Marina: Brighton
Starting from Brighton Marina, this Friday, 3rd May.
The Royal Escape Race was started in 1977 as a way to commemorate the Queens Silver Jubilee, when the Old Ship Hotel in Brighton proposed a race from Brighton to Fécamp. The challenge was taken up by the Sussex Yacht Club and 40 yachts took part in the inaugural race. That is of course the recent history, but why the Royal Escape?
The race is intended as a re-creation of Charles II's flight from England to France at the end of the English Civil War. After his defeat at the Battle of Worcester on 3rd September 1651 Charles knew that he had to leave the country or lose his head. He traveled the land in disguise for six weeks in the company of Lord Wilmot and a Colonel Gounter making his way towards Sussex and the hope of a boat to France.
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