GoToBermuda Christened As Clipper Race Yacht
Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] CEO Kevin Dallas did the official honours at St Katharine Docks in London today [Aug 28], at a vessel-naming ceremony for Bermuda’s debut team entry in the upcoming 2019–20 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
The yacht, GoToBermuda, joins 11 other Clipper 70 ocean-racing vessels in the 2019–20 edition of the 40,000-nautical-mile race that starts from London this Sunday, September 1. For the first time, Bermuda will be a Host Port and Team Partner for what is considered one of the world’s toughest sailing races.
“We’ve brought the Bermuda weather with us today as an added extra,” Mr Dallas noted under sunny skies at the Central London marina as he carried out the ceremonial spraying of champagne over GoToBermuda’s bow.
He was joined by Clipper Race Founder and Chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, alongside Skipper David Immelman and team crew.
“This is a really exciting partnership and we are proud to be a part of the Clipper Race for the first time,” Mr Dallas said.
“Sailing is part of our DNA. In Bermuda, we live life differently. Set apart not only by our location, but also the way of life, sailing has always been a part of who we are, so we’re really excited to invite romantics, explorers and adventure-seekers like our Clipper Race Crew to Bermuda next June.”
The christening ceremony, a maritime tradition to bring good luck and fair weather to sailors, took place before a crowd of travel writers, editors and bloggers.
As they showed media around what will be their home for most of the next year, the boat’s crew sported their new team kit, with Bermuda’s coordinates on the sleeve.
The City of Hamilton will be one of 15 host ports for the race fleet—on the epic journey’s final Leg 8 from New York to Northern Ireland, July 2020.
Other ports include Panama; Portimao, Portugal; Cape Town, South Africa; Fremantle Australia and Qingdao, China.
Clipper Race teams are made up of a professional Skipper and Mate, and crew from all over the globe, and through the partnership, the BTA said they “will offer the opportunity of a lifetime for a Bermudian to compete in the final leg as part of the GoToBermuda crew,” noting that application and criteria details will be forthcoming.
The Clipper Race is the only event of its kind for non-professional sailors, training everyday people to make six ocean crossings, covering six continents. It was founded in 1996 by Sir Robin, who in April celebrated 50 years since he became the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world.
Awesome job BTA well done !
Thanks to de tax payers who are paying him $1000 a day while air arrivals are down.
Supporting a vessel and crew for this race will require a substantial financial investment by BTA and taxpayer’s. What is the expected ROI and what opportunities will be available for local stakeholders? This information should have been made public by the BTA months ago. Really have to question if BTA hosting the PGA tournament and vessel & crew in this race will result in enough visitors coming to Bermuda for these events to ‘break-even’ or are they just hosting locals?
Nice idea Kevin, but I have one question.
How many people will see the logo out at sea, where the boats will spend 99+% of their time.
Better than supporting a that never happened Mayors Conference.