Volvo Ocean Race 2011

Originally the Volvo Ocean Race was named the 'Whitbread Round the World Race’; the first race was in 1973. The race is a huge international sailing event, with teams from around the world stopping at ports in Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa. Team members are a diverse range of hardcore sportsmen and include sailors from nations such as Antigua, China, Russia and the Ukraine.



The race has 36 years worth of history and experience, and even with huge technical advances, it is still one of the few true adventures of man versus the sea. This international marathon takes the competing teams through some of the most treacherous oceans on our planet, and only has room for the elite.



The next Volvo Ocean Race starts in Alicante with the In-Port Race on 29 October 2011, with the first leg starting on 5 November. It will take nine months for the teams who succeed in completing the race to finish in Galway, Ireland. 'It is a 37,000 nautical mile endurance test on the most technically-advanced ocean racing yachts know to man' (Volvo Ocean Race Casebook).



The journey between the start and finish lines will be a test of human endurance, sea conditions will sway from calm to 15 metre waves and gusts of up to 65 knots (120kph). The host cities for the 2011 - 2012 races, in running order, are: Alicante, Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, Lorient and Galway.

(Alicante)

Boat teams and the colossal yachts themselves are named after their main sponsors e.g. Telefonica (Spain). Footfall numbers at the individual stopover ports are substantial, and in-fact higher than other prestigious sporting events including the Open Golf Championship and UEFA Cup Final.

(Alicante)

In the 2008 - 2009 races, Alicante, the starting port, saw over 900,000 people descend upon the city. A great economic boost for one of the worst hit countries in Europe during the recession. The success of the race here helped immensely with a total economic impact of 89.2€ million!



The race is completely in tune with the most up-to-date media resources and coverage available, with a tremendous amount of content streamed to websites and mobile devices. There have been nearly 90 million visits to Volvo Ocean Race online sites and 54.2 million USD media value for each team's main sponsor!!

The fitness and the agility of the teams, plus the NASA-type technology was clearly evident in the 2008 - 2009 races. After 2,206 nautical miles the top five contenders reached Singapore, there was only two hours and 45 minutes between position one and five; and only two minutes and 27 seconds between positions two and four!! Truly spectacular.



The announcement for the qualifier event for competing teams will be made on the 15 May, in the meantime this Blog will be posting interesting info as it is released.

(NOTE: All images courtesy of Volvo Ocean Race)

Volvo Ocean Race - Official Site: www.VolvoOceanRace.com