Royal Clipper In Numbers
22nd November 2019
Our breathtaking flagship Royal Clipper is the largest fully-rigged sailing ship in the world, a fact that’s not easily forgotten if you’re lucky enough to have ever seen her up close. This is something that shouldn’t be quickly overlooked, as it adds to her majesty and the uniqueness of a journey aboard her spacious decks.
But how do you do Royal Clipper’s size and grandeur justice for anyone who is yet to experience her for themselves. Well, here are a few comparisons that may help you understand the full extent of her prominence.
56,000 Square Feet of Sails
As we detailed in a previous blog post, the size of Royal Clipper’s sails meant that more Dacron (the material they’re made from) had to be shipped over to the USA from Europe in order to meet the demand. The combined area of these is 56,000 square feet – enough to cover an entire American football field with some leftover and half as big as a Manhattan city block. The sails could also fill Fort Knox four and a half times and cover nearly 1,300 king-sized beds.
197-Feet-High Mast
If you’re familiar with Star Clippers, you may know that one of the most exhilarating things you can do whilst on board is climb to the Crow’s Nest at the top of the central mast. Once there, you will be able to fully vouch for the mast’s 197-feet height – that’s if you can bring yourself to look down. To put this into context, this means that Royal Clipper is taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Nelson’s Column and the height of four brontosauruses stacked on top of each other. And to think, Star Clipper and Star Flyer are even taller.
Top Speed Of 20 Knots
Wherever possible, Royal Clipper will make use of the wind to propel herself through the water, switching to her twin diesel-powered engines only when necessary. Depending on the strength of the wind, she can reach speeds of up to 20 knots.
A knot is one of those measurements that is difficult to comprehend if you don’t use it every day, so how fast is that in real terms? Well, we can tell you that it’s nearly exactly the speed at which Usain Bolt travelled when he set his world record 100m time at the 2008 Olympics. It’s also one and a half times as fast as the average speed of the bulls running in Pamplona and, unsurprisingly, 150 times faster than a sloth’s top speed.
If you would like to experience the reverence of Royal Clipper for yourself, we have a wide range of fantastic itineraries available. Call the team on 0845 200 6145 or use our online chat service.
