Volvo Ocean Race organisers have been forced to come up with a new plan to get the competing boats and teams in and out of Abu Dhabi without exposing them to the threat of piracy.

After monitoring the increasing security concerns related to piracy and taking advice from marine safety experts Dryad Maritime Intelligence, a new logistical plan has been developed.

The planned race would have seen competing teams sail through an East African corridor in the Indian Ocean on the second leg from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi and again in the third leg from Abu Dhabi to Sanya in China.

Under the new plan, the boats will race from Cape Town to an undisclosed ‘safe haven’ port, be transported closer to Abu Dhabi by a specialised yacht transport ship and then complete the leg from there. The process will be reversed for the third leg before the race continues on to Sanya, the fourth of 10 host ports in a race that will not finish until July 2012.

Volvo Ocean Race Chief Executive Knut Frostad said:

“This has been an incredibly difficult decision. We have consulted leading naval and commercial intelligence experts and their advice could not have been clearer: ‘Do not risk it.’ The solution we have found means our boats will still be racing into Abu Dhabi and competing in the in-port race there.

“Abu Dhabi is a very important part of our plans, a real highlight being the race’s first-ever stopover in the Middle East, and we will now have a really exciting sprint finish to the emirate over the New Year period as well.”

The route was always going to have an element of risk, but figures supplied by Dryad suggest that the piracy risk is increasing. It says piracy is a well-organised and highly lucrative business and it has expanded into a vast area off the coast of Somalia. In 2010 a record 1,181 seafarers were kidnapped by pirates.

Frostad emphasised that the race would still be a round-the-world challenge.

“We continue to be the only continuous sporting event to visit five continents over nine months of gruelling sailing.”

Abu Dhabi is a race partner as well as host city for the Volvo Ocean Race. The emirate has invested heavily in the infrastructure to host the event, a Volvo 70 and activation of their involvement at events like Cowes Week.

More Volvo Ocean Race News

While some ‘old’ media struggle with the emergence of digital platforms, Radio is not one of them. In fact, as broadband becomes more widespread, and radio stations can broadcast via the internet to larger audiences than ever before, audio is more important than ever as part of the suite of tools that sports rights holders have to communicate with fans and to promote sponsors.

Unlike visual media, which requires eyeballs to be focused on a screen, radio can be consumed while doing other things. Radio also allows the provision of live commentary for spectators at an event, which makes the fan experience completely different to watching it without.

The Volvo Ocean Race, which has always had a holistic view of media has appointed USP Content as the official radio provider to the next edition of the race, which starts on 29 October in Alicante, Spain.

USP will provide live and pre-recorded audio coverage for the entirety of the race directly from Race Headquarters in Alicante, ports of call en route and from on board the boats themselves. Hundreds of radio stations across the continents are being accredited to update millions of listeners on the latest news, conditions and race standings – in multiple languages reflecting the diversity of nationalities taking part in the Race.

Adam Binns, Director of Radio & Television for the Volvo Ocean Race said:

“We are delighted to be working with USP Content – a company with an outstanding track record in the field of sports broadcasting. In 1973-74 we had a weekly phone call to the fleet. Now our Race will be consumed when the listener wants, on all kinds of devices so it is essential we work with someone whose experience in live commentary, traditional radio and digital audio streams is unrivaled.”

USP Content also provides the back-end for BBC Radio 5 Live’s Formula 1 coverage, producing live, pre-recorded programmes and podcasts for the entire race calendar. The company’s portfolio of sports broadcasting includes NFL, Major League Baseball and Premier League football.

Rob Jones, Managing Director of USP Content said:

“Obviously I am delighted to be aboard such a prestigious project. We have devised a very sophisticated and comprehensive broadcast plan which will ensure many millions of people around the world will be able to ride every single wave!”

More Volvo Ocean Race News

If you are going to have an event featuring big cats, you might as well get your sponsors’ iconography to match. The America’s Cup have announced that PUMA will be the Official Sportswear Partner for the next edition which includes the America’s Cup World Series.

