Team Alvimedica’s skipper Charlie Enright won the final offshore battle of the Volvo Ocean Race here today, but the overall glory belonged firmly with his rival from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Ian Walker (full story below).

– Fifth place into Gothenburg enough to confirm 12th edition title for Emirati boat

– Team Alvimedica’s ninth leg victory ensures six out of seven boats are triumphant in a stage

– Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team complete overall podium finishers

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 22 – Team Alvimedica’s skipper Charlie Enright won the final offshore battle of the Volvo Ocean Race here today, but the overall trophy belonged firmly with his rival from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Ian Walker.

The Turkish/American boat led the tightly packed fleet home to crowded docks in the final stopover in Gothenburg, Sweden, to bring to a close 38,739 nautical miles (nm) and nine months of some of the closest racing ever witnessed in the 41-year-old offshore marathon.

The Team Alvimedica victory underlined, once more, the incredibly close nature of competition in the first event raced with strictly one-design Volvo Ocean 65 boats.

Only one team, Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), have failed to win a leg – and they missed five because of a boat rebuild.

Behind Enright, in fifth, Walker’s boat, Azzam, slipped almost quietly into port, but the mile-wide smiles on all the crews’ faces told their own story: We are the Champions!

It seals one of the greatest global sporting triumphs for the Gulf region and makes Walker the first British skipper to win the overall trophy.

“I said at the start of the race that I was confident, but there are 100 ways to lose this race but only one way to win it. And it just all came together for us perfectly,” a jubilant Walker told reporters on dockside.

Leg 9 was the last and in many ways most exciting of all the stages since the fleet set out on October 11 from Alicante, Spain, full of hopes and expectations.

Team Alvimedica led the 1,000nm stage, almost from the start last Tuesday in Lorient, France, but their lead was never totally secure despite entering the halfway stage in The Hague last Friday with a 91-minute lead over Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA).

Lighter breezes and a front last night compressed the fleet following their departure from the Dutch port on Saturday.

The Chinese boat Dongfeng was forced to relinquish their hoped-for second place in the leg to Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), whose finish secured the runners-up spot in the overall standings.

Despite not being able to hold off Spanish challengers, MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP), for third position, Charles Caudrelier’s crew still took the final place on the podium in third place overall – an incredible result with four Chinese rookie sailors in their ranks.

Fourth place overall, though, will have to be decided in the final act of the 2014-15 edition, Saturday’s (June 27) Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg, when Team Alvimedica and MAPFRE, tied on 34 points, will duel to break the deadlock.

Following in behind the champions, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, sixth-placed Team Vestas Wind had their own cause for celebration in finishing a race that they looked irrevocably out of, having collided with an Indian Ocean reef in Leg 2 last November.

Their sponsors, crew and shore team never gave up hope of returning, however, and the second-placed finish of the blue Danish boat in Leg 8 to Lorient from Lisbon, will remain one of the 12th edition’s most cherished memories.

Finally, the all-women’s crew of Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) completed the fleet’s arrivals in Gothenburg. As ever, they were competitive and right on the heels of their male rivals.

They had, however, already made their point in what has been the sole preserve of male sailing since 2001-02.

Their victory in Lorient in the leg from Lisbon proved that women can be – and are – competitive in the world’s toughest offshore sailing event.

With the huge following that Sam Davies’s team attracted and their legacy of leg-by-leg improvements, we surely will not have to wait another 12 years for another female crew to take their place in a Volvo Ocean Race fleet.

Final standings: 1) Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 24 pts, 2) Team Brunel (Netherlands) 29, 3) Dongfeng Race Team (China) 33, 4=) Team Alvimedica (Turkey/USA) 34, MAPFRE (Spain) 34, 6) Team SCA (Sweden) 51, 7) Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 60.

via Victory for Team Alvimedica, glory for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet were facing one last roll of the dice later tonight before nearly nine months of fluctuating offshore fortunes come to a fitting climax in Gothenburg, Sweden, tomorrow (full story below).

