Inside Prep Week: Setting the stage for upcoming race

During the final stretch before the Clipper Race gets underway, there is a week known as Prep Week.

As the name suggests, Prep Week is the last opportunity for Skippers, First Mates and Race Crew of the ten competing Clipper Race teams to make final preparations for the 40,000-nautical-mile race around the globe, which gets underway from Portsmouth at the end of this month.

The Prep Week schedule is intense; packed to the brim, it involves long and busy days of working on boats, organising, servicing parts, collecting vital supplies, workshops, victualling (food supplies) and training sessions. It sounds chaotic, but underneath the hustle and bustle on the dock lies a quiet and organised focus.

The Clipper Race Management Team plays a central role in the organisation of Prep Week and, speaking at the start of the week, Clipper Race Deputy Director Max Rivers says:

Prep Week is the opportunity for crew to come down and get involved in all aspects of boat prep. This is a chance to work with your Skipper and Mate on your boat and contribute to all aspects of life on board.

“Any Race Crew from any leg can come and join, speak to your Skipper and Mate first. A great chance to be involved, but don’t stress if you can’t, there will be plenty of opportunities during your leg or legs to be involved.”

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Walking a tightrope between adrenaline and calm routine, the teams might not be sailing just yet, but in many ways this time is as important; how they prepare will have a significant impact on how set up for success the team is during the opening stages of the eight-leg circumnavigation.

Max adds:

“Prep Week is when the boat moves from a training vessel to the boat that a team will sail as a team around the world. The chance for crew to customise the vessel, within reason, and to take ownership of a number of different aspects of the vessel prep. A major part of this is loading the boat with victualling and spares, to ensure they have enough equipment and stores to complete their circumnavigation. Although they do load up on additional stores throughout the race, there are a number of items that are easier, cheaper or better to get here in the UK.”

As a personal note, gravy is only really good in the UK!”

Max reminisces, drawing from his own first-hand experiences on the circuit as a Clipper Race First Mate and Skipper.

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For the Race Crew who have joined to help with Prep Week, there’s an abundance of training to complete. Not to be confused with Clipper Race training, which is compulsory for all Race Crew, the Prep Week training is additional and covers a whole host of topics that help teams spot and deal with a range of potential issues — and importantly, how to proactively carry out checks to spot and sort any potential problems before they arise.

On Prep Week training, Max said:

“Race Crew are learning new skills in various training courses that are provided, including Spinlock who lead lifejacket servicing, Hyde Sails leading training on sail repair, Solent Sewing Machines training for sewing machine repairs, MSOS helping to train medical assistants. We run in-house training, too, with the Clipper Race Comms team training Media Crew, previous Race Crew leading Team Coordinator training, and the engine, generator and watermaker training provided by the Clipper Race Maintenance Team.

“Race Crew also spend time learning from their Skipper and Mates; having popped down on the dock already I can see that lessons are happening on all manner of things from whipping, splicing, winch servicing, soft shackle making, and on and on.”

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Circumnavigators and Leg 1 Race Crew, whether helping at HQ or winding up responsibilities at home, are meticulously packing, checking, unpacking and restocking their kit bags with just the bare essentials needed for their time at sea. In the coming weeks, they will be making their way to Portsmouth Harbour to join their teammates for the real thing — the start of the Clipper 2025-26 Race on 31 August.

As for the Race Management Team? It’s full steam ahead! Speaking about what the coming weeks look like for his team, Max said:

The Race Management Team is very busy facilitating Prep Week, and we are also working away behind the scenes on Race Start, operations and logistics, looking a number of stopovers ahead and planning future stops.

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With just two weeks to go until Race Start festivities get underway in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, the final countdown is now on! The action begins in Gunwharf on 29 August, with the fleet departure and Clipper 2025-26 Race Start happening and visible from the shore on Sunday 31 August. Find out more here.

Want to join us? There’s still time! We are offering fast-track applications for later legs of the circumnavigation. No previous sailing experience required, full training provided. More info on the Fast Track programme