It’s a good choice for the Cup, which is trying to reinvent itself to a new audience. PUMA showed during the last Volvo Ocean Race that they can teach the sailing world a lot about sports marketing and activation. If the America’s Cup really wants to appeal to a new demographic, then it is easier to see them walking in and buying a hoodie with the PUMA brand on it over a more technically based sailing clothing brand.

The deal with PUMA gives fans one reason to turn up the early America’s Cup World Series events rather than streaming it. PUMA will bring their expertise in merchandising to the events and operate the e-commerce element as well as ‘pop-up’ fan shops where merchandise will be available to fans exclusively in Cascais. (This is a positive spin on saying, the deal was done so late, we haven’t had time to build the online shop yet)

While PUMA will be kitting out the officials of the America’s Cup, the real stars – the athletes will be wearing other brands. It’s a typical kind of deal, and there will be some who will want to buy non-team related items, but it seems a little strange to want to wear the sailing clothing worn by the guys who do the marketing rather than the guys competing. Neverthless, as the official sportswear partner, PUMA will serve as the exclusive licensee of event-related sportswear for the America’s Cup Event Authority and America’s Cup Race Management teams, including their sailing performance gear.

It’s hard to think of another brand in the sailing clothing space that has the marketing muscle to help the America’s Cup achieve their vision. PUMA has wide appeal, not just in sport, but as a lifestyle brand. Moreover, they understand their consumers, which is something that the America’s Cup has not really demonstrated yet.

One of the guys who will be kitted out in PUMA is Craig Thompson – CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority. He said:

“The new America’s Cup represents a radical shift in the way people will connect with the sport of sailing. We’ve looked at every component of the event from the viewer’s eye so we can create customized experiences for audiences around the globe. We’re committed to providing the ultimate in performance sportswear for our fans, and in PUMA, we’ve found a partner who can deliver on that promise.”

Just as PUMA provided a wake up call to other brands when they took part in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, PUMA has more imagination and willingness to take risks than most other sailing apparel brands. Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer for PUMA said:

“PUMA’s approach to sailing has always been a little bit different. We’re the mavericks in the industry, intent on shaking up the sport with campaigns, products and partnerships that reach new audiences, dial up the ‘fun’ and push the boundaries of performance technology. America’s Cup embraces a similar philosophy and re-emerged as the hottest thing to happen to professional sailing in decades. We’re excited to come aboard as the official sportswear partner for the Cup.”

More America’s Cup News

The Yachtsponsorship.com Facebook league table of yacht racing and sporting sailing brands has been updated and the Volvo Ocean Race continues to dominate the top of the table with 43,332 Fans/likes. However the fastest growing property that we monitor is Oman Sail which grew by 40.9% to 9,127 fans during June.

Social media can be a powerful tool to engage fans and help deliver sponsors increased value, however maintaining a fanbase requires constant updates of content. Maintaining a fanbase during dips in the news cycle is one of the biggest challenges to properties who have long gaps between activity. The Barcelona World Race Game, which is now over, lost 20% of it’s Facebook following in June, but the surprise perhaps is that it wasn’t more. Once fans opt-in, you have to do something pretty awful for them to then ‘unlike’ you.

The Official America’s Cup page continues to grow, but with just 35 days until the start of the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, 9,315 fans is not going to impress many TV execs. The Top 10 brands in terms of monthly growth are…

We’ve started to monitor some of the teams that will take part in the next Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing currently have 458 fans, while Team Sanya have opened their account with 283*.

And just as a little reminder for some perspective. Last week, Puma Ocean Racing announced a deal with all round waterman Laird Hamilton. Laird is by no means a household name, but within the worlds of big wave surfing and stand-up paddle boarding, he has 41, 824 fans on Facebook. Some use the fact that sailing is a niche sport to justify the low numbers, but plenty of other niche sports do a much better job.

See the Top 30 Sailing Brands on Facebook here.

*Yes – we know that there are issues around using Facebook numbers in association with China, but there is a large Chinese diaspora outside of the country who do have access to Facebook!