– Team Alvimedica retain lead in race to Gothenburg

– Lighter winds followed by new front could yet shuffle the pack

– Follow the drama all the way to tomorrow’s finish on our live Tracker

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 21 – The Volvo Ocean Race fleet were facing one last roll of the dice later tonight before nearly nine months of fluctuating offshore fortunes come to a fitting climax here tomorrow.

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) were protecting a 9.6-nautical mile (nm) lead over Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) with 233nm still to sail to the final destination of Gothenburg, after leaving a hugely successful pit-stop in The Hague at midday yesterday (see panel above from 0940 UTC/1140 local time).

In normal circumstances, that would be quite a handy lead with only a relatively short distance to sail. However, the latest weather forecast is offering little comfort for Team Alvimedica’s 30-year-old skipper, Charlie Enright, as he chases a first leg victory for his young team.

Forecasters are predicting light winds followed by a front, with winds from the northeast, to hit the fleet, which could potentially shuffle the pack.

The finish in Gothenburg was orginally estimated to be in the early hours of Tuesday morning, but better-than-expected conditions have hurried the seven boats on their way from the Dutch coast.

Arrival could now be as early as midday tomorrow (June 22).

Victory in the Swedish port would be a fitting reward for Team Alvimedica following their impressive improvement throughout the race.

They have chalked up three third places in the first eight legs so far and have sailed impeccably since leaving Lorient, France, last Tuesday, setting the pace for their rivals.

The Turkish/American boat’s Onboard Reporter, Amory Ross (USA), noted early today that the mood of the crew was of barely suppressed nerves and excitement.

“As demonstrated many times in this race, no lead is too safe and the winds look first to lighten quickly near the top of the Danish peninsula,” he wrote in his daily blog.

“In all likelihood, the fleet will compress there with a full race restart for the final sprint to Sweden.

“It is obviously not what we want, so we are working particularly hard to hang on to a passing weather front that may be able to carry us comfortably to the finish.”

Behind him, Dongfeng Race Team were hoping that MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) could snatch third place back in the leg from Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) from their position just under 0.6nm behind the Dutch boat.

Bouwe Bekking’s crew had begun the ninth and final leg in second place behind champions-elect, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), with Charles Caudrelier’s Dongfeng Race Team two points behind him.

The Chinese team need to finish two places in front of Team Brunel to level the overall points, leaving the in-port series to break the tie.

The 10th and last race in that series will be on Saturday, June 27 with the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg.

MAPFRE also have plenty of incentive to move up a placing at least.

If they finish fourth in the leg and Team Alvimedica win it, then Enright’s men will steal fourth placing overall from the Spanish team.

Meantime, at the back of the fleet, both sixth-placed Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) were keeping a sharp lookout for the easing of conditions that could yet put them back in the hunt for a podium place with a fleet compression.

After nearly nine months and 38,739nm of sailing, visiting every continent and 11 ports along the way, this potboiler looks set to keep the fans guessing right to the end.

via One last roll of the dice| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) led the Volvo Ocean Race fleet out on the final ‘sprint’ to Gothenburg today, as the seven teams bade farewell to The Hague after a hugely successful pit-stop in the famous old Dutch port (full story below).

– Team Alvimedica lead the sprint out of The Hague

– So much at stake for fleet in final sprint to Sweden

– Follow the fleet on the last lap on our LIVE Tracker

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, June 20 – Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) led the Volvo Ocean Race fleet out on the final ‘sprint’ to Gothenburg today, as the seven teams bade farewell to The Hague after a hugely successful pit-stop in the famous old Dutch port.

The Turkish/American boat retained the one hour, 46 minute lead they established in the first part of the 1,000-nautical mile-plus ninth and final leg from Lorient, France, to Gothenburg in Sweden, having arrived here just after 0130 local time on Friday morning.

