Eighth boat under construction for Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

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Marc Bow / Volvo Ocean Race

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Rick Deppe / Volvo Ocean Race

In the third of 10 announcements over 10 days, Volvo Ocean Race has confirmed that, in an unexpected boost to the next edition of the race, an eighth boat is being built at Persico Marine, Italy (full story below)

As a One Design class, it will of course be identical to the existing fleet of seven Volvo Ocean 65s in every way, and will be launched in May next year, five months before the start of the next edition. The team behind this new build will be announced early in 2017.

“It’s exciting to welcome an addition to the fleet ahead of the next edition, as this was not necessarily expected,” said Nick Bice, the Volvo Ocean Race’s Director of Boats and Maintenance. “We now have a real prospect of starting the next race with more boats than in the last edition.”

He added: “There will be absolutely no advantage in terms of physical performance or reliability. The new boat will be identical to the existing fleet in every respect.

“All of the Volvo Ocean 65s were built with at least two editions in mind, possibly even a third – and the seven that finished the 2014-15 edition are still in fantastic condition.”

Persico Marine is the lead contractor for the new boat, and will use the same moulds, materials and process of building the original fleet of Volvo Ocean 65s. After completion, the boat will be delivered to the Boatyard facility in Lisbon, where it will undergo rigorous measurement tests.

“When it comes to measuring, we run a fully transparent process. Anyone from any team can come and witness the boats being measured in our refit facility in Lisbon, to ensure they fit the bill,” said Bice.

“Our tests on the existing boats have shown they have not lost any of their rigidity or performance, so whilst the team building a new boat will have ‘no excuses’ from a mental perspective perhaps, there will be no real advantage in physical terms.”

An extensive refit process is currently underway on the original Volvo Ocean 65s. That process is designed to ensure that the components make another 45,000 nautical miles around the world, but also includes significant upgrades in communication equipment, safety, energy generation, and performance electronics as well as new designs of sails which will level the playing field again to some extent.

The Volvo Ocean Race starts from Alicante in October 2017 and finishes in The Hague over eight months later, taking in a total of 11 landmark cities.

via Eighth boat under construction for Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18| Volvo Ocean Race.

remium team bases to enhance the ‘pit lane’ experience for Volvo Ocean Race fans

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race will be introducing innovative new team bases at all the Host Cities in 2017-18 to form the ultimate ‘pit lane’ where the public will be able to see what before has gone on ‘behind closed doors’ and interact with crews in a casual environment (full story below).

ALICANTE, Spain – The Volvo Ocean Race will be introducing innovative new team bases at all the Host Cities in 2017-18.

Combined with the large scale Boatyard facility introduced in Host Cities in the last edition, where repairs are carried out on the boats in full view of the public, they will form the ultimate ‘pit lane’ where the public will be able to see what before has gone on ‘behind closed doors’ and interact with crews in a casual environment.

“We’re trying to bring the fans into our living rooms so they can get a feel for what really goes on there,” said Richard Mason, Operations Director and a four-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran. “They are for the teams, and their partners, but are also much more of an open interface for the public.”

The development is the fourth in a series of 10 announcements from the Volvo Ocean Race, and is just one of a number of turnkey solutions from the Race organisation designed to limit the costs and operational complexities for teams – the new team bases will be both built and dismantled by the Race organisation – allowing race teams more time to focus on winning the race on the water.

“That face to face contact with the heroes is key,” Mason added. “I remember when I was a kid and the Race visited Auckland, my home town. I went to meet Sir Peter Blake who lifted me up onto the helm of his boat, Ceramco. I instantly knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life.”

The new team bases will be open to the public on the ground floor. They will not only form a base for the sailing teams within the Race Villages where the teams work on a day to day basis as they get ready for the next leg, but also provide an additional space for intimate sponsor activation to complement the sponsors larger scale activation operations on site with bespoke pavilions for product display and hospitality.

