THE Clipper Round The World fleet sailed out of Newcastle Harbour on Wednesday, but if the endorsement of the crews is any indication, the ocean race is likely to return in 2025-26.
It was a spectacular sight in the harbour as the 11 70-foot yachts sailed past Newcastle's CBD and then Nobbys breakwall to start their six-day voyage north to Airlie Beach.
Crowds gathered along the Newcastle Foreshore and Stockton to farewell the fleet that had been anchored at Wickham's Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club for the past week.
Crews battled to find the wind as they jostled for position leaving the harbour.
Yacht Qingdao came dangerously close to the Stockton breakwall at one point.
As of Wednesday afternoon the James Finney-skippered Zhuhai, narrowly leads the fleet off the Stockton Bight.
South African yacht Dare To Dream, skippered by Cape Town's Ryan Gibson, leads the Clipper race overall.
Gibson said he would highly recommend the Clipper returning to the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club.
"The support has been amazing," Gibson told the Newcastle Herald prior to departure.
"Everything is very close together and well organised. Everything here has made it easy for us, which is what you want for stopovers."
Light winds were predicted for the first 24 hours on leaving Newcastle, promising a dog-fight of a race.
"I think tonight will be a bit tricky," Gibson said. "Once we get into the winds, probably tomorrow afternoon, then we'll be quite set. It'll be quite tactical and being in the right area for these light winds."
This is Gibson's first Clipper and after Dare To Lead's surprise victory in race three between Punta del Este in Uruguay and Cape Town - which included double points after playing their joker card - he's re-evaluated his goals.
This was further enhanced by placing second in the race from Fremantle to Newcastle.
"In the beginning it was quite the learning curve for the first race or two," he said.
"But at the moment, with the position we're in and the team we have, we're definitely looking for an overall win and that would be amazing."
Standing in Dare To Lead's way could be Ha Long Bay Viet Nam. The yacht, skippered by Britain's Josh Stickland, won the 2500-nautical mile race from Fremantle to Newcastle by 12 hours on January 2.
It was a massive change in fortunes for Ha Long Bay Viet Nam after they begun the Clipper with placings of last and second-last.
"The biggest change is the attitude on board and everyone is gelling as everyone gets to know each other's intricacies," first mate Ella Hebron said.
"The crew is getting along amazingly, but also, every single evolution in the last race was immaculate. There were no mistakes made, which is unheard of."
The long recovery time in Newcastle also has Ha Long Bay Viet Nam ideally recharged to build on their overall placing of fourth in the Asia-Pacific leg.
"The stopovers, coming in first or last, makes a world of difference," Hebron said.
"When you're losing, which we were in the first three races, you have to overcome losing a race.
"We'd finished our deep clean and maintenance work [in Newcastle] before over half the fleet were in.
"They [the other crews] then have to deal with that loss of time in the stopover, so you're then going into another race not rested."
At 19 Hebron, who hails from Eastbourne in England, is the youngest sailor in the Clipper and is tasked with managing people up to three times older.
However, she came into the race well-credentialed with more than 10,000 nautical miles of experience, which included a trans-Atlantic crossing and multiple trips over the English Channel.
"It was a bit weird coming into it because there were all these fairly-successful people, who are a lot older than me and I had to be leading them," she said.
"But you get on the boat and age doesn't matter at all. We're lucky in the sense that we have a crew that appreciate that."
