Richard Hewson, 31, from Hobart, Tasmania has been selected as one of ten elite skippers who will each lead a team in this year’s Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race. Richard will be the only professional sailor on board one of a matched fleet of stripped down, 68-foot ocean racing yachts and will command a non-professional crew as they compete in the gruelling 40,000-mile race around the globe.Richard has always had a love of sailing and when the race sets off from the UK in August this year he will be on his way to fulfilling a lifetime ambition.

Richard says, “To race around the world has been a dream since I was a small child and a goal I have been preparing for my entire life. There are few opportunities available where you get given a racing yacht and a crew to compete in one of the most challenging yacht races in the world.
“Not only is the Clipper Race an awesome challenge, but the comradeship and friendships developed in a race like this are amazing. I cannot wait until the gun goes off at the start of the first leg in August.”

Under Richard’s professional guidance will be a crew who come from all walks of life, from train drivers to IT specialists, nurses to chief executives, many of whom had never sailed before applying to take part. To date more than 40 different nationalities are represented by Clipper crew and Clipper 11-12 will see 28 Australians compete in the challenging eleven month race.

Richard was first introduced to sailing by his family. “I began sailing on our family yacht before I could crawl and spent most of my early years on the water. At the age of six I found a small dinghy on the rocks and my father and I patched it up and I used to bob around the local bay but it didn’t go fast enough,” recalls Richard.

From this point onwards there was no turning back and soon the Tasmanian sailor was racing dinghies on a regular basis, competing at local, state, national and international regattas.

“I started racing keel boats when I left school and have been focusing on ocean racing ever since,” explains Richard. “When I was 14 a friend and I bought an old 30-foot wooden boat and restored her. I had always wanted to sail offshore, so as soon as she was relatively seaworthy I sailed her up the east coast of Tasmania and as far offshore as I could until I could not see land.”

A love of being on the water led to Richard’s first career in the Royal Australian Navy where he started as a Seaman Officer before qualifying as a Mine Clearance Diving Officer. This was followed by work on super yachts in the Caribbean before going on to work on large tankers as a Chief Mate. Richard now wishes to make sailing his full time career.

“Clipper skippers have a fantastic reputation of sailing good campaigns throughout the Clipper Race and progressing into their sailing careers. Many have gone on to conquer some of the most competitive and toughest races in the world.

“My ultimate ambition is to sail solo around the world,” he adds. “Clipper in itself is a massive challenge and provides a fantastic platform for developing a solo round the world campaign.”

The Clipper Race celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, the first edition having been run in 1996. It was established by legendary yachtsman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston who, in 1969, became the first man to sail solo and non-stop around the world. He wanted to make ocean racing available to everyone, regardless of nationality or background, and since that first race almost 3,000 ordinary people have taken the opportunity to step outside of their comfort zone and do something truly extraordinary by taking on nature in the raw and racing around the world under sail.

Sir Robin comments, “Leading a team in a race around the world is one of the hardest and most challenging jobs that any skipper could ever undertake and we’re confident Richard and the other nine skippers are up to this challenge. They have all been through a lengthy and rigorous selection process and we have chosen a group of exceptional individuals as our race skippers. They have the ability to draw the line between competitiveness and safety while, at the same time, motivating the crew to retain their focus during races lasting several weeks at a time, whether it be through roaring gales and towering seas or the frustration of tricky calm spells.”

Followers of the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race can look forward to some exciting and exhilarating racing when the event gets underway this August. During the 40,000-mile race the fleet will stop at 15 ports around the world before arriving back in the UK in July 2012. For the first time the route includes an extra leg that will take the fleet from the west coast of Australia rounding Cape Leeuwin en route to New Zealand and then on to Australia’s east coast.

The search is already underway for suitably qualified men and women to follow in the footsteps of these ten skippers in the next edition of the race which will start in 2013 and will be raced on the brand new fleet of 70-foot yachts that have been specially commissioned. Skippers wishing to register their interest in applying for one of the most prestigious positions in sailing should email sirrobinknoxjohnston@clipper-ventures.com.
source: www.mysailing.com.au