Aside from the advantage of bringing the fans closer to the shore action, the efficient design of the bases means that they fold down more easily into shipping containers, saving valuable space and time as the event travels around the globe.

“In the Volvo Ocean Race, timing is everything and the ability to build up and dismantle these Race Villages quickly is vital,” said Quérine van Osch, Volvo Ocean Race Village Experience Manager.

“We’re always striving for innovation in everything we do, and this solution is amazing. The container actually becomes part of the structure, so it’s super efficient, and will reduce the number of containers we ship around the planet by up to 60%.”

via Premium team bases to enhance the ‘pit lane’ experience for Volvo Ocean Race fans| Volvo Ocean Race.

M32 catamarans to be used for guest sailing in eight Host Cities

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Ian Roman

In the fifth of a series of 10 Volvo Ocean Race announcements in two weeks, Race director Phil Lawrence revealed that the M32 boats, which weigh just 510kg and can sail in most weather conditions in stadium mode, will be used in both guest sailing and Pro-Am racing mode during the final days of at least eight of the 11 Host Cities the global race visits (full story below)

ALICANTE, Spain – Each Volvo Ocean Race entry in the 2017-18 race, in addition to their Volvo Ocean 65 monohull racing around the globe, will also have an M32 catamaran shipped from port to port as part of their sponsor inventory. The specific aim is to increase the number of sponsor client, city and media guests that get to experience high performance sailing during the stopovers between the ocean legs.

In the fifth of a series of 10 Volvo Ocean Race announcements in two weeks, Race director Phil Lawrence revealed that the M32 boats, which weigh just 510kg and can sail in most weather conditions in stadium mode, will be used in both guest sailing and Pro-Am racing mode during the final days of at least eight of the 11 Host Cities the global race visits.

“One of the unique selling points for sponsorship in sailing is that we can literally put guests in the driving seat so they experience the real thing – we need to maximise this opportunity to help attract sponsors.”

The presence of the high adrenalin 32-foot racing cats will add to the spectacle in the Host Cities over the final days of each stopover, and they will be used in a stadium sailing format for Pro-Am racing on the Saturday before the race restarts.

“We had over 70,000 corporate guests tasting a slice of the Volvo Ocean Race last time around, and we want to get as many of those visitors out on the water as possible,” explained Lawrence, who was Race Director of the pioneering stadium-racing Extreme Sailing Series before joining the Volvo Ocean Race earlier this year.

“The challenge that we have found is that the pressure of preparing the boats and crew for the next offshore leg limits guest sailing opportunities, especially leading up to the In-Port Race and departure day.”

He continued: “That’s the main driver for introducing M32 boats into our stopovers. Our aim is to get even more people to have that unique experience on the water, even more entertainment on the water for the public, and even more value for sponsors in each Host City.”

In 2014-15, the Race saw over 2,400 corporate guests take spots onboard the Volvo Ocean 65s. With the addition of the M32s, that number will rise four-fold to almost 10,000. The Race organisers will provide each team with a branded M32 in their colours, assembled, rigged and ready to race, so as not to add more burden to their already high-pressure, pre-race period.

In addition, each M32 will come with a bespoke RIB (rigid inflatable boat) for guest transfers. This package again enforces the Race organiser’s commitment to reduce any stress or extra organisational needs for the teams by having a ‘ready to go’ guest sailing solution.

Designed by Swedish sailors Göran Marström and Kåre Ljung, the M32 catamaran offers a unique blend of simplicity and ease of handling, combined with lightweight construction and thrilling performance.

“This partnership with Volvo Ocean Race is very exciting for me personally since the Race has meant so much for me as a sponsor since back in the 2008-09 and the 2011-12 editions when we were Berg Propulsion,” said Håkan Svensson, CEO of Aston Harald AB and owner of the rights and design to the M32 catamaran.