Many yacht racing promoters count tourism and travel organisations amongst their biggest supporters. Cities bid to host events and in return get to raise awareness about a destination and perhaps also a bump in tourism numbers. As the start of the Volvo Ocean Race approaches, some host ports are doing a better job than others of promoting their destination’s Volvo Ocean Race travel packages.

Leading the race is Abu Dhabi. This is perhaps no surprise, given that the tie-up between the team and the venue is so close. The official Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing website features a prominent ‘Plan your trip’ link, though the ‘last mile’ to booking tickets is still left to the consumer to work out via the Visit Abu Dhabi website. This may change as the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) is working with international tour operators, hotels, airlines and other stakeholders to develop compelling New Year-Volvo Ocean Race packages to the emirate.

Other stopovers have little or no information for visitors looking to travel to a Volvo Ocean Race port. There is a holding page at www.galwayvolvooceanrace.com and a splash page at www.volvooceanracemiami.org and in other host-ports like Sanya and Capetown, third party travel operators rank at the top of Google for searches like “Volvo Ocean Race travel packages.”

The Volvo Ocean Race does allow cities to build marine infrastructure with long-term benefits. Boston’s Fan Pier which hosted a stopover for the last edition will host the Extreme Sailing Series over the 4th of July Weekend and Abu Dhabi’s plans to build a 55,000m² ‘Destination Village’ will be of long term benefit as a sailing center to locals and visitors alike.

The village  is being built on the Abu Dhabi Corniche breakwater, adjacent to the Heritage Village and overlooking Abu Dhabi’s city skyline.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) has appointed Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) to manage development of the site.

TDIC will dredge this section of the Corniche lagoon to allow entry of the 4.5 metre keeled state-of-the-art race yachts and build permanent yacht pontoons. Infrastructure work is due for completion this September. Temporary structure build will run until December when the final phase of installing more than 130 Volvo Ocean Race team gear, hospitality and equipment containers will take place.

His Excellency Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director General, ADTA and Managing Director, TDIC said:

“This will ensure that our hosting leaves a lasting legacy for the emirate and will also boost our long-term ambitions to be recognised as a compelling winter sailing and watersports destination. It will be the place to be at the beginning of 2012 and will be marked by a sensational New Year’s Eve celebration It will also allow visitors to connect with our rich maritime heritage as well as the history of the Volvo Ocean Race and to discover more about sailing as a healthy pastime and sport.”

ADTA is planning an entertainment programme for the two-week stop-over including concerts, a welcoming ceremony for the first arriving yacht, in-port races, pro-am races, city receptions and top-class evening events taking place throughout the city.

The authority is progressing a full-scale stopover sailing programme in conjunction with local stakeholders, which will draw on the near 40 years experience of the Volvo Ocean Race. It will boast entry-level sailing academies for those looking to attempt their first tack and jibe all the way through to traditional dhow racing demonstrations.

It’s not just about tourists though. There is an opportunity to grow the sport in the region. Al Muhairi says:

“This, we hope, will be the start of a renaissance in the uptake of sailing locally. The sea is in our blood and we want to encourage residents, nationals and expatriates alike, to get out onto the water.”

ADTA is working closely with a number of governmental and commercial bodies to successfully stage the Middle East’s first hosting of the Volvo Ocean Race, including Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club, the Official Host Yacht Club and key partner in the roll-out of the stopover and the junior sailing initiatives; and the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club, the Technical Headquarters, which will be home to the team areas, media center, photographer centre and the international television broadcast compound.

More Volvo Ocean Race News

The business of yacht racing currently relies heavily on the backing of destination marketing and tourism authorities. The model is simple. Staging a high-profile yacht racing event like a stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race, provides a platform to promote a city and introduce tourists to a new destination. But for the model to work best, you need to align a host city or country with a participating team.

This model works, whether you are the Clipper Race or the America’s Cup World Series – tying the teams to the venues allows for a better return on investment for the host city.

The Volvo Ocean Race will be used by China to promote the city of Sanya as the ‘Hawaii of the Orient’, and to ensure the message is carried through the entire race, not just the Chinese stopover, a new team has been announced. Mike Sanderson, who has won the Volvo Ocean Race twice, will skipper the new Chinese entry to be called ‘Team Sanya’.

