The “City of Hundreds of Islands,” Zhuhai, embraced its highlight moment. On the evening of March 7, the awards ceremony of the Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race (Zhuhai) was grandly held at Zhuhai Holiday Resort. The top three winners of the “Race 8: Sprint to the City of a Hundred Islands” were awarded trophies. The yacht named "Zhuhai" achieved an impressive fifth place in this leg and received the special "City Publicty Award of Zhuhai". The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, one of the most influential sailing events in the world, connects Zhuhai with the world's most famous port cities, and links the reputation of Zhuhai as the "Sailing and Windsurfing City of China" with the glory of sailing.
Li Chong, Vice Mayor of Zhuhai Municipal Government and Deputy Director of the Zhuhai Organising Committee(ZOC) of the Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race (Zhuhai), Lin Rituan, Deputy Secretary-General, Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government , Sarah Mann, the British Consul General in Guangzhou, Chris Rushton, Managing Director (Executive Director) of Clipper Ventures PLC, Facundo Fernandez Guerra, Acting Consul General of Uruguay in Guangzhou, along with officials from the Clipper Race Committee and representatives from relevant member units of the Zhuhai Organizing Committee attended the awards ceremony. During the award ceremony, Lin Rituan delivered a speech, recognising the success of the event and expressing high expectations for the future development of sailing in Zhuhai. Mark Light, Race Director of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, thanked Zhuhai for the warm reception and looked forward to further co-operation with Zhuhai in more areas in the near future.
Founded in 1996, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race involves eleven 70-foot yachts travelling 40,000 nautical miles around the world in each race. It is one of the most influential sailing events in the world for its long and highly challenging voyage. In the context of the development of the Greater Bay Area, Zhuhai successfully introduced the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 2018. Through the title of the "Zhuhai" Yacht, ithas promoted Zhuhai's city image and brand culture globally, deepening the city's name card of "Hundreds of Islands and Thousands of Sails", developing the city into the "Sailing and Windsurfing City of China", and further enhancing its global influence.
In the "Sprint to the City of a Hundred Islands" leg, the team of "Ha Long Bay", "Perseverance", and "Dare to Lead" won the first, second and third place respectively. "Zhuhai" ranked fifth in this leg. "Zhuhai" has won a series of successes since it set sail in the UK from September 2023, and has been ranked among the top three in five consecutive races, with a total of one champion, two runners-up and two third-place finishers, and temporarily ranked third in the total points ranking, which has won honours for Zhuhai, and added glory to Zhuhai's city image. And "Zhuhai" was awarded the "City Publicity Award of Zhuhai" at the prize-giving ceremony. The crew of "Zhuhai "said, "It is every crew's dream to win the honour in their home port, and we feel especially proud!"
In recent years, Zhuhai has accelerated the construction of a modern marine industry system and pushed the marine economy towards the track of high-quality development. Meanwhile, Zhuhai has been committed to the development of the sailing industry for many years. Since 2016, it has successfully organised two international, five national, three provincial and six municipal sailing and windsurfing events,founded the local brand "Jiuzhou Cup" Sailing Race and introduced the Clipper Round the World Sailing Race;successively built supporting sailing and yacht harbours, set up youth sailing clubs, and carried out a series of sailing and navigation activities covering the Greater Bay Area and South China, making it the most important place for the development of the sailing and navigation industry. Zhuhai has been certified as "National Sports Industry Demonstration Unit", "Chinese Yachting Association Southern Headquarters Base", "China Sailing Development Alliance City" and many other authoritative certifications. Zhuhai has developed into an important base for nautical sports and a major location for water sports and marine science education in the Greater Bay Area.
Zhuhai will continue to promote the development of sailing and marine culture, further enhance its influence in the global sailing cities, and let more people get to know Zhuhai, get closer to Zhuhai and fall in love with Zhuhai. We firmly believe that with the joint efforts of everyone, Zhuhai, the "Sailing and Windsurfing City of China", will emit a dazzling light among the world's sailing cities.
Source: Nanfang Daily
