The Clipper Round-the-World yacht race have used London as the prime host city on a number of occasions but for the 2019-20 race the Royal Docks became the location for the home-coming finale after the Mayor of London sponsored a change of finish location.
The original plan for 2020 was for the race finale event to take place at the Asian Business Park in Royal Albert Dock – due to the Covid-19 pandemic the race was temporarily paused – hence the reason it only concluded in July 2022.
The other change is that the redevelopment of Albert Dock hit serious problems that left the enterprise zone area deserted. As a result the finale was moved along the dock to the Regatta Centre.
The yachts were meant to leave Derry (NI) and race to the finish line at Southend before then traveling in convoy up the Thames, to the KGV Lock and then on to the the finale event in Royal Albert Dock in a ‘parade of sail’ (note: for the clipper yachts the ‘sails’ referred to are their promotional and sponsor banners rather than their actual racing sails).
Due to weather challenges in the North Sea the race was terminated early and the yachts were instructed to make directly for London and to use their engines (which are prohibited in the actual race legs). In the end only 10 of the 11 yachts arrived on time.
Some of the race supporters met the yachts at the KGV Lock, some were not impressed by the poor state of the facility with no welcome banners, a tatty flag, the poor state of repair and the North Woolwich Bascule Bridge not really a substitute for Tower Bridge!
The yachts traveled in overall finishing order being led by the yacht QINGDAO that was declared the overall winner – after transferring through the KGV Lock they paraded through the Royal Albert Dock with a pair of boats providing media support.
The following link has a video of the parade:
The yachts then moored alongside the Regatta Centre for the official awards ceremonies and after race party.
The final boat, CV20 Imagine Your Korea, which was placed 8th overall in the race had been hit with technical issues during the final leg and arrived in London 24 hours after the main event and it remained in the KGV Lock until the entire fleet departed early Monday morning.
Further pictures can be seen below:
Dock, Lock and River Blog (#dlr_blog) 