Craic in Volvo Secret Stopover Schedule? Galway Final Stop in 2012?

Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race have created their own kind of ‘March Madness’, by choosing to reveal the stopovers for the next edition of the round-the-world one by one throughout the month.

Last week, the French press ignored the embargo date for the news that Lorient would be the second European stop and set tongues wagging about how the French stopover may scuttle any chance for Galway to host the race. Some commentators have speculated that the clever PR folks in Alicante have been carefully using the leaks to keep the race announcements in the news, but whatever the strategy, there are a lot of people waiting for the route to be revealed.

Both the Irish Times and the Galway Advertiser are today predicting that rather than lose a stop on the race, Galway will in fact host the finish of the race. The Advertiser is more cautious of the two outlets saying:

To secure the finish of the race would have been thought to have been beyond the wildest dreams of the Galway backers, but in the past few days, it has become a strong possibility…

The paper quotes ‘Let’s Do It Galway’ Chairman John Killeen:

“To compare it to a game of rugby, we are 10 points up with 10 minutes to go. We are nearly there, but not yet, and while I am reasonably confident, there are always pitfalls. The Volvo officials are keeping their cards close to their chest on this one, but the official announcement is expected next Tuesday.”

The Irish Times is more confident, with the headline : “Cowen to detail Volvo race’s Galway finish,” then says;

“Cowen is expected to confirm this week that the next Volvo around the world yacht race will finish in Galway in 2012. Mr Cowen is expected to make the announcement in Dublin, when he will explain that the race festival will be an “all-island” affair.”

The economic benefit of the previous stopover in Galway is well known and the Government has committed €4 million towards the new bid. The Irish Times also reports that the Green Dragon will compete – she will be given a new keel, its sails will also be modified, and all this work will be carried out in Ireland, John Killeen of Let’s Do It Galway has confirmed.

Hillary Lister Announces Fastnet Campaign with Help of Bainbridge.

Quadriplegic yachtswoman, Hilary Lister has announced plans to compete in the 2011 Fastnet Race in a Class 40 boat. She will be sponsored in the campaign by Bainbridge International.

In 2009, Hilary, paralysed from the neck down, became the first disabled woman to sail solo around Britain, controlling her boat entirely with her breath using an advanced sip/puff system.

Bainbridge International, along with Jeckells the Sailmakers, will be providing Hilary with the sails she requires for her adapted Class 40 boat to successfully complete the competitive off-shore expedition next year. No stranger to producing sails for high profile campaigns, Bainbridge International has seen their sailcloth used in campaigns such as America’s Cup and the Ellen MacArthur Trust.

Bainbridge International will be working closely with Hilary from now right through to the build up to the start of the race in 2011 and hope that this will be the beginning of a long and successful relationship.

Ericsson Will Not Be Back for the Next Volvo Ocean Race.

The team that won the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson says it will end it’s campaign on a high and not compete in the 2011-2012 edition. A statement on the team’s website says that despite gaining great business-to-business success, it is time for them to seek out new opportunities. As well as fielding two boats in the last race, Ericsson were instrumental in developing mobile technology to allow fans around the world to interact with the race via their phones.

The statement reads:

Ericsson first entered the Volvo Ocean Race in April 2005, but now its journey has drawn to a close. The team’s victory in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 is the perfect closing chapter to the company’s involvement in the globe-girdling race. After having attained overall victory and great business-to-business success, Ericsson has decided not to participate in the 2011-12 edition.

The decision was not easy for Ericsson, since the race has served us extremely well and the feedback from our customers is great. But we achieved everything we hoped for and thus it is now natural to pause and seek out new opportunities.

Ericsson has built its global reputation on the core values of respect, professionalism and perseverance. The results achieved by Ericsson Racing Team both off shore and on shore truly reflect these values. There are many people, partners and colleagues around the world that contributed to our success, too many to mention here. Ericsson Racing Team is champion of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 due to their professionalism and dedication.
To everyone involved we say thank you!