The seven boats have around two-and-a-half days of challenging sailing ahead of them in fluctuating wind and sea states, with the possibility of a compression of the fleet as the breeze drops further into the leg.

They also must steer clear of numerous Traffic Separation Schemes (TSS), which litter their paths and have already caused penalty points for three teams in earlier legs following inadvertent infringements.

Leg 9 victory in Gothenburg would taste so sweet for skipper Charlie Enright and the youngest crew in the race, which is also peppered with experience including 50-year-old navigator, Will Oxley (AUS), who is taking on his fourth Volvo Ocean Race.

Team Alvimedica have yet to score a leg win since the race began in early October and nothing would delight Enright more than to follow Leg 8 winners, Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), in making the breakthrough.

It would also give them an outside chance of an overall podium place, although a showdown for fourth spot looks more likely for them.

Enright and his crew departed at midday local time/1000 UTC in around seven knots of breeze.

“Once we get out of here we’ve got a lot of decisions to make,” he told a pre-departure press conference.

“There’s the TSS zones and which way we’re going to go. Some of the guys who are still in the dock, can sit back and see which way we go and whether it works out for us. But that’s the same for any lead in this race.”

If the positions remain the same on arrival in Gothenburg as when the fleet finished in The Hague, Team Alvimedica would find themselves in the interesting position of being locked in joint fourth place on 34 points with MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP). The Spanish boat left port in third place.

That tie could only then be broken by the In-Port Race Series that reaches its own finale on Saturday, June 27, with the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg.

A similar situation exists for second place, where Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) are attempting to claw back a two-point deficit on current runners-up, Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED).

The Chinese boat was second out of the harbour in The Hague, one hour 46 minutes behind Team Alvimedica, in three to four knots more wind speed than Enright’s crew.

Team Brunel, who exited fourth, were given a late royal boost when the Dutch King Willem-Alexander visited the crew prior to their mid-afternoon departure.

Although the Race will not receive official figures on attendance for several days, early estimates show some of the biggest crowds of the entire race – measured in the tens of thousands per day – have seen the boats close-up in the port in Scheveningen.

Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and, finally, Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) were last to leave The Hague, the latter four hours and 32 minutes after Team Alvimedica.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) were, meanwhile, simply hoping to avoid any mishaps on their way to what should be huge celebrations for them as overall Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 champions in Gothenburg.

They hold an unassailable eight-point lead at the top of the standings and only last place in Leg 9, victory for Team Brunel, and a two-point penalty can ruin their moment of glory now.

“We’re in a kind of strange position,” summed up Azzam’s skipper, Ian Walker. “It shouldn’t matter where we finish, but of course it does, because we have a lot of pride and we want to do as well as we can. We’ll be very, very careful and just make sure we don’t do anything stupid.”

via No sleep until Gothenburg!| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

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PRESS RELEASE 19 JUN 2015, 00:06 UTC

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UPDATE: Half the job done for Team Alvimedica

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Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) made a triumphant entry into The Hague at 0134 local time/2334 UTC this morning and put themselves in pole position to win Leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race (updates with full finish order in The Hague – full report below).

– Triumphant entrance in The Hague for Turkish/American team

– ‘It’s only halftime,’ says cautious skipper Enright

– Follow the teams into port on our live Tracker

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, June 19 – Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) made a triumphant entry into The Hague at 0134 local time/2334 UTC this morning and put themselves in pole position to win Leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Turkish/American team still have 480 nautical miles (nm) of the final leg of the nine-month offshore marathon to negotiate to Gothenburg, Sweden, having sailed two days, eight hours and 34 minutes since leaving Lorient, France, on Tuesday.

That gave them a 26nm advantage over the second-placed boat, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), which finished in second more than 1hr 45mins behind (see panel above).

“It always feels good going into the locker room at halftime ahead, but that’s all it really is. It’s kind of like Cape Horn, no points but still a great accomplishment,” said Charlie Enright, shortly after crossing the line.

