Heather Fell sets sail in Round the World Yacht Race

British Olympic silver medallist and former Modern Pentathlon world number one, Heather Fell will join Clipper Round the World Yacht Race team Jamaica Get All Right in its home port next week to sail the remainder of the circumnavigation.

The world’s longest ocean race, uniquely for amateur sailors and known as one of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet, will be Heather’s first major sporting challenge since she retired from professional competition earlier this year in January.

Heather, 31, will fly to Jamaica next week join the team to depart in Race 13 (of 16) from Port Antonio, Jamaica to New York on 24 May. On 7 June, the Clipper Race fleet departs New York to start its long awaited final, homecoming leg, racing via Northern Ireland and the Netherlands to arrive in London on 12 July, where it originally started on 1 September, 2013.

Beijing 2008 silver medallist Heather said having only recently retired from the Modern Pentathlon, the Clipper Race would be a completely new challenge but she is hoping to use as many of her skills gained through her professional career to help her through this race.

“My small amount of sailing experience is insignificant in the scale of this but I can't wait for the challenge. The taster I experienced during the Clipper Race training has made me realise what I'm letting myself in for. I've got a mixture of extreme nerves combined with huge excitement.”

Fell, originally from Devon, UK, first stepped on a Clipper Race boat as a child in the inaugural race in 1996 when she visited the fleet in Plymouth before it set off round the world.