Volvo Ocean Race Formerly: 'Whitbread Round the World Race'.
(Volvo Ocean Race 2008 - 2009 Logo)
History
Established:	1973
Headquarters:	Fareham, Hampshire, UK
Sponsors:	1973 - 2001 Whitbread 2001 - Present Volvo Group
Most recent winner:	'ABN AMRO One'  Netherlands (2005 - 2006 race)
Next Race
Start:	October 04, 2008. Alicante, Spain
Finish:	June 27, 2009. St Petersberg, Russia
Entries:	7 (+4 provisional)
Yachts Used:	Volvo Open 70
Similar Events:	Vendée Globe, VELUX 5 Oceans Race, Global Challenge
Websites:	volvooceanrace.org volvooceanrace.tv

The Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) is a yacht race around the world, held every three years.^[1] It is named after its current sponsor, Volvo.

Though the route is changed to accommodate various ports of call, the race typically departs Europe in September or October, and in recent years has had either 9 or 10 legs, with in-port races at many of the stopover cities. The next race starts in Alicante, Spain, on October 11, 2008.^[2] The route for the 2008-2009 race has been altered from previous years to include stopovers in the Middle East and Asia for the first time. ^[3] This latest route covers nearly 39,000 nautical miles, will take over nine months to complete, and is expected to reach a cumulative TV audience of 2 billion worldwide.^[4]

History

In 1972 England's Whitbread company and the British Royal Naval Sailing Association agreed to sponsor a globe-circling regatta, which would be called the "Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race”.

17 yachts and 167 crew started the first race of 27,500 nautical miles, which began from Portsmouth, England on September 8, 1973. Approximately 3000 spectator boats set out to witness the historic start.^[5]

From 2001 the sponsorship of the race was taken over by Volvo and Volvo Cars and the race was renamed the ‘Volvo Ocean Race’. Stopover ports were added in Germany, France, and Sweden being Volvo's three biggest car markets in Europe.

The worst weather conditions are usually encountered in the Southern Ocean where waves sometimes top 100 feet (30 m) and winds can reach 60 knots (110 km/h).

2008 to 2009 Volvo Ocean Race

The first offshore leg of the 10th Volvo Ocean Race will start in Alicante, Spain, on October 11, 2008, with in-port race seven days earlier.

Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 Route Map.

2008-2009 Race Schedule

2008-2009 Teams

Boat	Sponsor	Nat	Designer	Builder	Skipper	Website
ERICSSON RACING TEAM 1 (Ericsson 3)	Ericsson	Sweden	Juan Kouyoumdjian	Killian Bushe(Kista, Stockholm)	Torben Grael	[1]
ERICSSON RACING TEAM 2 (Ericsson 4)	Ericsson	Sweden	Juan Kouyoumdjian	Killian Bushe (Kista, Stockholm)	Anders Lewander	[2]
IL MOSTRO	Puma	-	Botin Carkeek	Goetz Custom Boats (Bristol, Rhode Island) & Customline Yachts	Ken Read	[3]
TELEFONICA BLUE	Telefonica	Spain	Farr Yacht Design	King Marine (Alginet, Valencia)	TBA	[4]
TELEFONICA BLACK	Telefonica	Spain	Farr Yacht Design	Southern Ocean Marine (Tauranga, New Zealand)	TBA	[5]
KOSATKA (Team Russia)	WDCS	Russia	Humphreys Yacht Design (UK)	Green Marine (UK)	Andreas Hanakamp	[6]
GREEN DRAGON (Green Team)	-	Ireland	Reichel Pugh	McConaghy Boats (China)	Ian Walker	[7]

Russian Ocean Racing Club, Carbon Challenge, Raw Ambition Sailing and Chieftan Racing have made provisional entries.

The 2008-2009 race will be tracked using a Race Management System developed by UK company Cybit's maritime division [8].

The Boats

The Volvo Open 70 is the current class of racing yachts designed for the Volvo Ocean Race.

For more information, see article: Volvo Open 70

Previous Volvo Ocean Races/ Whitbread Round the World Races

Edition	Winner	Starters	Start	Finish	No. of legs
2008- 09	TBD	7 confirmed	Alicante, Spain	St.Petersburg, Russia	10
2005- 06	ABN AMRO One	7	Vigo, Spain	Gothenburg, Sweden	9
2001- 02	Illbruck Challenge	8	Southampton, England	Kiel, Germany	10
1997- 98	EF Language	10	Southampton, England	Southampton, England	9
1993- 94	NZ Endeavour	14	Southampton, England	Southampton, England	6
1989- 90	Steinlager 2		Southampton, England	Southampton, England	6
1985- 86	L'Esprit d'Equipe	15	Southampton, England	Portsmouth, England	4
1981- 82	Flyer	29	Southampton, England	Portsmouth, England	4
1977- 78	Flyer	15	Southampton, England	Southampton, England	4
1973- 74	Sayula II	17	Portsmouth, England	Portsmouth, England	4

Whitbread 1973 to 1974

The first race started off from Portsmouth, England on September 8, 1973. Seventeen yachts of various sizes and shapes took part. During the race three sailors were swept over board and died: Paul Waterhouse, Dominique Guillet and Bernie Hosking. Waterhouse and Guillet were never to be seen again.

