yacht race plymouth

Plymouth to host new round-the-world yacht race

Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City, is set to host an exhilarating new around-the-world sailing event, the WORLDSTAR on Saturday 26 September 2026!

Organized by the Royal Western Yacht Club (RWYC), the WORLDSTAR promises to be a thrilling spectacle. Starting in the picturesque Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, sailors will embark on an impressive journey around Antarctica before returning to Plymouth for the finish.

This extraordinary race is open to all solo and double-handed boats between 35ft and 60ft that has completed a 2000-mile qualification passage within the specified timeframe.

Commodore and Race Director, Chris Arscott said, “As we know, The Royal Western Yacht Club was the very first club to introduce short-handed and fully crewed offshore and oceanic racing. We want to complete the offering by launching this unique and ultimate test of seamanship to complement the OSTAR TWOSTAR and the RB&I, an opportunity for those sailors who want to take on the World in their own boat without the need to spend huge amounts of money.”

Race ambassador and round the world sailor, Guy Waites said “This is for the adventurer, for the sailor who inspires to the ultimate challenge… short-handed, non-stop, around the world via the 3 great capes. An event with clear guidelines, an event to facilitate your dream in, quite possibly, the boat you already own.”

RWYC Vice Commodore Adrian Gray said, “It is our intention to help as many sailors as possible with the required experience to achieve their dream at a reasonable level of investment, with the confidence of knowing that one of the worlds most experienced oceanic yacht clubs is with them in their quest to conquer their ‘Everest’. This will become part of a very tough, 3-STAR Challenge, along with the OSTAR and TWOSTAR.”

The WORLDSTAR start is scheduled to start at 12pm on Saturday 26 September 2026.

To find out more and to register your note of intent please go to  https://rwyc.org/worldstar

Further information and sponsorship opportunities please email  [email protected]

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Exciting global event will put Plymouth on world stage

'we can use it as a way to showcase plymouth and the south west'.

• 06:00, 1 SEP 2024

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Plymouth is to host a major global yachting event which will showcase the city to the world. The Worldstar race is expected to bring a huge economic boost when it is staged in 2026.

It will see up to 40 boats set off from Plymouth in a “challenging” one-year solo or double-handed circumnavigation of the planet, via the Antarctic. The race will start and finish in Plymouth, scene of the conclusion to Francis Chichester’s famous solo round-the-world triumph in 1967.

The event is being organised by Plymouth’s Royal Western Yacht Club (RWYC). Chris Arscott, commodore at the Queen Anne’s Battery club and race director, said: “It’s a major event for Plymouth. There is no yacht club in the world that has dared to do this. We have an opportunity to put ourselves and Plymouth on the world map. It’s a big deal.”

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He said that because the city’s Mayflower 400 events were curtailed by the Covid pandemic, the Worldstar event has the potential to make up for that and “pull people into the city”. He said it would attract boats, sailors and their support teams, tourists and the media to the city.

“It will attract teams to Plymouth, who will be filling accommodation and restaurants,” he said. “But it will also put Plymouth on the map as leading the world for this type of event.

“There would be a mass start in Plymouth Sound, with a huge media circus. We can use it as a way to showcase Plymouth and the South West.”

The Worldstar event is open to all solo and double handed boats, between 35ft and 60ft in length, that have completed a 2,000-mile qualification passage in an allotted time. The course will start from Plymouth Sound’s National Marine Park, go around Antarctica to starboard and return to Plymouth Sound for the finish.

Mr Arscott is anticipating about 40 boats will take part in the race, which will start at noon on September 26, 2026 and take them between nine months to a year to complete.

He said: “It’s a huge challenge. About 6,000 people have climbed Mount Everest but only about 200 have sailed around the world single handed. We have got about 20 or so interested already and five have paid the £1,000 deposit to secure a place. Interest is ramping up quickly. We have Americans interested, and Dutch and French."

“As we know, The RWYC was the very first club to introduce short-handed and fully-crewed offshore and oceanic racing,” he added.

“We want to complete the offering by launching this unique and ultimate test of seamanship to complement the Ostar (single-handed transatlantic race) Twostar (two-handed transatlantic race) and the RB&I (two-handed and crewed race), an opportunity for those sailors who want to take on the world in their own boat without the need to spend huge amounts of money.”

