. For the first time we had to utilise our storm jib. Unfortunately, a section of our mast track failed during this low pressure meaning we were stuck at reef 3 while we waited for the sea state to calm to allow us to undertake a repair. This took several days seeing us drop to last place and over 250 miles behind the leaders. Heather and Millie worked extremely hard spending hours up the mast drilling and riveting the replacement section of track to the mast to allow us to get back up to full speed.
We then encountered another two low pressure systems but were able to get to the northern side of these and utilise them to knock off significant mileage averaging 270NM for a few days which felt amazing to be making great progress as we approached the northern ice limit for this stage. At this stage we crossed the international date line perfectly timed so we enjoyed Easter Sunday twice. The Easter hare even made a visit as, apparently, they can swim unlike the Easter bunny. This great weather didnt last and the winds turned to the east which meant the fleet were beating up wind knocking off only 100ish miles a day living at 40 degrees heel being soaked in 2c degrees water. These truly gruelling conditions are our preferred conditions as a team and we slowly made gains through the fleet.
Sadly, team Punta had to turn back as one of their Round the Worlders became ill and needed medical attention. Causing them to lose significant distance. Team Tongyeong also damaged one of their rudders and had to limp the rest of the way.
We reached the end of the northern ice limit with about 1,000 miles to go, very close to the front 3 boats. Over the last phase of the race we managed to overhaul LBS to get to 3rd place which took real grit and determination from the team in truly challenging conditions.
It was definitely the most testing sailing I have ever undertaken pushing everyone to their limit and beyond in freezing temperatures and large low-pressure systems.
We still sit in 2nd place overall but 3rd and 4th places are snapping at our heels.
Last updated 14:24 on 1 May 2026