The smaller Mexican yacht Sayula II, skippered by Ramon Carlin, won the overall race in a handicapped time of 133 days 13 hours; actual time was 152 days[9]. Taking handicapping into account, the Sayula would have won the second leg.

Whitbread 1977 to 1978

On August 27, 1977, 15 boats started out from Southampton under gale force winds and driving rain.

Flyer a Sparkman & Stephens designed yacht skippered by Cornelius van Rietschoten won the race. All 15 boats finished the 26,780 nautical mile (50,000 km) race.

Whitbread 1981 to 1982

On August 8, 1981, 29 boats started out from Southampton.

Flyer, a German Frers designed maxi skippered by Cornelius van Rietschoten (a.k.a Conny van Rietschoten), winner of the 1977 to 1978 race, won the race. Unusually, Flyer won both on line honours AND on handicap. Only 20 finished the race out of the 29 that started it.

Whitbread 1985 to 1986

On September 28, 1985, 15 boats started out from Southampton.

L'Esprit d'Equipe skippered by Lionel Péan won the race in a corrected time of 111 days 23 hours. Phillips Innovator was second, and Fazer Finland third. (UBS Switzerland was named first on elapsed time, with Lion New Zealand as runner-up. Drum (carrying owner/pop star Simon Le Bon) finished just a breath behind.)

Whitbread 1989 to 1990

1989 to 1990 Overall final standings

Pos	Boat	Nat	Skipper	LOA/Des	Aggregate
1	Steinlager 2	New Zealand	Peter Blake (NZ)	84' Ketch	128 d 9 h
2	Fisher & Paykel NZ	New Zealand	Grant Dalton (NZ)	82' Ketch	129 d 21 h
3	Merit	Switzerland	Pierre Fehlmann (F)	80' Sloop	130 d 10 h
4	Rothmans	United Kingdom	Lawrie Smith (GB)	80' Sloop	131 d 4 h
5	The Card	Sweden	Roger Nilson/Ann Lippens (S)	80' Ketch	135 d 7 h
18	Maiden	United Kingdom	Tracy Edwards (GB)	58' Sloop	167 d 3 h
21	La Poste	France	Daniel Mallé (F)	51' Sloop	181 d 22 h

The race was run with several classes (for size of boat). This race featured the first all-woman crew on Tracy Edwards' Maiden. Although in a much smaller boat than many of their male counterparts the ladies fared well—claiming two leg victories in class. The tradition of the Whitbread including an all-female crew remains to this day.

The boat Creighton's Naturally suffered a serious broach on leg 2, at about 3 in the morning. Crew members Anthony (Tony) Philips and Bart van den Dwey were swept over board. They were both pulled back on deck. Van den Dwey successfully resuscitated, but, after three hours of trying, crewmembers were unable to revive Philips. A few days later, by radio agreement with relatives ashore, Philips was buried at sea[10].

1989 to 1990 Leg winners

Steinlager 2 skippered by Peter Blake won the race easily. For the first time since 1981 to 1982 (when the race comprised just four legs), the victor won every leg (albeit closely chased by both Grant Dalton's Fisher & Paykel NZ and Pierre Fehlmann's Merit entries). The vast difference in speed and capability of the many different boats involved in the 1989 to 1990 race lead to the creation of a committee to examine the commission of a Whitbread class boat for use in future races. Many of the Maxi yachts in this years race were nearly twice the size (LOA) of the smallest, and carried well over twice the sail area. The net result of this was that many of the smaller boats finished the longer legs more than ten days after the leg winner. In the overall results, the last finisher was some 52 days behind Blake's Steinlager 2 128 day aggregate time. In addition, the expense of the big yachts was getting to be too much - even for the well funded teams like Steinlager, Rothmans and Merit. Eventually, the new class would be called the W60 - but its gestation would not be quick or lack controversy.

