At a press conference on Monday it was announced that Da Nang will be an official sponsor and host city for the 2015-2016 Clipper Round the World Race, which will start in London on 30 August.

Also at the conference, a sponsorship agreement was signed between Mr Dang Viet Dung, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, and Mr David Cusworth, Crew Recruitment and Development Director at Clipper Ventures, the organisers of the race.

Mr David Cusworth and Vice Chairman Dung at the signing ceremony

The Clipper Round the World Race is the longest ocean race around the world at 40,000 nautical miles.  This year’s race is expected to be contested by 12 teams, all sailing identical 21.3m-long boats. 

The race route will be London (UK) - Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - Cape Town (South Africa) - Albany, Sydney, Hobart and Airlie Beach (Australia) - Da Nang (Viet Nam) - Qingdao (China) - Seattle (USA) - Panama - New York (USA) - Derry-Londonderry (Northern Ireland) - Northern Europe - and returning to London on 30 July 2016.  The Clipper Race fleet is expected to arrive in Da Nang in mid-February 2016.

This will be the first time in the 19-year history of the biennial race that a team called Da Nang-Viet Nam will participate in the event.  The team will be skippered by 50-year-old Wendy Tuck from Sydney, Australia, who has over 10 years of experience as a rowing coach and privilege captain of the Royal Yacht Association.  She has competed in 8 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Races.

Throughout the race, Da Nang will connect with investors, tourism representatives and travel agencies at events in the various stopover destinations to promote the city’s tourism and appeal for FDI inflows into the locality.