“We used the Volvo Ocean Race as a very successful platform to do business from, with an impressive return on investment of 11:1 over 13 months. That has inspired me to do what we now do with the M32 class and the World Match Racing Tour, in creating a platform for the broader market and a pathway for the sailors aspiring to the Volvo Ocean Race and professional sailing.”

For more information on the M32 Catamaran please visit www.m32world.com.

In the past week, the Volvo Ocean Race has made key announcements on crew rules regarding women sailors, a new crew communicator that will allow the athletes to send social media updates from the oceans, the building of an eighth Volvo Ocean 65 to join the existing fleet and the introduction of bespoke new premium team bases to enhance the pit lane experience in the Race Villages.

The Race will make five more announcements starting on Monday, October 17.

via M32 catamarans to be used for guest sailing in eight Host Cities| Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean Race adds Fastnet Race, new Prologue to 2017-18 qualifying schedule

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IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race

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Marc Bow/Volvo Ocean Race

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Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica

In the sixth of a series of 10 major announcements in 10 days, Race Management outlined a number of mandatory qualifiers before the start in Alicante, Spain, in October 2017 – including provisionally a transatlantic test for all the fleet in June or July (full story below)

ALICANTE, Spain – The Fastnet Race, one of the most revered and feared tests in sailing, and a new Lisbon-Alicante Prologue will both feature in an intense period of pre-race qualifying for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 – serving as a first clash of the fleet while providing an early form guide for the fans.

In the sixth of a series of 10 major announcements in 10 days, Race Management outlined a number of mandatory qualifiers before the start in Alicante, Spain, in October 2017 – including provisionally a transatlantic test for all the fleet in June or July.

In August, the fleet will assemble for Cowes Week in the Isle of Wight, UK for ‘Leg Zero’, which will include the 600-mile Fastnet Race.

The Rolex Fastnet Race – always unpredictable – will take the teams from Cowes, through the English Channel, around Land’s End and out into the Celtic Sea. After rounding Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland, they race on from Plymouth. The boats will then race from Plymouth to Lisbon, Portugal to complete Leg Zero.

Teams will then tackle a brand new Prologue race from Lisbon to Alicante, where they will remain until the start of the 2017-18 edition.

France’s Charles Caudrelier, who skippered Dongfeng Race Team in 2014-15, commented: “You train for months, alone, and so it’s good to be able to do more racing as a team before the start. It’s very different, racing under pressure, than training, and good for boat testing.”

“I’ve done a few Fastnet Races, some were windy and some were light. It’s a nice course, very fun and interesting to sail around the coast, with the effect of the currents. It’s a good test and a very dynamic race, with interesting weather.”

He continued: “In two or three days, you have a lot of decision-making to do, so it’s good to test not just everyone’s speed but also taking decisions quickly under pressure.

“And of course, you get to see which teams are stronger.”

Many Volvo Ocean Race teams have used the Fastnet Race as part of their preparations but it has never before been a mandatory qualifier.

The maxi yacht Drum, preparing for the 1985-86 race, famously capsized during the Fastnet and pop star Simon Le Bon was among the crew who had to be rescued by the Royal Navy.

Richard Mason, four-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran and now Operations Director for the Race, said: “It’s super important to be doing these miles, at the right time of year.

“It’ll provide some awesome hours on the water for the teams, and that’s where they’ll learn the most – getting out there in the middle of the ocean, and getting amongst those weather systems, in a race that no sailor would dare take on lightly.”

He continued: “The Fastnet Race is on the bucket list of every ocean racer in the world. It’s famous for being very tricky and coastal. You can have no wind, you can have enormous amounts of breeze, and vicious seas, out near Fastnet Rock, it’s navigationally and tactically challenging, you don’t get much sleep. It’s the perfect race – an amazing thing to be a part of.”

The seven existing Volvo Ocean 65s are currently undergoing a stringent re-fit process at the race’s Boatyard facility in Lisbon, Portugal, and an eighth boat is currently being built.

