60 in style: Bob Brown completes circumnavigation to mark big birthday

“It has been immense and something I’ll never forget!”

Bob Brown signed up for the world’s toughest endurance challenge to mark his 60th birthday

Bob Brown, a plumber from Leicester, raced into second place overall in the Clipper 2025-26 Round the World Yacht Race - despite having no sailing experience before signing up.

Image: Bob Brown (left), from Leicester, spent eleven months circumnavigating the globe with the Clipper Race

Bob, who signed up to race around the world to mark his 60th birthday, raced back into Portsmouth eleven months after setting off last August, and emotions ran high on the docks as he met his nearly-one-year-old granddaughter for the first time.

Talking about why he signed up, Bob said: “I was looking to do something else to celebrate my 60th, and I decided to see how far the same amount of money would get me on the Clipper Race, which was around Australia. But by the time I got through the interview stage, I thought ‘why start something and not finish it?’

“I’m all-in or nothing at all. So I went all in for the full circumnavigation!"

Image: For Bob, the Clipper Race was as much about the people he raced with as it was the podium result

On arrival into Portsmouth, Bob said: “My team, London Business School, has just podiumed and come second overall. I am very proud of this, and we have had a great Skipper and First Mate, and a great crew. Over the past 12 months of my life, including the prep weeks before the race left Portsmouth, I have circumnavigated the globe. It is an emotional return in different ways. We have goodbyes to say to people on the boat and big welcome-backs to those meeting us on land.”

Image: Bob celebrates with his team under Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower

During the course of the global race route, Bob and his competing teams crossed the Equator twice, completed six ocean crossings and faced everything from storm-force winds and towering waves to intense heat, freezing temperatures, frustrating wind holes, lightning storms and relentless squalls. Life on board meant racing 24 hours a day in rotating watch systems, often spending up to a month at sea without stepping ashore.

Image: Bob Brown racing on board his team yacht, London Business School

For Bob, who was racing on Team London Business School (LBS), the return to Portsmouth was as nerve-wracking as it was exciting; the final podium positions came down to the very last race, and there were six teams in contention for second and third place. After a tightly-fought battle down the UK from Oban, Scotland, Bob’s team clinched second place on the overall leaderboard.

Although very proud of the racing achievements, on the best part of the race, Bob said:

“The people we have lived with and shared these memories with - it has been immense and something I will never forget.”

Along the way, Bob and his teammates have also been raising money for Clipper Race charity partner, UNICEF, with Bob’s team alone raising over £60,000. Contributing to the fundraising efforts, Bob shaved his beard off when in port in Seattle, USA, in April, raising over £2,000 for the charity.

Image: A close shave for Bob, who raised money for UNICEF by saying goodbye to his beard.

The next edition of the Clipper Race, the 2027-28 edition, will get underway from the UK in summer 2027, with applications now open for future race crew to take part.