Enright, 30, the youngest skipper by far in the race, also led his team to the Cape Horn landmark ahead of the fleet on Leg 5, but relinquished that lead and eventually finished third.

If Team Alvimedica can complete the job and win in Gothenburg, they would be the sixth of seven boats in the competition to have won a leg in this 12th edition.

They have already shown their top form, winning the SCA In-Port Race Lorient at the weekend, for their second success of the in-port series.

“It sounds like there’s a fight (behind us). It’s nice to be watching it and over the line,” he added.

Enright talked through the ‘decision of the leg’ – whether to hug the English coastline or stick, as he did, to the French and Dutch shorelines to the south of the English Channel.

Initially, on Thursday, it looked as if north would pay, as Dongfeng Race Team, MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) seemed to be making gains in stronger winds midway through the day.

But Team Alvimedica stuck to their guns and eventually the tides and breezes turned to their advantage for an entrance into The Hague and across the finish line, chased by dozens of spectator boats.

They will head out of The Hague at 1200 local time (1000 UTC) on Saturday with their 1hr 46min 29sec advantage over Dongfeng Race Team and the rest of the fleet also taking their advantages and deficits over their rivals, in a staggered start.

The seven boats are due to finish the leg in Gothenburg on Monday afternoon, according to the latest estimates.

If Team Alvimedica were to be first into port there too, they would need Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) to improve on their current sixth and seventh places and sandwich themselves between Enright’s crew, Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE, to take an overall podium place.

Team Brunel were hoping to do better than fourth place sailing into their home port, but as Bekking said before the leg started, only the finishing positions in Gothenburg really matter.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) sailed serenely on to claim fifth place in The Hague, having avoided any major problems on the first half of Leg 9.

They have an unassailable eight-point advantage over Team Brunel at the top of the overall standings.

If the current positions stay as they are, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing would have 24 points, Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team 31 apiece, MAPFRE and Team Alvimedica 34 each, Team SCA 51 and Team Vestas Wind 60.

That would leave the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg on Saturday, June 27, to split the ties between second and third and fourth and fifth: the perfect finale to one of the most closely contested races in 41 years of event history.

via UPDATE: Half the job done for Team Alvimedica| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The Volvo Ocean Race Museum in Alicante registered 61,310 visits in its third year – an increase of more than 75% on the previous 12 months (full story below).

– Museum is most international in Valencian region in Spain

– Updated photography exhibition from 2014-15 boosts attractions

– Visitors can get hands-on experience with former race boats

ALICANTE, Spain, June 19 – The Volvo Ocean Race Museum in Alicante registered 61,310 visits in its third year – an increase of more than 75% on the previous 12 months.

With 39% of those visits coming from international visitors, this unique museum has become the most international in the region of Valencia.

The largest proportion of international visitors came from the United Kingdom (25%), followed by the Netherlands (11%), France (10%) and Sweden (8%).

According to the latest statistics by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, the average rate of foreign visitors in museums in Spain is 14.2% and in the Valencian region, 13.7%.

The Volvo Ocean Race Museum opened its doors for the first time on June 19, 2012, and is based in the Race’s state-of-the-art headquarters in the thriving port area of Alicante, one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations.

Through interactive displays and installations, the Museum offers a fantastic insight into the 41-year history of the round-the-world yacht race.

Highlights of the year have included two major photo exhibitions and the installation of Brasil 1, one of the competing boats in 2005-06, as a permanent hands-on exhibit giving the public the chance to experience on-board conditions.

Brasil 1 is exhibited outside the Museum next to The Black Pearl, another Volvo Open 70 racing boat from the 2005-06 edition, that helped promote Disney’s film series “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

One of the photo exhibitions, ‘40 Years, 40 Faces’, has been displayed in cities around the world.

The current exhibition, ‘24 Hours Onboard’, is a collection of spectacular pictures taken by the current edition of Onboard Reporters and detailing the extreme conditions sailors face during a normal day in one of the toughest sporting competitions in the world.