The Race will start in Alicante in October 2017 and finish eight months later in The Hague in summer 2018, visiting a total of 11 landmark cities.

Last week, the Volvo Ocean Race made key announcements on crew rules regarding women sailors, a new crew communicator that will allow the athletes to send social media updates from the oceans, the building of an eighth Volvo Ocean 65 to join the existing fleet, the introduction of bespoke new premium team bases to enhance the pit lane experience in the Race Villages and the use of M32 catamarans to increase the amount of guest sailing at each stopover.

via Volvo Ocean Race adds Fastnet Race, new Prologue to 2017-18 qualifying schedule| Volvo Ocean Race.

New scoring system to open up fleet by incentivising strategic risk-taking

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Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica / Volvo Ocean Race

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Yann Riou / Dongfeng Race Team / Volvo Ocean Race

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Matt Knighton / Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race

The seventh in a series of 10 announcements from the Race in 10 days is designed to open up the competition in an era of incredibly close One Design racing and give an incentive for teams to gamble more often to split the fleet.

ALICANTE, Spain – The Volvo Ocean Race is revolutionising the scoring system for 2017-18 to encourage strategic risk-taking from the teams and give extra reward for strong performances in the two Southern Ocean legs and the final ocean leg of the race, across the North Atlantic from Newport to Cardiff.

The seventh in a series of 10 announcements from the Race in 10 days is designed to open up the competition in an era of incredibly close One Design racing and give an incentive for teams to gamble more often to split the fleet. The new rules state:

– Scoring will change to a high-point system

– The two Southern Ocean legs – from Cape Town to Hong Kong, and Auckland to Itajaí, plus the North Atlantic leg near the end of the race, Newport to Cardiff – will all score double points

– The winner of each and every leg will score one bonus point (10 for a win, 8 for second, 7 for third, etc)

– There will be a bonus point for the first team to round Cape Horn in a nod to the mythical significance of this turning point in the race

– A further bonus point will be awarded for the team with the best total elapsed time overall in the race

– The In-Port Series will remain the tiebreaker should teams, as in the last edition, be tied on points at the finish in The Hague.

The new scoring system is the first confirmed change in a series of options being considered by Race HQ.

“One of the most fantastic things about the move to One Design in 2014-15 was that we had extraordinarily close racing all the way around the world – but there was also a bit of a ‘sheep’ mentality, with no-one really wanting to break from the fleet for fear of being left behind, and instead just wanting to play the averages” explained Mark Turner, Race CEO.

“We need to do something to encourage that strategic risk-taking. We’re amending the points system, but we’re also considering things like blackouts in terms of positions, so teams can go into ‘stealth’ mode, and in terms of weather data provided, so that navigators need to use more of their own judgement at certain times”

Charles Caudrelier, who skippered Dongfeng Race Team in 2014-15, commented: “I think these bonus points could be interesting. It’s good to have a bonus point for rounding Cape Horn first, as sometimes you lead part of the leg and fall back because the end of the race is in a light spot, and you don’t deserve that.

“Stealth mode could be interesting, and the weather blackout is something we’ve done in other races. Yes, maybe, it could be good if they choose an important moment to stop the forecast, but I don’t really think it will change a lot.”

As in the 2014-15 edition, In-Port Races will be scored as a separate series and used to break any ties in the final table.

The race begins in Alicante in October 2017 and will take the teams 45,000nm around the planet, including three times more Southern Ocean miles than in the last edition, on their way to the finish in The Hague eight months later.

Last week, the Volvo Ocean Race made key announcements on crew rules regarding women sailors, a new communicator that will allow the athletes to send social media updates from the oceans, the building of an eighth Volvo Ocean 65 to join the existing fleet, the introduction of bespoke new premium team bases to enhance the pit lane experience in the Race Villages and the use of M32 catamarans to increase the amount of guest sailing at each stopover.