Whitbread 1993 to 1994

The 1993 to 1994 Whitbread was run to "mixed class" rules (as with prior races). New for the 93/4 race was a purpose built Whitbread boat—the W60. As with previous years a handicap was applied to different boats based on their race rating. The competitors were none too keen or running both Maxis and W60's together. The two competing classes battled throughout with protest flags always at the ready. Many entrants wanted the old maxis banned for this year, however owing to concerns over whether enough new boats would be ready (not to mention the large investments the Maxi owners had made in previous years), several Maxis were allowed to compete in the 1993 to 1994 race. The W60 skippers almost unanimously insisted they were in a 'completely different boat race', to the fury of Grant Dalton skippering a maxi. Dalton conceded afterwards however that the race should only have one class in future, to avoid similar squabbles.

1993 to 1994 Final Standings

Pos	Boat	Nat	Skipper	Class	Aggregate
1	NZ Endeavour	New Zealand	Grant Dalton (NZ)	Maxi	120 d 5 h
2	Yamaha	Japan/ New Zealand	Ross Field (NZ)	W60	120 d 14 h
3	Merit Cup	United Kingdom	Pierre Fehlmann (F)	Maxi	121 d 2 h
4	Intrum Justitia	Europe	Roger Nilson (S) / Lawrie Smith (GB)	W60	121 d 5 h
5	Galicia 93 Pescanova	Spain	Javier de la Gandara (Esp)	W60	122 d 6 h
6	Winston	United States	Dennis Conner (USA) /Brad Butterworth (NZ)	W60	122 d 9 h
7	La Poste	France	Éric Tabarly (F)	Maxi	123 d 22 h
8	Tokio	Japan	Chris Dickson (NZ)	W60	128 d 16 h
9	Brooksfield	Italy	Guido Maisto (I)	W60	130 d 4 h
10	Hetman Sahaidachny	Ukraine	Eugene Platon (Ukr)	W60	135 d 23 h
11	Reebok/Dolphin Youth	United Kingdom	Mathew Humphries (GB)	W60	137 d 21 h
12	Heineken	United States	Dawn Riley (USA)	W60	138 d 16 h
13	Odessa	Ukraine	Anatoly Verba (Ukr)	W60	158 d 4 h
NF	Fortuna	Spain	Lawrie Smith (GB)	Maxi	WD

Intrum Justitia was originally skippered by Roger Nilson, who was injured on the first leg.

• Corrected time takes the boat's handicap into account

Leg Results:

Whitbread 1997 to 1998

Race run for the first time with all W60 boats and to a "points vs time" (instead of aggregate leg time) scoring system to enhance the value of the shorter race legs. Also, in an effort to attract additional media coverage, the Whitbread race committee divided the race into no less than 9 legs for the 1997 to 1998 race. Volvo had its first major association with the race in 1997 to 1998 by sponsoring the trophy (thus the race was officially known as the Whitbread 'round the world race for the Volvo Trophy) and some of the media coverage. For the first time running to W60-only specification, this year's Whitbread attracted just 10 entries—the fewest to date.

Overall results:

Pos	Boat	Nat	Skipper	Points
1	EF Language	Sweden	Paul Cayard (USA)	836
2	Merit Cup	Monaco	Grant Dalton (NZ)	698
3	Swedish Match	Sweden	Gunnar Krantz (S)	689
4	Innovation Kvaerner	Norway	Knut Frostad (N)	633
5	Silk Cut	England	Lawrie Smith (GBR)	630
6	Chessie Racing	United States	George Collins / John Kostecki (USA)	613
7	Toshiba	United States	Dennis Conner (USA) / Paul Standbridge (NZ)*	528
8	Brunel Sunergy	Netherlands	Hans Bouscholte / Roy Heiner (NL)	415
9	EF Education	Sweden	Christine Guillou (F)	275
dnf	America's Challenge	United States	Ross Field (NZ)	58

• Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson. Dickson was fired after Leg 1. Hans Bouscholte was also replaced by Roy Heiner after leg 1. America's Challenge syndicate withdrew prior to the start of leg two for financial reasons.

Leg winners:

Volvo Ocean Race 2001 to 2002

Illbruck Challenge in Kiel

Illbruck Challenge in Kiel

'Team SEB', 'Team Tyco' and 'News Corp' in Kiel

For the 2001 to 2002 race the sponsorship of the race was taken over by Volvo and Volvo Cars. The race was renamed the Volvo Ocean Race. Stopovers were added in Germany, France, and Sweden being the Volvo's three biggest car markets in Europe. In addition the points system had been modified significantly in an effort to keep the race competitive until the final leg. The previous "points" race having been effectively won two full legs before the final gun.