The announcement of Team Sanya brings the total number of entered boats to seven.

Mike Sanderson said at the launch of the new Chinese team in Beijing:

“This is a fantastic opportunity to race under the flag of such a great country and culture. We are building up a strong team and are ready to take on this exciting challenge. Our approach will be one of compelling intent, working fast and smart, representing this great country and team with ambition, dynamism and colourful energy.”

There is a sense that China, like Abu Dhabi, are willing to make large investments to use sailing as a mechanism to leap-frog other destinations in competition for tourism and investment. China will also compete for the next America’s Cup, with their team amongst those announced this week in San Francisco. Cities within China are also competing against each other for events, with Qingdao hosting the Olympics and the Extreme Sailing Series.

Li Quanhai, Vice Chairman of the China Yacht Association said:

“China is a sports power and has abundant marine resources. Our involvement in top sailing events, such as the Olympic Regatta and the Volvo Ocean Race, greatly improves the development of China’s water sports. The appearance of several high-level domestic games – such as the China Cup International Regatta and Hainan International Regatta – has drawn attention to the sport from the public. This will increase the popularity and development of water sports in China.”

Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race said:

“We are very excited about the news of Team Sanya and the return of Mike Sanderson, a veteran and true ambassador of the Volvo Ocean Race. This will be the seventh entry for the next edition and will not only bring a competitive yacht to our first class field but also will allow China to build on its already large sailing following. Team Sanya will allow the Chinese sailing fans to connect with the Volvo Ocean Race again and will be an amazing platform to engage with new audiences and attract potential tourists to Sanya and China itself.”

The Volvo Ocean Race is one event that can leave lasting infrastructure, both in terms of physical facilities, but also in terms of intellectual property and the skills and knowledge to stage and promote a major sporting event. Results from the last Volvo Ocean Race show that cities can use this legacy to bid for other events and deliver long term benefits.

The Deputy Mayor of Sanya, Wu Yanjun, agrees that the city will directly benefit from hosting the Volvo Ocean Race:

“Hosting world class events like the Volvo Ocean Race will directly improve our sailing and yachting related facilities. We can also use this opportunity to enhance our profile as a top tourist destination, showing our ability to host and manage world-class events. Team Sanya will be an ideal ambassador to promote Sanya and Hainan around the world.”

The city of Sanya will host the Volvo Ocean Race from the 4th to the 19th of February.

The chinese team will also benefit from a relationship with the finish of the race in Galway. Discover Ireland, promoting Irish tourism, will be a secondary sponsor of the Chinese team. Other sponsors include Helly Hansen as official clothing and apparel supplier.

More Volvo Ocean Race News…

The Volvo Ocean Race has announced new faces to join their management team for the next race. The appointments are part of changes to the commercial and communications departments of the organisation.

Jon Bramley will join Volvo Ocean Race management as Communications Director and Olivier Brémont will become Commercial Director.

The Volvo Ocean Race continues to appoint sports marketing and communications professionals who are the best at what they do, not necessarily the best at what they do in sailing.

Jon Bramley has worked for Thomson Reuters, where he was the global sports news editor and deputy sports editor. He has also worked at the last five Olympics Games and was Reuters’ desk head during the last four Games. Prior to this, he was the Assistant Sports Editor for the Sunday Mirror.

Bramley said:

“The Volvo Ocean Race is a fantastic sporting event and the challenge is to bring the full experience to a much wider audience. This is professionally my biggest career challenge – and I’ve had quite a few! We have a great communications team in the Alicante Race Headquarters and excellent technical resources. I am very excited about bringing them to their full potential.“

Brémont’s sports track record is also well established. He has held the position of VP Business Development & Strategy at the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) where he was responsible for leading sponsorship sales, business development and strategy.

In previous roles Brémont has developed new markets for sports properties, which fits nicely with some of the ports that will be visited by the Volvo Ocean Race. He has particular experience in China. He also has previous experience working for - UEFA, European football’s governing body, and worked for five years at adidas International in sports marketing.

