BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT ON: CAPE TOWN

Race 2: The Stormhoek Race to The Cape of Storms was a fast and fiercely competitive race that saw the Clipper Race teams sprint across the South Atlantic from Punta del Este, Uruguay, to Cape Town, South Africa.

An intense battle played out between the leading teams from day one, and after racing 3,560 nautical miles over two weeks, Greenings pipped Dare To Lead to the finish line by just 15 minutes.

Racing was equally as tight amongst the rest of the fleet with ten teams (Greenings, Dare To Lead, Garmin, Visit Seattle, Liverpool 2018, Qingdao, Sanya Serenity Coast, Nasdaq, HotelPlanner.com and GREAT Britain) finishing within 22 hours of each other between 19.20 UTC on Wednesday 18 October and 17.18 UTC on Thursday 19 October.

Unicef followed the pack in eleventh place on Saturday 21 October, whilst PSP Logistics arrived into Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront on Saturday 28 October following repairs to its starboard rudder in Punta del Este after being hit by a whale at the beginning of the race.

It was a record breaking race with Sanya Serenity Coast logging the fastest reported boat speed of the 2017-18 edition at 30.9 knots and Greenings setting a new Clipper Race record of 329 nautical miles sailed over a 24 hour period.

Qingdao, Liverpool 2018 and Visit Seattle picked up bonus race points for the Scoring Gate and GREAT Britain, Dare To Lead and Sanya Serenity Coast claimed points for the Elliot Brown Ocean Sprint.

Stormhoek Wines engage buyers, retailers and customers

South African wine brand, Stormhoek, took full advantage of the Clipper Race fleet’s stay in Cape Town by taking out three Clipper70s to entertain customers, suppliers and employees whilst raising the profile of its partnership with the Clipper Race.

Split into groups, the morning session saw Stormhoek entertain wine makers, shipping agents, industry governing bodies and local customers to recognise those that have been invaluable to the business and enhance business relationships for future success. Stormhoek’s guests donned their bright orange Stormhoek buffs and jumped aboard the yachts for an exhilarating morning sail in Table Bay.

In between morning and afternoon sails, Stormhoek hosted a large lunch at Mitchell’s for all guests and crew to debrief and enjoy. Afterwards, an afternoon sailing session with employees of Stormhoek and Origin Wines engaged employees in the Stormhoek brand and its values.

The experience also gave employees a greater insight into the Clipper Race partnership and enabled staff to experience life on board a Clipper Race yacht, as well as bringing out the social spirit inside of them! The vibrant orange buffs and t-shirts showcasing the Stormhoek Social Spirit were visible from afar!

Dell Showcase Latitude Rugged Portfolio at Press Event

What better way to learn about a product than over breakfast whilst looking out to Table Mountain in Cape Town?

Debut Clipper Race Fleet Partner, Dell, maximised this opportunity to drive awareness of its Latitude Rugged portfolio. For the 2017-18 edition, Dell has supplied the Clipper Race fleet with its Latitude Rugged laptops allowing the fleet to operate and communicate in some of the most challenging conditions on the planet.

The Dell Latitude Rugged team in South Africa hosted an engaging press event to showcase the portfolio and demonstrate to partners its capabilities. During the event, press had the opportunity to learn about the products, hear from Clipper Race Dell ambassadors who shared their experiences of using Dell Latitude Rugged products on board and listened to Clipper Race Chairman and Founder, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who spoke about the benefits of having the Dell products and how technology has evolved throughout the history of the race.

After the breakfast event, Dell took the opportunity to showcase the products on-board one of the twelve Clipper70 racing yachts. Attendees had the opportunity to climb on-board to learn about life and usage of the Dell Latitude Rugged laptops from the Race Crew and Skipper.

As a result of this successful event, Dell will now look to promote its products in a similar way to key markets across the remainder of the race schedule.

Chris Buchanan, Director, Client Solutions, Dell Southern Africa said: “Our Dell Latitude Rugged portfolio is designed with challenging environments in mind, so we’re excited that our devices are supporting teams participating in The Clipper Race. The race itself is a unique and amazing experience for global team members to come together to train, compete, and win.

We recently worked with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and race competitors to host an event for local press during the race stop in Cape Town and media were thrilled to get exclusive access to some of the yachts, hear from crew members, and learn more about how technology is so important in supporting teams on-board throughout the race.”

Unicef Fundraising brought to life with Project Visit

As Clipper Race crew, staff and alumni near the £500,000 mark in fundraising since the two-race year partnership began with the Clipper Race’s Official Race Charity Partner, Unicef, realities of the incredible and effective work Unicef does on the ground was brought to life during the Cape Town stopover.

Clipper Race CEO William Ward, along with crew members who are raising money for Unicef, was invited to an inspirational project visit to the Isibindi Safe Park in Grabouw. Through working with Unicef, the Clipper Race has helped to raise funds for many projects across the world that support vulnerable children such as the Isibindi Grabouw project, which officially opened its doors in January 2009.

Initiated in response to the HIV epidemic, which left many children orphaned or vulnerable, Isibindi is a community-based programme that strengthens families and helps to protect children from abuse, neglect and violence. The model is a community-based response to the HIV/AIDS crisis as well as children made vulnerable for other reasons.