Visitors can complete their multimedia experience at the Museum with on the Volvo Ocean Race simulator.

“It’s been an outstanding year for the Museum,” said Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race. “It’s become very popular in Alicante, the number of foreign visitors has increased and the Museum has brought exhibits to different countries.”

The busiest period for the Museum was from October 2-11, 2014, when 12,338 people experienced the Museum during the Race Village that celebrated the start of the 2014-15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Alicante was also the Start Port of the Race in 2008-09 and 2011-12, and will be so again in 2017-18. The Race headquarters have been in Alicante since 2010.

via International museum growing fast on third birthday| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The chase to The Hague is gathering momentum as the Volvo Ocean Race Leg 9 fleet split north and south this morning, in search of the best coastal breezes to take them to the famous, old Dutch port. (full story below).

– Still anybody’s guess who will reach pit-stop first

– No points but pride at stake in famous Dutch port

– Keep up with thrilling chase all the way on our live Tracker

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, June 18 – The chase to The Hague is gathering momentum as the Volvo Ocean Race Leg 9 fleet split north and south this morning, in search of the best coastal breezes to take them to the famous, old Dutch port.

The Hague, or to be more precise its harbour of Scheveningen, is hosting a pit-stop on the way to Gothenburg, Sweden, the final leg destination which the fleet will reach early next week.

The city has organised a large, impressive Race Village to host the many thousands of fans who are expected to converge on it later this evening.

The current estimated time of arrival here is around midnight local time/2200 UTC, but no points are awarded for this part of the leg.

The boats will re-start their course to Gothenburg from midday local time/1000 UTC onwards on Saturday (June 20) from The Hague in the order they arrive tonight/early tomorrow.

They will be released to sail the remaining 480 nautical miles (nm) of the leg to Gothenburg with the same time advantages/deficits on their rivals that they took into The Hague.

By midday today, it was anybody’s guess which team would reach The Hague first and gain the time advantage.

Yesterday’s (June 17) pacesetters, Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA), have opted to stay south, hugging the French coast, and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) and Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS) have followed suit.

Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) have seen things differently. They headed north and have clung to the English coastal side of the English Channel, with MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), just astern of the Chinese boat.

Which group has their tactics right remains to be seen, however, the wind speed at midday today was certainly stronger in the north (see panel above).

The northern group will need to alter course to the south later this afternoon to reach The Hague and avoid an excluded Traffic Separation Scheme that is on their probable line of attack.

Team Brunel (27 points), Dongfeng Race Team (29 points), MAPFRE (31 points) and Team Alvimedica (33 points) are all scrapping desperately for position with the two remaining podium positions still there to be won now that Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing have all but secured the overall trophy.

MAPFRE’s Spanish sailor, Rafael Trujillo, probably summed up the situation best: “There’s everything to win and nothing to lose.”

The seven-strong fleet is expected to arrive in the Swedish port on Monday (June 22) afternoon to complete the offshore racing.

The final event of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, the 12th edition of the 41-year-old event, will be the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg on Saturday, June 27, drawing to a conclusion nine months and more than 38,739nm covered, visiting 11 ports and every continent.

via Hurry to The Hague!| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

It was slow going for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet after leaving Lorient, France yesterday, as the teams fought strong tides on this sprint leg to the pit-stop in The Hague, Netherlands.

– Slow going for fleet in opening stages

– Team SCA makes a bold in-shore move

– Follow the fleet all the way on our live Tracker

It was slow going for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet after leaving Lorient, France yesterday, as the teams fought strong tides on this sprint leg to the pit-stop in The Hague, Netherlands.

Light northerly winds and strong currents early today held boat speeds in check – as low as three to four knots during one stretch mid-morning.

Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), who made a bold move to split from the pack and keep close inshore, was caught in a strong adverse current and no wind at all as they rounded the Pointe du Raz.

It took the magenta team three tries to cross the current and round the point before they managed to break through and sneak along the French coast.