Monday’s news was about an intense period of pre-race qualification sailing that includes the Rolex Fastnet Race, and there will be three further announcements this week.

via New scoring system to open up fleet by incentivising strategic risk-taking| Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean 65s to feature new hydropower units as part of one million euro refit per boat

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Marc Bow/Volvo Ocean Race

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Ricardo Pinto / Volvo Ocean Race

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

The eighth in our series of 10 announcements in 10 days reveals that a new hydro-generator will act as a back-up power source to the Volvo Penta engine on each of the Volvo Ocean 65 racing yachts.

ALICANTE, Spain – The Volvo Ocean Race is installing a new hydro-generator to act as a back-up power source to the Volvo Penta engine on each of the Volvo Ocean 65 racing yachts – part of the one million euro per boat refit process currently underway in Lisbon, and an important milestone in the quest to become energy-neutral on the race course.

All eight boats – the seven from the last edition, plus the new boat being built at Persico Marine in Italy – will feature the unit, which can already provide enough power to run the essential onboard systems in the event of mechanical failure.

Depending on the results of continued pre-race testing, its use could be mandatory at times during the 2017-18 edition in order to provide results during real-world race conditions and begin to reduce the amount of fuel used by the boats for their electronic systems.

One boat has already been installed with the unit for testing, and the results have been significant, according to the Race’s Director of Boats and Maintenance, Nick Bice.

“In the last few years, we’ve been working hard on alternative energy,” he explained.

“The hydro-generator is effectively a propeller which you drop over the back of the boat, similar to a small outboard, which spins around with the water flowing, generating electricity to be fed back to the batteries on the boat.

“Our tests have shown no noticeable impact on speed performance in terms of increase of drag. The results have been positive enough to convince me there’s no reason why in the future we can’t be energy neutral on the race course.”

The announcement is the eighth in a series of 10 being made by the Volvo Ocean Race in 10 days.

Liz Wardley, a two-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran who recently completed a delivery of one of the Volvo Ocean 65s, explained: “We’ve sailed about 3,500 miles with the hydro-generator on the back of the boat and during that time we didn’t have to turn on the engine. That’s saying a lot, as normally, we’d run the engine for an hour to an hour-and-a-half every day.

“We’ve proved what it can do, and now we just need to prove its reliability not just as a back-up power source, but a primary one.”

The fleet-wide refit that is currently underway at The Boatyard facility in Lisbon will be completed by June 2017 – four months before the start of the next edition in October 2017.

Upgrades are being made across over 500 individual line items in many areas of the boat including composites, masts, deck gear, electronics and engineering. In addition, all boats will undergo a full One Design paint job. For the full re-fit list, click here.

The race begins in Alicante in October 2017 and will take the teams 45,000nm around the planet on their way to the finish in The Hague eight months later.

Last week, the Volvo Ocean Race made key announcements on crew rules regarding women sailors, a new communicator that will allow the athletes to send social media updates from the oceans, the building of an eighth Volvo Ocean 65 to join the existing fleet, the introduction of bespoke new premium team bases to enhance the pit lane experience in the Race Villages and the use of M32 catamarans to increase the amount of guest sailing at each stopover.

Monday’s news was about an intense period of pre-race qualification sailing that includes the Rolex Fastnet Race, and on Tuesday, Race Management announced changes to the scoring system to encourage strategic risk-taking. There will be two further announcements this week.

via Volvo Ocean 65s to feature new hydropower units as part of one million euro refit per boat| Volvo Ocean Race.

Teams have been capturing footage since the first edition of the race in 1973-74 – but originally crew members would take turns to perform reporter duties, using 16mm film cameras and homemade water housings.

Full-time Media Crew Members were added to each team in 2008-09 as dedicated story-gatherers, and the role was renamed as Onboard Reporter for the 2014-15 edition.

The news of the changes follows a prominent campaign to recruit the next reporters to the storytelling squad, which closed in September.