Keep you eyes open for the Nordic Edition of the official Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 book, High Seas, High Stakes, that will be available from November 2009.

Ericsson Racing Team

New Volvo Rules Including Changes For Female Crews.

Volvo Ocean Race organisers continue to paint a vision for the future, with the latest in the ’round table’ meetings presented in Galway. There are three pillars that are being used to steer the future of the race – the first element is a technical cost containment and reduction programme, the second, an increase on the value to teams, sponsors and ports involved in the race, and the third is to keep the race seriously attractive to the best sailors in the world.

The latest presentation focussed on technical rule changes to make the race appeal to a larger audience and to limit costs.

VOR CEO Knut Frostad opened the meeting by saying:

“Just like any sailing project the more time we have to prepare ourselves, the better the chances we have of doing a good job,” he said. “Our number one objective is to increase the number of competitors in the next race. We know that we need a larger fleet in the future for the race to be able to reach its full potential.”

“An important element in achieving more boats on the start line in Alicante in 2011 is a reduction of costs and an increase in value for the teams. In the short term, whilst the race is going on and whilst everyone has it fresh in their minds and is focused we have to work on the cost reduction side of the equation. To that end, changes already announced include a reduction in crew members, from 11 to 10, and nearly a 40% reduction in race sails.”

In an effort to encourage female participation, a new rule will allow ‘female’ teams to carry 12 sailors, including the media crew, two of whom may be men. This represents two extra crew members over an all-male crew.

Technical changes were also announced including:

• The maximum weight for the keel fin and bulb will be set at 7,400 kgs in the future.  The fin will be required to be solid, with no fairings permitted.
• The weight of the yacht is to be increased so that it may fit into the range between 14,000 kilograms and 14,500 kilograms.
• Headfoils will be banned; headsails will either be set on furlers or with hanks.
• The overall weight of each yacht’s batteries will be reduced by 100 kgs.
• Each Volvo Open 70 will also be required to carry a renewable energy source capable of generating 80 Watts of electrical power.
• No two-boat testing will be permitted until after the ‘race’ boat has been launched, or after a yet-to-be-defined date, which may be as late as the race start.

The next ‘round table’ session is scheduled for 22 June in Stockholm.

2011 Annoucement Good for Sponsorship Say Volvo Teams

Volvo Ocean Race organisers have announced that the next edition of the race, the 10th, will start in 2011.

[ad#banner]

The decision has been welcomed by team principals who believe it gives certainty and continuity to the event and makes it easier for sponsors to commit.

“It’s essential to make this type of announcement now,” said Michael Woods, Team Russia’s CEO. “Certainty in any financial business environment is vital. For us to bring potential sponsors into the ports without knowing there is going to be a next race is a risk. Now we know there is another race it is worth the investment that we can bring potential sponsors to visit us later on.”

Jamie Boag, the CEO of Green Dragon, also believes the continuity will make the event more appealing to sponsors.

“One of the biggest problems that we have is the continuity, saying to somebody that ‘you have to put all these millions in and oh, by the way, if you hang around you can maybe do it in three years time’. Being able to go now and say they will be definitely something in three years time, makes life a lot easier.”

Tom Touber, the project manager of Team Delta Lloyd, was the director of shore operations at Team ABN AMRO in the last race hopes today’s news will help Delta Lloyd commit to the next race. He said: “This was a very, very positive announcement. This proves that Volvo is in very good cooperation with the syndicates.

Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking hopes a new set-up will see extra assistance given in the search for sponsors. “We have been struggling always to find sponsors,” he said. “You have to get the right contacts so you need professional people in charge to find a sponsor for a sailing team.

“I’m not the right person to find a sponsor. I hope they can put the right people in place and then they can just hire a team manager or a complete team to race the boats.”

Sponsors might also be impressed with some of the numbers the event has already clocked up. The headline figure is the number of visitors to the race village to date from the opening of day of Friday 19th September which has reached 500,000.

The highest daily total was yesterday for the in-port race when 62,000 people went through the turnstiles.