So in the end it was neither London nor Hull, and not on the bank holiday either. Clipper have announced that the race will be leaving from Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool on Sunday 20th August 2017, and returning there in July 2018.

The boats are expected up in Liverpool around 14th August, and there are various events going on that week; since I am planning on joining the boat for preparation week in Gosport and then for the journey up to Liverpool I expect I’ll be there for that week – if anyone wants to come up to visit I’ll happily show you around the boat!

Currently I’m in Gosport on my CRCC (clipper race coxswain course), which is a training course to allow people to take over command if something happens to the skipper. If you catch me with a lot of time I have plenty of things to say on this subject, but this is a short blog post written in a lunchtime!