“We’ve raised the bar in terms of our search for the next generation of Onboard Reporters ahead of 2017-18,” added Turner.

“We’ve received applications from 126 countries and the quality is incredible, with experienced media professionals including war reporters, adventure and nature documentary makers and digital broadcast journalists.”

The Volvo Ocean 65 racing boats are effectively mobile digital production facilities, operating with state-of-the-art satellite hardware and services supplied by Cobham SATCOM and Inmarsat.

As part of a refit process currently underway at the Race’s Boatyard facility in Lisbon, all Volvo Ocean 65s are gaining two new fixed camera angles, taking the total to six positions across the boat.

Each Onboard Reporter has additional access to night vision and action cameras, while drone and 360-degree cameras will also be in regular use across the fleet.

“We were the first to use drones from the oceans as part of our storytelling in 2014-15, and led the way with 360-degree footage offshore, as well as streaming live during the Cape Horn rounding,” said Sefton. “We’re going to continue innovating across the OBR programme.  

“Thanks to our partners we have the ability to go live from anywhere on the planet, at any time, and the OBRs work around the clock to capture and transmit the real story from the boats.

“As soon as it’s sent, you’ll see it."

Last week, the Volvo Ocean Race made key announcements on crew rules regarding women sailors, a new communicator that will allow the athletes to send social media updates from the oceans, the building of an eighth Volvo Ocean 65 to join the existing fleet, the introduction of bespoke new premium team bases to enhance the pit lane experience in the Race Villages and the use of M32 catamarans to increase the amount of guest sailing at each stopover.

Monday’s news was about an intense period of pre-race qualification sailing that includes the Rolex Fastnet Race, and on Tuesday, Race Management announced changes to the scoring system to encourage strategic risk-taking. Yesterday, the Race revealed that all boats will be fitted with a hydropower generator to provide backup energy in 2017-18. There will be one further announcements tomorrow.

via Major shake-up in Onboard Reporter programme to create a squad of storytelling talent across Volvo Ocean Race teams| Volvo Ocean Race.

Major shake-up in Onboard Reporter programme to create a squad of storytelling talent across Volvo Ocean Race teams

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Yann Riou / Dongfeng Race Team / Volvo Ocean Race

In the ninth of 10 announcements over 10 days, Onboard Reporters in the Volvo Ocean Race will no longer necessarily be assigned to a particular team for the duration of the Race, but will instead be available to work as truly independent, embedded multimedia journalists across the fleet.

ALICANTE, Spain – The Volvo Ocean Race is reinventing its unique Onboard Reporter programme in order to tell more of the raw story than ever before – with the Race creating a squad of multimedia reporters able to work across the fleet instead of necessarily being permanently attached to individual teams.

– Fourth iteration of Onboard Reporter (OBR) programme introduces most radical change yet;

– Volvo Ocean Race will employ pool of OBRs able to work across the fleet, which as a consequence means this has been able to be started already (rather than waiting for teams to sort at much later date);

– OBRs will still be matched to the needs of each team’s sponsors, in terms of language, culture and objectives;

– Move is ninth in series of 10 announcements in 10 days.

In the penultimate announcement in 10 days regarding the 2017-18 race, the team of 10-12 Onboard Reporters will be more fluid and flexible, potentially being able to embed within teams on a leg-by-leg basis instead of signing on with one team for the whole race as before – and avoiding also the very late appointments by many of the teams in the last edition, which compromised the technical abilities of the OBRs in some cases.

“We’re putting the emphasis firmly on the Reporting side of the OBR’s role, and we are already up and running with the trialing and training as a result of being able to move forward now. The quality of OBR we believe we can acquire by doing this will also help in what of course is a difficult task of balancing integrity and acquiring sufficient trust of the sailors – like a war reporter jumping in the front line with the soldiers. We actually experienced, for unfortunate reasons in fact, having more than one style of OBR in the last race onboard Dongfeng and it worked very well,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner.