The RWYC has now developed the Worldstar to appeal to sailors who want to complete a circumnavigation in their own boat without an extensive qualification process.

Mr Arscott said: “We are fortunate that the RWYC has the knowledge and confidence to do it. There are local firms behind it and it would be great to get more to showcase what Plymouth can do. That could be hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.”

Guy Waites, race ambassador and round-the-world sailor, said: “This is for the adventurer, for the sailor who aspires to the ultimate challenge: short-handed, non-stop, around the world via the three great capes. An event with clear guidelines, an event to facilitate your dream in, quite possibly, the boat you already own.”

Adrian Gray, RWYC Vice Commodore, said: "It is our intention to help as many sailors as possible with the required experience to achieve their dream at a reasonable level of investment, with the confidence of knowing that one of the worlds most experienced oceanic yacht clubs is with them in their quest to conquer their ‘Everest'. This will become part of a very tough, 3-Star Challenge, along with the Ostar and Twostar.”

To find out more and register your note of intent click here . For further information and sponsorship opportunities email [email protected]

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Plymouth Skipper wins round the world yacht race for second time 

Bob Beggs, a 64-year-old, professional sailor from Plymouth, UK, has led his team to victory in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race; a first in the event’s 28 year history. With over 40,000 nautical miles (46,000 miles) of racing, six ocean crossings, fourteen races and eleven months away on the ocean race track, Bob and his  Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam  team was crowned Clipper 2023-24 Race champions. 

In the closest finish ever, Bob Beggs and his crew on board  Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam  took victory in the overall Clipper 2023-24 Race.

Image: Bob Beggs (front, far left) and his team celebrate on board.

It was a fierce fight between three teams for the podium spots on Race 14, which came right down to the wire. For Bob’s team to secure the win, they could not afford to finish more than three places behind  Perseverance,  which was hot on the team’s heels on the overall leaderboard.

Following the news was shared with the teams this afternoon that the race would be shortened and finish tonight at 18:00 UTC,  Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam  was in eighth place and  Perseverance  was third, meaning an overall win was in sight for  Perseverance . However, in a nail-biting effort by the crew on Bob Beggs' team they trimmed themselves back into fifth place over the course of the afternoon, reducing the difference in positions on the Race 14 leaderboard down to two places, enough to secure the overall win of the 2023-2024 race by one single point overall, clinch the trophy and become champions.

The Clipper Race is the only event of its kind where non-professional sailors of varying ages, nationalities, backgrounds and sailing abilities can train to become ocean racers as they take on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure around the world. Crew members from all walks of life can sign up to take on one, a combination or all of the eight stages that form the circumnavigation. 

 Image: the Clipper Race fleet has spent 11 months racing 40,000nm around the world 

Over the eleven months the  Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam  team has consisted of 59 Race Crew, eight of which are about to become circumnavigators, representing 22 nations, aged from 25 to 70, and who have faced everything mother nature can throw at them. From storm force winds and waves the size of houses, freezing temperatures and searing heat, to waterspouts and wind holes, this race has truly been an adventure of a lifetime. 

Speaking just before official confirmation of the team win, says Bob Beggs: “It gives me great pleasure to join a highly motivated, organised team such as the crew on  Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam . Ably assisted by my first mate, Cameron McCracken. Emotions have been running high all day in anticipation of receiving news of our podium position on arrival in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth. We're now awaiting confirmation from race headquarters and we believe we're the overall winners.”

Clipper Race Director Mark Light congratulated the team on its win: “Huge congratulations to Bob, Cam and the entire  Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam  team for an absolutely brilliant and epic achievement to become Champions of the Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race! 

“It was so, so close at the end and the racing throughout the whole circumnavigation has been gripping us all the way. Very well done to all the teams and crew who have achieved something utterly fantastic and special. You will have these memories for life and you should all be really proud of yourselves.”

For Bob Beggs, this is his second Clipper Race win, after he led his  Bristol  team to victory in the Clipper 2000 Race. This was also the last time the Clipper Race finished in Portsmouth prior to the current edition. 

The Grand Finale was held in Portsmouth on 27 July.

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