Tauranga is the New Zealand port of call for the Clipper 11-12 Round The World Yatch Race in November.

Ten 68ft yachts are expected to begin arriving at A beacon late November and spend nearly two weeks in port before starting the next leg to the Australian Gold Coast.

Katie Benney and Tony Arnold are happy to have secured Tauranga as a port for the Clipper 11-12 Round The World Yatch Race in November.

The race is run by Clipper Ventures and chaired by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first sailor to single-handedly sail around the world non-stop.

Clipper Ventures also runs the Velux Five Oceans solo, professional race, which called at Tauranga in 2002.

The same team has been behind organising the Tauranga port call for the Clipper Race, says Tauranga Bridge Marina director Tony Arnold.

They include harbourmaster Jennifer Roberts, Peter Melgren from Tauranga City Council, John Buck and Wayne Eaton from the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, Bruce Goodchap and others.

The decision to include Tauranga in this year's Clipper Race was announced Friday.

The crews on the 10 clippers come from all walks of life and 40 different nationalities.

'The ratio is about 60-40, male-female, and 40 per cent of them have never set foot on a boat before,” says Clipper Round The World sponsorship manager Katie Beney.

'But everybody gets five weeks training back in the UK.”

The race has already started with the fleet expected to leave Madeira on Friday for Rio De Janiero in Brazil. From Rio, the ports are Cape Town, Geraldton, north of Perth in Western Australia, and Tauranga.

'There are 17 crew on each boat and a commercially qualified skipper,” says Katie.

'Ten of them are onboard around the world – they are doing the whole race.

'The other seven are either on for one or several legs.”

The ages of the sailors range from 18-72.

A single leg costs £7000, or about NZ$11,000, Staying onboard for the whole 40,000 miles of the longest ocean race costs about NZ$80,000 at current exchange rates.

The 20.7 metre yachts are expect to begin arriving at A beacon about November 25.

'It's the first time this race has ever come to New Zealand,” says Katie.

The decision to add the New Zealand-Australia East Coast leg was partly because Australians represent the second largest nationality in the race crews. There are eight Kiwis, one of whom is from Tauranga, says Katie.

'We're very excited about coming to New Zealand for the first time.

'We've also found a lot of crew that have done previous races who want to sign up for this leg.”

For Tauranga, the Clipper fleet arrival will mean the whole shore based community, including media, sponsors, plus family and friends of the 180 crew will be in town for the period round the 10-day port call.

There is a mobile workshop in a 40ft container that will be set up at the travel lift hard stand and the race office in port until the December 4 restart.

The boats are 20.7 metre or 68ft long masthead cutters, designed by renowned English yacht designer Ed Dubois and built in Shanghai, China. Their construction is glass fibre composite sandwich construction, with a balsa core. The boats are extensively refitted before each race.

The boats are built to the latest Maritime and Coastguard Agency construction and safety requirements, coded to MCA Category 0.

The fleet of 10 identical boats places the pressure on the crews. Sail trim, accurate helming, swift tacking and efficient sail changing can give small advantages. A tenth of a knot difference in speed can place a boat a mile ahead after ten hours, or two miles by the following day.

Many Clipper Races have finished with boats still in close quarters after 4000 miles.