“We approached the area with a few knots of boat speed. Would it be enough to take us past? The stream got stronger and stronger the closer we got,” wrote OBR Anna-Lena Elled/SWE.

“When we arrived, it looked like the water was boiling under us.”

“The boat started to move in various directions as the wind was weak, and we started to drift sideways. We looked like we were not going to make it.”

The rest of the seven-boat fleet initially headed further west in search of stronger breeze, but later converged on the coast of France.

Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), who led the fleet by about one nautical mile (nm) early in the leg, continued to maintain a thin advantage of 0.6 nm over Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) at the 09:45 UTC position report today. MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) were in third and fourth positions, separated by roughly one nautical mile.

Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) were within striking distance around three nm astern of Team Brunel. Team SCA was still the closest inshore of the fleet.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Matt Knighton/USA noted that the currents were taking on a life of their own.

“We’ve been slammed, spun, knocked over and pushed backwards, but never before has it felt like there’s a monster beneath the waves tugging the hull whichever way it wants.

“The currents grab our fins and shake the boat with no regularity.”

The teams should be able to shift gears into overdrive later this afternoon, as they head east towards the Western Approaches. The northwesterly winds will become westerlies early tonight, increasing to 15-22 knots.

The estimated time of arrival remains between 1400 UTC on Thursday and 0500 UTC on Friday morning.

Fans can follow the entirety of Leg 9 live on our tracker on the app. Data is available with a frequency varying between 10 seconds and five minutes for the fleet.

via Changing gears| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15’s final, deciding leg from Lorient, France, to Gothenburg, via a pit stop in The Hague, which starts later today, can now be followed every minute of the way from your pocket thanks to the ground-breaking Tracker (full story below).

– Virtual Eye race Tracker goes live for all of Leg 9

– First live offshore sailing Tracker available on web and app format

– Follow the Leg 9 fleet all the way to the last stopover in Gothenburg

LORIENT, France, June 16 – The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15’s final, deciding leg from Lorient, France, to Gothenburg, via a pit stop in The Hague, which starts later today, can now be followed every minute of the day from your pocket thanks to the ground-breaking Tracker.

The ever-popular Tracker, which is available on all the race’s digital platforms, is normally updated periodically via technology provided through Race partners Inmarsat and Cobham from the boats to Race Control in Alicante, Spain.

With so much at stake in the 960-nautical mile (nm) final stage leading up to the finish of the offshore stages in Gothenburg at the start of next week (June 22), the Volvo Ocean Race has upgraded the service so that fans are always up to speed on the very latest progress of their favourite team.

“We’re really pleased to be able to turn our web and app Tracker into ‘live’ mode for the final week of what has been an amazingly tightly-fought race over the last nine months,” said Race CEO, Knut Frostad.

“This has never been done before by any offshore race on a platform which can be accessed on mobile devices. As before, fans can also access the Tracker on their laptops and desktop computers on all kinds of web browsers.

“One warning, though. We all know just how addictive this race and the Tracker can be, so we hope our fans allow themselves some sleep over the next week!”

The Tracker, powered with graphics technology from New Zealand-based company Virtual Eye, offers a wealth of features including close-up 3D images of the boats and their performance, plus wind direction and speed.

Data is available with a frequency varying between 10 seconds and five minutes.

The final leg is intriguingly poised. Although Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) have taken an unassailable eight-point lead following their seventh podium placing out of eight legs in Lorient, the rest of the leading positions are still there to be claimed.

Four teams – Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) – are all in contention for the prestigious second and third places.

By the time the fleet, including Leg 8 winners Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) and Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), reaches Gothenburg next week, on Monday or possibly Tuesday depending on conditions, it will have covered a total of 38,739nm and visited 11 ports plus every continent.

