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| The Volvo Ocean Race is Longest Ever: |
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| Around the World in Nine Months and 37,000 Miles |
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 | | Submitted Photo | | The eight Volvo 70s cross the line for their first encounter - the in-port race in Alicante, Spain before Leg 1 to South Africa. Halfway to Capetown, after 3,000 miles of racing, they were all still competing fiercely for first place. |
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By Peter Marsh
Racing Around the world has never been a casual affair, and never will be. But the organizers of the tenth Volvo Race have definitely set the bar higher this time around! The eight competing boats will be sailing south from Spain to South Africa, then north to India, through the tropical water of the south Asia to Hong Kong and China, then south again to the far southern latitudes of the Pacific Ocean where they re-join the normal round-the-world race route around Cape Horn. (That Asian detour will add about 15,000 miles to the course followed by the non-stop single-handers who will be departing from France on November 9 in the Vendee Globe race.)
But wait-there's more. At most of the ten stopovers, these weary crews of eleven men must prepare themselves and their long-distance Volvo 70 yachts to compete in two round-the-buoys races of less than an hour's duration in one hectic day. The points they score will be added to the overall total score that will decide the winner at the finish in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This marathon course should at least be good for publicity, which is what ultimately drives corporate sponsors to put their names on these sleek yachts.
Seven of the eight yachts entered are new, very light and very fast, while the eighth is the last winner ABN AMRO, now called Delta Lloyd and still competitive. There are two boats from Telefonica (the Spanish phone provider), two from Ericsson (the Swedish electronics maker); one each from Puma (sports shoes), Team Russia (supermarkets), and Green Dragon--the Irish/Chinese syndicate.
Because no one can predict exactly what kind of weather they will encounter -and therefore what kind of boat will do best, the boats are all designed to be good all-rounders, and after 4,000 miles of racing from Alicante, Spain to the Brazilian coast, there was no noticeable difference in performance. That was good news for the Puma team, whose boat was designed by Botin Carkeek-a European partnership with no previous experience in round-the-world racers.
Fortunately for us, although Puma is a German company, it has chosen to base its team in Boston and build it around American or English-speaking sailors. With a big budget and plenty of time for preparation, the roster for Puma Ocean Racing features five Volvo/Whitbread victors and loads of America's Cup experience!
Ken Read, 46 (Newport, RI, U.S.A.) is the skipper, his friend Jerry Kirby, 51 (Newport, RI, U.S.A.) is the bowman, Jonathan McKee, 47 (Seattle, WA, U.S.A.) is the tactician and helmsman. They are joined by three Australians, three New Zealanders, one German and one Frenchman. "With the America's Cup in flux right now, there were a lot of really good sailors looking for work," explained skipper Read. "What I thought was going to be a difficult process became overwhelming, we had résumés from 400 sailors crazy enough to want to do this race. You could have put 10 world class crews together and not miss much."
He describes his final line-up as "very international, six different nationalities on board. I leaned towards experience, particularly Volvo Ocean Race experience." To emphasize the international style of the project, Puma named the boat il mostro - Italian for "the monster," then had Salma Hayek launch it in Newport. |
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