2001 to 2002 overall final standings:

Pos	Boat	Nat	Skipper	Points
1	Illbruck Challenge	Germany	John Kostecki (USA)	61
2	ASSA ABLOY	Sweden	Neal Mcdonald (GB)	55
3	Amer Sports One	United States	Grant Dalton (NZ)	44
4	Team Tyco	Bermuda	Kevin Shoebridge (NZ)	42
5	News Corp	Australia	Jez Fanstone (Aus)	41
6	Djuice Dragons	Norway	Knut Frostad (N)	33
7	Team SEB	Sweden	Gunnar Krantz (S)	32
8	Amer Sports Too	United States	Lisa McDonald (US)	16

John Kostecki, who had co-skippered with George Collins on Chessie Racing in the 1997 to 1998 Whitbread to great effect, captained his first Volvo Ocean race winner in 2002. Assa Abloy's new composite mold technique proved very quick, but not quite quick enough, while long time Whitbread skipper Grant Dalton's two boat syndicate suffered badly from a lack of preparation time (the Amer boats were last in the water).

For Leg 3, yachts joined the iconic Australian Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race that begins on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day).

Volvo Ocean Race 2005 to 2006

"Pirates of the Caribbean" entering Gothenburg harbor at the end of the last leg of Volvo Ocean Race 2005/2006.

Pirates of the Caribbean near the finish line of last leg of 2005/06 race.

Brunel finishing the New York Leg

The competitors at port in Annapolis.

The 2006-2006 race was the first to not begin in the United Kingdom. The course of 31,000 nautical miles (57,000 km) was divided into 9 legs, and would take over 8 months to complete. A new design of boat, the Volvo Open 70 was also used for the first time in this race. The new boats were 2m longer and about 1,000kg lighter than the VO 60s used in the previous race. They were also allowed to have more sail area and include the use of canting keels.^[6]

During Leg 7 of the race Hans Horrevoets, 32, of The Netherlands was swept overboard from ABN AMRO TWO. Although he was recovered from the water, attempts to resuscitate him were not successful. CPR was stopped at 0420GMT, 18 May 2006.^[7]

The crew of Movistar abandoned ship after the aft end of their keel pivot broke away from their hull in the night of the 20th May 2006, and transferred to ABN Amro Two which had been standing by and was escorted by HMS Mersey back to land.^[8] Although a search was carried out for the yacht, it is believed she sank due to the damage sustained.^[9]

The 2005/2006 race had tighter restrictions on the number of crewmembers allowed than previous races. An all-male crew was restricted to ten, while a crew with at least 5 women could have eleven members, and an all-female crew, (of which there were none in the race), could have twelve. The only woman who served as crew was Adrienne Cahalan of Brasil 1, who was replaced after the first leg. The skipper of each team may nominate one additional person for the in-port races.

2005 to 2006 Final Standings

Pos	Boat	Nat	Designer	Builder	Skipper	Points
1	ABN AMRO ONE	Netherlands	Juan Kouyoumdjian	Killian Bushe	Mike Sanderson	96.0
2	Pirates of the Caribbean	United States	Bruce Farr	Green Marine	Paul Cayard	73.0
3	Brasil 1	Brazil	Bruce Farr	ML Boatworks	Torben Grael	67.0
4	ABN AMRO TWO	Netherlands	Juan Kouyoumdjian	Killian Bushe	Sebastien Josse	58.5
5	Ericsson Racing Team	Sweden	Bruce Farr	Green Marine	Neal MacDonald	55.0
6	movistar	Spain	Bruce Farr	Boatspeed	Bouwe Bekking	48.0
7	Brunel	Australia	Don Jones	Hart Marine	Grant Wharington	15.5

Leg/In Port Race Winners

The points system used works on the number of boats entering the race. As 7 yachts entered, the winner of each leg was awarded 7 points, the second 6 points, and so on. For the in-port races, the points awarded were half that of a leg. (ie. the winner was awarded 3.5, second place 3 points, and so on). The in-port races accounted for approximately 20% of the overall points on offer.

‘Gates’ were also added to the 2005-2006 race, which were milestones along some of the longer legs which allowed teams to score additional points (using the same scoring system as the in-port races). ^[10]

References

External links (Current Race)

• Volvo Ocean Race - Official site
• Volvo Ocean Race TV - Official Web TV site
• The Volvo Open 70 Rule
• Volvo Ocean Race Press Information - Press releases etc
• Volvo Ocean Race Official Image Gallery - (For Media Use, but browsing is unrestricted)
• Volvo Ocean Race News and Photos

External links (Previous Races)

• National Geographic's Volvo Ocean Race - National Geographic (2001-2002)
• SailingNetworks - Event details, boats, crew and news
• Special Coverage of the VOR
• VOR Forum - Sailing Anarchy Forum
• Ocean Race Chesapeake
• Online race tracker
• QTVR fullscreen panoramas of VO70 Ericsson Racing Team boat