A 53-year-old business analyst from Woking has returned to Portsmouth after completing the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
Oliver Hooton alongside team Ha Long Bay Vietnam, won the overall race when they finished the final from Oban to Portsmouth on July 27.
The Clipper Race is unique as it trains everyday people to sail around the world. By completing the 40,000 nautical mile-long race, Oliver has joined a small group of people who can call themselves circumnavigators.
Upon arriving in Portsmouth, Oliver said: “It’s just amazing, I was doing quite well but now I am choking up. So much more than I thought it would be, it's beautiful all these people here to welcome us.
“It's really strange, it feels like 11 years, 11 months, 11 minutes. I’m not sure which one it feels like, really, but it has definitely been an adventure of a lifetime!
“Everybody knuckled down, we got to it, made the boat move as well as we could. We thought if we do that, we might be lucky and we were. Right at the last minute, it was perfect, it was very close.”
He has now crossed six oceans, faced storm force winds and tackled waves higher than a two storey house. While working through searing hot and freezing cold temperatures, electrical storms, water spouts and squalls. Racing alongside 20 teammates, 24hrs a day, for up to 27 days at a time.
Having set sail from Portsmouth on September 3 last year, the route saw the teams sail to Puerto Sherry, Spain, Punta del Este, Uruguay, Cape Town, South Africa, Fremantle, Newcastle and Airlie Beach.
Including Australia, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, Zhuhai and Qingdao, China, Seattle, USA, Panama, Washington DC, USA, and Oban in Scotland, before coming full circle back to Portsmouth.