“The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the premier sporting events in the world,” he said, “and offers so many excellent commercial opportunities across a wide range of areas including technology, lifestyle and the environment as well as, of course, sports. It’s a very exciting challenge for me and I am really looking forward to working with CEO Knut Frostad and the rest of the Race’s team to maximise our potential.”

More Volvo Ocean Race News

We’ve updated our ‘Top 30 Sailing Brands on Facebook‘ chart. This month’s movers include the Extreme Sailing Series and the Audi Med Cup as their 2011 calendar of events get going. The Vendee Globe is a ‘new entry’ and the Volvo Ocean Race maintains its position on the top of the chart.

The fastest growing property in the top 30 during May was the Extreme Sailing Series (11.39%). This may be due in part to spectacular capsizes in Qingdao, China which have been shared virally around the social web.

Having actual events, is an advantage to growing fans in the real-world and on  Facebook. 200 of the 6523 likes that the Extreme Sailing Series has are from Turkey, however only 20 are from China.*

Just outside the top 30, the World Match Racing Tour, who held their first event during May, grew by 9.4%, but only 180 of their likes are in France, which seems low considering the strong representation of French sailors in the tour this year. The Audi Med Cup, who also ran their first event for 2011 during May achieved the highest growth of all the properties we monitor, growing at 40% to 2473 likes.

The required ‘likes’ to make it into the top 30 is now 2839.

Social media is playing an increasingly important role in activating sponsorships and creating long term fans. It’s not just the American and ‘developed’ markets that are growing. Emerging markets are hungry to embrace these new technologies and innovations like location based social media tool FourSquare are being used in places like Turkey more than in France or the UK.

At the Extreme Sailing Series event held in Istanbul recently, more people were ‘checked-in’ to the Extreme Sailing Series than check into my local Starbucks, which is not a scientific test, but an interesting trend to keep an eye on. The Extreme Sailing Series will visit Boston next, where Foursquare users should be plentiful.

You can see the complete ‘Top 30 Facebook Sailing Brands list’ here…

*The numbers of likes from a particular country has been determined using Facebook’s Social advertising platform.

It doesn’t matter what kind of sailing event you are running, or what platforms you are trying to distribute media on or communicate to fans with, capturing the action and getting it off the boat is something that all yacht racing promoters have to deal with.

It’s pretty easy if you are the America’s Cup – you could almost use 3G to get media off boats sailing around San Francisco Bay, but the Volvo Ocean Race has a racecourse that is, as the strapline says. extreme – and that means being on the edge of the communicable world.

There are technologies however that do enable high speed, HD quality communication from almost any point on the earth. The Volvo Ocean Race has once again teamed up with Inmarsat to provide essential voice and data connectivity for the next edition of the ocean racing event. Inmarsat FleetBroadband will be used to deliver broadcast quality high-definition television (HDTV) and rich multimedia content from the competing boats to the world’s media. Inmarsat has increased its involvement in the next edition of the race and is now a Race Partner.

Knut Frostad, CEO Volvo Ocean Race said:

“I am very pleased to announce this continued and enhanced partnership with Inmarsat. FleetBroadband has proved it can deliver a flawless performance in tough conditions and that is absolutely essential for us. We need to be able to get reliable and high quality material off the boats and deliver it to the world with immediacy. You could say that the DNA of the Volvo Ocean Race is really based around moving images. And to be able to transmit these images from the boats is core to our communication and story building around the race. In many ways you could say that the Inmarsat’s FleetBroadBand has revolutionised the sport of offshore sailing.

And by enabling us to be so connected to the boats, we can monitor them 24 hours a day from our Control Room in Alicante. This is crucial for our safety procedures and the onboard safety equipment is a vital tool for the crew in emergency situations.”

Each Volvo Open 70 will be equipped with a SAILOR FleetBroadband 500, providing voice and high-speed data communications. Also onboard is a compact SAILOR FleetBroadband 150 for crew voice calling and IP data, plus two SAILOR Mini-C systems for constant positioning data and global safety communications. For the first time and after extensive evaluation, Inmarsat’s new global satellite phone, the ISATPHONE Pro, will be included in the safety kit of all the race yachts.