The 12th edition of the 41-year-old triennial event, formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race, draws to its climax on June 27 with the Inmarsat Gothenburg In-Port Race.

via Volvo Ocean Race breaks new ground with mobile-friendly Tracker| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet set off for Gothenburg, just over 1,000 nautical miles away from Lorient, via The Hague, in perfect sailing conditions today with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) leading the chase to reach the Dutch pit stop first (full story below).

– Bekking leads out fleet in race to Gothenburg via The Hague

– Seven boats expected to arrive in the Dutch port on Friday

– Follow the fleet all the way on our ground-breaking live Tracker

LORIENT, France, June 16 – The Volvo Ocean Race fleet set off for Gothenburg, 960 nautical miles away from Lorient, via The Hague, in perfect sailing conditions today with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) leading the chase to reach the Dutch pit stop first.

There was drama from the very first seconds with Leg 8 winners, Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), and Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) both finding themselves on the wrong side of the line at the start and were forced back to cross for a second time.

Bouwe Bekking, in contrast, stormed away to the perfect start and was still narrowly ahead as he led the fleet out of a packed Lorient with all six boats in hot pursuit after five laps around the port.

Team Brunel, like three other boats, have podium positions to sail for in this final leg to Sweden after more than eight months at sea, despite Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) already having the overall title virtually sewn up with an unassailable eight-point lead.

The Dutch boat is currently in second place on 27 points after eight legs, two clear of Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier), and four ahead of MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP).

All have the chance of finishing in second if the last leg results go their way and even fifth-placed Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) on 33 points could sneak in to grab the runners-up spot if they end up as leg winners and their rivals finish down the field.

Both Team SCA and Team Vestas Wind, first and second from Lisbon into Lorient last week, will be determined to put a spoke in all their wheels and repeat the previous stage’s somewhat surprising finish.

As Ian Walker put it, meanwhile, his tactics on board Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are pretty simple on a stage which is full of exclusion zones, avoiding a busy shipping route skirted by rocks: “Don’t hit any rocks and avoid breaking any rules.”

Bekking would like nothing better than be first to reach The Hague in his home country, probably on Friday, a belated birthday present as he turns 52 years old tomorrow (June 17).

“We just have to beat them, it’s easy,” he said in an interview dockside before the action started at 1700 local time (1500 UTC).

“We have no strategy as such but, of course, we’re going to keep an eye on the guys. It will be massive to go home (The Hague) but we know it’s just a stop and it’s all about the finish in Gothenburg.”

Another birthday boy, Iker Martínez onboard MAPFRE, who turns 38 today, said that the leg offers fairly unique challenges:

“There are lots of rocks involved, and our first priority is not to hit the rocks.

“There’s going to be lot of current, but it’s difficult to know where the key of the leg is going to be. We could arrive in Scheveningen and then the whole thing starts again. The best thing is to be in front in any case.”

Charlie Enright of Team Alvimedica agreed, adding: “We are in a really complicated situation – but at least we know it’s complicated.”

The boats will be precisely timed as they pass the interim line in Scheveningen, near The Hague, on Friday. No points will be awarded for how they finish there.

From 1200 local time onwards the following day, they will depart for Gothenburg with whatever advantage or deficit they took into the pit stop on their rivals.

They are expected to arrive in Gothenburg on Monday (June 22), or, possibly the following day.

The nine-month, 38,739nm, marathon event will finally come to a halt in the famous maritime Swedish city on Saturday, June 27, with the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg.

via The chase is on| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Who should win the Inmarsat Onboard Reporter (OBR) Award for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 for the ‘toughest job in the media’? (full story below).

– Leading media professionals to decide prestigious prize

– OBRs to be judged on video, photographic and writing from boats

– Award to be announced in finale Gala Dinner in Gothenburg

LORIENT, France, June 15 – Who should win the Inmarsat Onboard Reporter (OBR) Award for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 for the ‘toughest job in the media’?

That is the challenge for a top panel of leading industry experts that has been announced today (June 15) to decide a prize that every adventure media reporter would give a year of their lives to win.

