Friday, October 03, 2014

The Volvo Ocean Race

Yesterday, the Volvo Ocean Race Village in Alicante was opened in a ceremony that took place in rain. The planned firework display and the disco had to be cancelled.
Team MAPFRE

The race proper will start on Saturday with 66 competitors sailing the first leg to Cape Town (South Africa). The race then moves on to Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China), Aukland (New Zealand), Itaji (Brazil), Newport (USA), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France) and ends up in Gothenburg (Sweden) some 38,739 nautical miles later on.

The unique feature for this edition, is that all the boats are identical, built by the same four companies. The emphasis has changed from teams creating the fastest, safest boat they could build to the skill of the sailors.

Spanish hopes are set on Team Mapfre with its skipper Iker Martinez. The boat is seen here competing in the Round Canaries race.

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