An accomplished sailor from Wirral is gearing up to take part in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race after watching the globe's toughest endurance challenge depart Liverpool in August last year.

Les Perry, a 59-year-old roofer from Barnston, explained his decision to enter the event was quite spontaneous.

He said: “I was given a birthday gift voucher by my sister Sue for a day’s sailing on an ex-Clipper Race yacht on the Solent.

“During the day the crew explained how the yacht had circumnavigated the world five times and that the latest Clipper Race was leaving Liverpool the next day.

"I went to see the start of the race and sent off my application that very evening.”

Les added: “I was still in ‘ocean sailing mode’ from my trip the day before, coupled with the fact that I was sailing my own dinghy in a club race that afternoon, I just had to seize the moment.”

The Southern Ocean part of the epic circumnavigation will form the third Leg of the Clipper 2019-20 Race which is due to start from the UK in the summer.

Les and his future crewmates should expect no easy ride.

Les will experience some of the most exhilarating and testing conditions of the entire circumnavigation as teams dip into the notoriously strong winds of the Roaring Forties.

Despite a wealth of dinghy experience at a yacht club in North Wales, where two other members have signed up for part of the race, and sailing with friends and in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, the Clipper Race is a completely new challenge for Les who cites sleep deprivation as one of the toughest parts to overcome.

Les said: “The training has been excellent and I truly now have friends from all over the world who regularly update and communicate with me, and one American friend in particular sending highly amusing and lengthy blogs of his experience on board with us all.”