As part of the itinerary, the crew also visited the homes of a couple of families that are supported by the Isibindi programme and listened to their moving stories of how they have been helped in the face of adversity. During the visit, William Ward and Bob Beggs [ Unicef skipper] both spoke and gave a video presentation of the Clipper Race to the children to inspire them about what can be possible. Seeing photos of life on board a Clipper Race yacht and listening to stories of them at sea sparked huge intrigue amongst the children. The day ended with Clipper Race crew dishing out food to the children and a quick game of rugby out on the field.

Following the excitement of the visit from crew to the Isibindi safe park, some children were invited down to the V&A Waterfront to step on board the Unicef yacht and try their hand at many sailing activities while the boat was berthed up including testing their strength on the coffee grinders, which help to hoist the sails. This provided huge excitement and inspiration to the children, all of which had never ventured down into Cape Town, let alone onto a 70ft ocean racing yacht.

In relation to the project and home visit, Sinah Moruane from Unicef South Africa said: “ The visit was a real success for Unicef. The team managed to visit the safe park and engage with the children but also visited the families to have a sense of the family situations the majority of the children at the safe park are exposed to. This was a very emotional experience for the crew as the visits brought home the realities and the level of poverty that the country is still grappling with. The visit has given more courage to NACCW and Unicef SA to work even harder.”

Sanya Serenity Coast Promotes Sanya at the University of Cape Town

Sanya Government representatives went to The University of Cape Town (UCT) to promote the tropical city of Sanya during the stopover in Cape Town.

Teachers and students at the International Academic Programmes of UCT came and listened to the promotional campaign to hear about the circumnavigation of Sanya Serenity Coast .

A student from the International Academic Programme said, "Sanya is a very beautiful city, it definitely will be my preferred destination for traveling abroad. There are also duty-free shops, for me which will be a shopping paradise."

After the introduction of Sanya, the Ambassador crew of Sanya, Law Feng, continued to share his own sailing story. "It is not an easy thing for twenty people to sail on a mighty sea with a 70-foot sailboat. The hull is often tilted more than 45 degrees, resistance to 10 meters high waves."

Sanya took the opportunity to engage with GMMG, a transnational media group, which resulted in a promotional radio programme for the city on national radio. Sanya also held a photoshoot of the Sanya Serenity Coast team yacht under spinnaker in front of the iconic Table Mountain for international promotional material.

GREAT Britain target South African investors for the UK

The GREAT campaign held an afternoon drinks reception event for 50 selected guests at Table Bay Hotel. The event kicked off with a panel session led by Emma Wade-Smith OBE with Clipper Race Founder and Chairman, Sir Robin Knox Johnson, and GREAT Britain Skipper, Andy Burns, speaking about the Clipper Race, ongoing pollution to the world’s ocean and the leadership qualities needed in Clipper Race crew members.

In support of ongoing conversations between the British Government and potential investors into the UK from South Africa, the GREAT Campaign hosted two high profile half sail days on board its yacht which were co-hosted by Emma Wade-Smith OBE, the UK’s Trade Commissioner for Africa.

With the support of the Embassy and the GREAT campaign team in London, the events were well attended; the morning session welcomed guests who had been specifically selected for their potential to do business with the UK and the afternoon session welcomed key stakeholders and clients of the British Chamber of Commerce.

Standard Chartered Future Global Leaders’ Programme

The Clipper Race provided the perfect platform for GREAT to engage with Standard Chartered’s Future Leaders Programme; a tailored programme that focuses on teaching and embedding leadership skills into some of the next generation of leaders.

The programme, run by Standard Chartered, has entered into its second year and has received support from the GREAT campaign since it’s conception. This cohort is made up of individuals from some of the world’s wealthiest families and there are now 156 alumni from programmes run all over the world.

Richard Pattle, Vice Chairman, Standard Chartered Private Bank, was in Cape Town with the bank’s Future Leaders Programme which resulted in GREAT Britain utilising one of its sail days to engage with the programme. The day consisted of a leadership session led by Clipper Race Chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Skippers, Andy Burns and Lance Shephard.

The sessions were followed by a sail on board GREAT Britain and Liverpool 2018. This was then followed by a graduation dinner hosted by British High Commissioner to South Africa, Nigel Casey.

Clipper Connect Business Series Hosted by Minister of Economic Opportunities

In Partnership with Wesgro, the Official Tourism, Trade and Investment agency of Cape Town and the Western Cape, our Clipper Connect event in Cape Town saw governmental and city officials, international delegates and businesses come together for an evening centred around showcasing economic opportunities.

Hosted at Harbour House and overlooking the impressive Clipper Race fleet, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was joined by Cape Town’s Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, who spoke to the international audience around the maritime industry about and how the Clipper Race, in accordance with the industry, boosts the economic opportunities of the Western Cape. With the Clipper Race returning to Cape Town for the tenth time this year, Alan Winde addressed the impact the race has had on the V&A Waterfront and tourism of the Western Cape as a whole.

In addition to providing key insight into how the maritime industry has provided economic opportunities to the Western Cape, Alan Winde also provided the audience with insight into the three key focus areas for economic opportunities in the Western Cape. The international audience gained valuable insight into the current state of the water shortage in Cape Town and various responses to this, the growth of agriculture and agricultural processing sectors despite this drought, and economic successes around tourism, which in addition to the Clipper Race was the increased arrivals through the Cape Town Air Access Initiative.

The evening was wrapped up with tours around one of the Clipper Race yachts to give greater context to the international audience about those taking part in the race and what being a Clipper Race crew member really means.