“Having dedicated reporters onboard the boats, embedded in the action, was a groundbreaking step when it was first introduced back in the 2008-09 edition – and now it’s time for the next evolution. Their only job is to tell the team’s own story in as raw a way as possible, to share what remains just a small slice of the incredible journey of the team onboard. We probably still only share 5% today – if we could get to 15% that would be great, and we would not be digging too far into certain sensitive content that should still stay on the boat.

“It’s another part of our commitment to share just a little bit more of the raw and direct story of the teams, and faster than ever before – whilst of course being sensitive to the personal stories onboard. Just like in any professional sport today, this balance is important.”

According to Volvo Ocean Race’s Head of TV, Leon Sefton, this is a fundamental shift in the way that content is gathered onboard.

“It’s true that the OBRs will not be able to create the sort of long term bond with their teams that they may have done in previous editions, and we could lose some of the storytelling opportunities that are provided by that kind of relationship,” he explained.

“But we believe that the ability to rotate the OBRs this way will provide a crucial distance between the teams and the OBRs that will better enable them to properly perform the role of observational journalist.”

He added: “We’ve already begun the process of trialing and training OBRs, and by the start of the Race, we’ll have a pool of top storytellers across the fleet.”

“Of course, this news doesn’t mean that we will rotate all Onboard Reporters, every single leg – if there’s a particularly interesting story or relationship on a particular boat then of course it would make sense to let it play out for multiple legs – but this added flexibility gives us the opportunity to shake things up if we feel it’s necessary.”

No OBR will be on the race unless their basic safety and ability to survive onboard the Volvo Ocean 65s has been well tested pre-race and signed off by at least two skippers. The ambition is in fact for the whole pool of OBRs to actually train on any of the boats to which they might be assigned during the race itself.

via Major shake-up in Onboard Reporter programme to create a squad of storytelling talent across Volvo Ocean Race teams| Volvo Ocean Race.

The countdown is on – with one year to go before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on October 22, 2017

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David Ramos/Volvo Ocean Race

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 will begin on Sunday, October 22 – in almost exactly one year’s time – when the starting gun is fired in Alicante and the teams set out to complete a total of 45,000 nautical miles of offshore racing, over a course that takes in 11 landmark cities in five continents over eight months (full story below)

ALICANTE, Spain – The Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 will begin on Sunday, October 22 – in almost exactly one year’s time – when the starting gun is fired in Alicante and the teams set out to complete a total of 45,000 nautical miles of offshore racing, over a course that takes in 11 landmark cities in five continents over eight months.

Organisers revealed the start dates for the first three legs of sailing’s longest and toughest adventure on Friday, rounding off a series of 10 major announcements on the future of the Race in the past two weeks.

The first official action of the 2017-18 edition will be the Alicante In-Port Race on Saturday, October 14 before the Volvo Ocean Race itself begins eight days later with Leg 1 – a 700-nautical mile sprint to Lisbon, Portugal. It will be the fourth-consecutive time that the event has started from its Home Port of Alicante.

After arriving in Lisbon, the boats will take part in the In-Port Race on Saturday, 28 October before the start of Leg 2 on Sunday, November 5.

That will see them battle it out over 7,000 nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa. The racing will take over three weeks to complete, and will mark the 11th occasion in 13 editions that the Volvo Ocean Race has visited the city.

The Cape Town In-Port Race will take place on Friday, December 8 and Leg 3 will begin two days later on Sunday, December 10.

The decision to tweak the format of race weekends at many of the stopovers by moving the In-Port Race from the Saturday to the Friday gives teams an extra 24 hours to prepare for the rigours of ocean racing to come.

“With just a year to go, the countdown to the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 has begun,” said Race CEO, Mark Turner.