The jury’s job is to examine the best examples of video, photographic and written work from the nine OBRs during the course of the nine-month, 38,739-nautical mile offshore marathon that has taken them to some of the most inhospitable corners of the world where sleep is out of the question.

It’s tough enough simply to survive in such conditions: can you imagine trying to send out via a cramped media desk a daily flow of awesome images and compelling stories to the world at the same time?

The jury will decide who has provided the best overall content for the prize, which will be presented at the Race’s finale Gala Dinner in Gothenburg on Saturday, June 27.

Apart from the honour of becoming the third recipient of the award, €36,000 in prize money is at stake with the winner collecting €20,000 and the two runners-up winning €8,000 apiece.

Simply winning an OBR place on one of the seven competing boats in the 12th edition of the triennial, 41-year-old race, has already been a major achievement for the contenders.

From an initial response of more than 2,000 candidates who responded to the Race’s social media campaign for reporters, labelled as the ‘toughest media job in the world’, a shortlist was selected.

The successful few were then trialled on a boat before the final OBRs were selected.

They are:

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – Matt Knighton (USA)

Team Brunel – Stefan Coppers (NED)

Team SCA – Corinna Halloran (USA), Anna-Lena Elled (SWE)

Dongfeng Race Team – Yann Riou (FRA), Sam Greenfield (USA)

Team Vestas Wind – Brian Carlin (IRE)

MAPFRE – Francisco Vignale (ARG)

Team Alvimedica – Amory Ross (USA)

“Whoever wins should be very proud since this is such a unique journalistic challenge,” commented Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Knut Frostad.

“There are a lot of great sailors out there who would love to do this job, and a lot of excellent journalists, but very few who have the joint skills needed to provide great material from the boats day in, day out.

“This is the third edition that we have had Onboard Reporters on our boats, but the standard this time has never been better across all the different types of media.

“Their incredible work has inspired millions around the world through external media and on our own platforms such as our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, not to mention our very popular App.”

The five jury members with the challenging task of judging the top three with jury chairman Chris McLaughlin, Inmarsat’s Senior Vice President, External Affairs & Marketing Communications:

Johan Ronnestam – Former top professional snowboarder, creative director, all-media guru

Andy Swiss – Sports Correspondent, BBC Sport

Brian Nevins – Renowned action and adventure photographer

Wayne Yates – Senior Producer, Red Bull Media House

Matt Sheahan – Racing & Technical editor, Yachting World

Yates will judge the video content, Nevins the images, and Sheahan the text, while McLaughlin, Ronnestam and Swiss will make judgements on the overall quality of the content.

Inmarsat, the event sponsors, provide the satellite communications that allow the work of the OBRs to be seen by millions around the world every day.

Jury biographies:

Chris McLaughlin: A good amateur sailor in his own right, McLaughlin is responsible for the external communications and media strategy of Inmarsat. He has been an influential figure in the introduction of media reporters on Volvo Ocean Race boats from 2008-09, revolutionising coverage from the world’s leading offshore race.

Johan Ronnestam: A former top snowboarder who is now widely regarded as one of the world’s pace-setters in the field of creative and conceptual thinking and innovating brands and their communication.

Andy Swift: A sports news correspondent for the BBC with more than 20 years’ experience with the Corporation. He has covered the world’s leading sports events including Olympics and Paralympics.

Wayne Yates: Red Bull Media House’s BAFTA award-winning director with more than 15 years’ experience in producing programmes for terrestrial and satellite networks. He has also circumnavigated the world, shooting the Clipper Race.

Brian Nevins: A versatile and renowned freelance photographer. He focuses on lifestyle, action and adventure sports and music with his work appearing in many leading publications in each.

Matt Sheahan: One of the most influential sailing journalists in the world, whose views are also regularly sought by broadcasters. An accomplished amateur sailor, with a wide and respected technical knowledge of all classes of the sport.

via They do the toughest job in the media: But who’s the best?| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.