THE Hampshire organisers of a round-the-world yacht race have revealed that it will start and finish in London again this year.

The 40,000-mile Clipper Race, which was founded by Hampshire sailing legend Sir Robin Knox Johnston, sees 12 teams of amateur sailors pay to join professional skippers on the ultimate sailing challenge between August 30, 2015 and July 2016.

The starting place was announced by Clipper Ventures, the Gosport-based firm behind the race, at an event in Portsmouth yesterday where the sailors, including 15 from Hampshire and three from the Isle of Wight, met their teammates for the first time.

The 2011/2012 Clipper Race started and finished at Ocean Village in Southampton but city council bosses did not bid to host the event, which is estimated to boost the local economy by £5million, this time as they deemed it too expensive and thought chances of winning the bidding war were slim.

Daily Echo: Spectacular scenes in Southampton Water as the fleet leaves the city which hosted it in 2011/12.

Leisure boss Cllr Stephen Barnes-Andrews said: “It was just a matter of resources and the chances of us winning weren't that great. We had lots of competition and London had a very strong bid. Also, we have got our new arts complex in Guildhall Square coming on and we wanted to make sure we could give that a good launch next year.”

Chief executive of Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, Stewart Dunn said city bosses should begin preparing to host the race again in the next two to four years after work planned for the waterfront has been completed.

He said: “It's disappointing that Southampton is not hosting Clipper but in reality we should perhaps begin looking into the future and preparing a bid for when the waterfront begins to look different with the changes planned for Town Quay and the Watermark development.”

The 2015/16 Clipper teams include skippers Greg Miller, 39, and Jim Prendergast, 40, both from Gosport.

Amateurs taking part include: (BLOB) Alison Hudson, 44, an ambulance care assistant from Lee-on-the-Solent.

  • Sally Derrick, 35, an engineer from Cowes, Isle of Wight.
  • Damien Sweeney, 45, a company director from Romsey.
  • Chris Beddoes, 61, a chemical engineer from Hursley.
  • Katherine Garner, an air traffic controller from Burley, New Forest.
  • Charlotte Morton-Haworth, 33, a bid manager from Gosport.
  • Penny Carter, 73, retired, from Cowes, Isle of Wight.
  • Lucie Ward, 30, a manager from Lymington.
  • Emma Dixey, 54, a doctor from Newport, Isle of Wight.
  • Alison Boeree, 57, an academic lawyer at the University of Southampton from the New Forest.
  • Rowena March, 65, a chartered accountant from Ringwood.