“The sailors can look forward to an unforgettable send-off from Alicante, our Home Port, and the fact that they’ll be thrown into a high intensity sprint to Lisbon straight off will make Leg 1 especially exciting.

“Our Boatyard facility is based in Lisbon, and it will be very well known to teams who will use it as an Atlantic training base in the lead-up to the start.”

He continued: “Cape Town also has a special connection with the Race – our boats have been heading there since the very first edition, back in 1973 – so there will be a lot that is very familiar before the teams head towards the Southern Ocean, which is such an important focus for the Race.”

The full route, including almost three times the amount of Southern Ocean sailing as in recent editions, was announced earlier this year.

The Race will announce the dates for the rest of the legs in the coming weeks.

In the last two weeks, the Volvo Ocean Race has made a series of key announcements around significant evolutions of the event, including a change in crew rules regarding women sailors, a new communicator that will allow the athletes to send social media updates from the oceans, the building of an eighth Volvo Ocean 65 to join the existing fleet, the introduction of bespoke new premium team bases to enhance the pit lane experience in the Race Villages and the use of M32 catamarans to increase the amount of guest sailing at each stopover. This week, news was about an intense period of pre-race qualification sailing that includes the Rolex Fastnet Race, Race Management announcing changes to the scoring system to encourage strategic risk-taking, all boats will be fitted with a hydropower generator as part of a €1 million re-fit, and an evolution of the Onboard Reporter concept to include potential rotation.

via The countdown is on – with one year to go before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on October 22, 2017| Volvo Ocean Race.

The 42-year-old Frenchman is delighted to be representing China again: “For sure I am very happy because I have learnt about China and its people and I really enjoy working with them,” he said. “I am very happy to see Dongfeng coming back. It is great for us to see a sponsor returning who feels happy about sailing and is happy to get involved again.

“With this announcement the team is in the ‘starting blocks’ early and that will give us an advantage to find the best crew and to train as much as possible. But this is not an easy task – the next edition of the race is the longest and hardest yet with three times as much Southern Ocean racing to do.

“In the last race the Chinese sailors, who had almost no offshore sailing experience, joined the squad and performed beyond expectations alongside our professional international crew. Together we showed what we could do, how we could overcome adversity and be an even stronger, united team at the end.”

This second Dongfeng Race Team project follows Team Sanya (2011-12) and Green Dragon (2008-09) as the Volvo Ocean Race’s fourth Chinese entry. Green Dragon was a joint-entry with Ireland.

“It’s fantastic news to have Dongfeng come back as a sponsor for a second consecutive edition – and fantastic news for sailing in China, to be able to build on the legacy that the first Dongfeng Race Team project created,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner, who, before taking the reins of the event in June 2016, oversaw the Dongfeng Race Team project.

“It’s really pleasing to see a Chinese sponsor which was new to sports sponsorship, coming back a second time based on the strength of the success of the first campaign, both on the media side and the Business to Business side. It’s a very big vote of confidence in the race, not just for other Chinese brands, but for many companies around the world who are looking for a platform to help them transform their business, internally or externally or both.

He continued: “Charles Caudrelier over-delivered in the last edition with a crew that on paper were less experienced than some of the other teams. It’s great that he is coming back as skipper. I think he will use the experience of the last race to build a great team.” 

The seven One Design Volvo Ocean 65s from last edition are currently undergoing a stringent re-fit procedure at the Race’s Boatyard facility in Lisbon, Portugal – and an identical eighth boat is also currently built by Persico Marine in Bergamo, Italy.

It has previously been announced that the next race will feature two Southeast Asian stops, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. It will be the fourth consecutive edition that the Race has stopped in China.

In total, the Race will visit 11 cities in five continents, starting in Alicante and taking in Lisbon, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff and Gothenburg before the finish in The Hague.

via China is back in the Volvo Ocean Race as Dongfeng announce return in 2017-18 with Charles Caudrelier as skipper| Volvo Ocean Race.