Andrew Sukawaty, Chairman and CEO, Inmarsat said:

“FleetBroadband gave a flawless performance during the last Volvo Ocean Race in 2008 – 09 and will continue to take media coverage of the race into a whole new era. Faster transmission speeds deliver better quality broadcasts bringing all the action onboard into people’s homes around the world. It is undeniably the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world and we are delighted with the global endorsement of ISATPHONE Pro, with its inclusion in the yachts’ safety equipment.”

You could just mount cameras to different parts of the boats and have ‘TV execs’ pick the best bits, but the Volvo Ocean Race realises that offshore sailing is as much about the human element than the boat, perhaps more so. The interactions of team members at the extremes, the highs and lows can be captured by someone embedded in the action, not just watching from a studio. Therefore the race will once again include Media Crew Members and an (MCM) Award for the best material.

This award will also be sponsored by Inmarsat. In addition, on each leg, an MCM will win a €1000 cash prize for outstanding excellence in communicating across all media from their boat, as judged by a specialist panel. When the race concludes in Galway, Ireland, in July 2012, a €10,000 prize will be awarded to the MCM judged to have made the best overall contribution to race coverage.

Knut Frostad firmly believes the MCM is as much a key player as the helmsman, tactician and the crew.

“No story, no sponsorship, no race. It’s as simple as that.”

More Volvo Ocean Race Business News

In the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, there were some shaking of heads and grumbles from the establishment when organisers put stops in India and China. The traditional blast around the southern ocean, miles from sunshine or spectators was replaced by a bold attempt to bring offshore racing to new markets. It’s the kind of balancing act that all professionally based sports have to deal with – weighing up commercial interests with the sporting element.

In the next edition of the race, the teams will sail up the east coast of Africa as they did in the last, but when they get to the top they will turn right, into the gulf and stop in Abu Dhabi. No doubt there are some who are shaking their heads and grumbling at the decision, which is a commercial one, but if early media and promotion is anything to go by, the Abu Dhabi stop will be a huge thing for sailing.

With over a year to go, there is little or no noise from the other 7 stops, relative to the information that is coming out of the Emirates. Perhaps yacht racing visiting Cape Town or Auckland is not so new and therefore not so newsworthy, but such complacency plays into the hands of new, hungry venues that are looking to grow the sport. The Volvo Ocean Race is not just about the stopover, it is about a new nation in the race.

This week, UAE national, Adil Khalid was announced as a crew member of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA)-backed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team for the 2011/12 Volvo Ocean Race, making him the first Emirati sailor to compete in the race.

Adil Khalid, who represented the UAE in both the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the Asian Games in November 2010, beat more than 120 Emirati hopefuls to earn his spot in the 11-strong sporting crew, which includes Olympic medal winners, America’s Cup victors, Volvo Ocean Race champions and Guinness World Record holders.

His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman, ADTA and Team Principal of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing said:

“The search for the UAE national to represent us in this challenge has been extensive, in-depth and highly competitive. This exhaustive process was necessary because the race demands and standards are exceptionally high, as are our own aspirations. We have been impressed by many of the applicants whose enthusiasm has been a credit to the nation. The final selection went down to the wire and at the end of the day Adil Khalid was the unanimous choice and we congratulate him on this achievement. All three finalists were worthy contenders but Adil Khalid had the edge in terms of sailing experience as well as his developmental potential.”

Adil will also be tasked with leading the procession of awe-inspiring Volvo Open 70 racing yachts into the emirate to a ‘homecoming’ unlike any other.

Mubarak Al Muhairi says:

“We are finalising site negotiations for a prime waterfront location in Abu Dhabi city that will serve as the host marina and race village for the Abu Dhabi leg of the 2011/2012 Volvo Ocean Race. We expect to break ground on the race village next month and progressively thereafter provide more details on its layout and design, visitor activities and community engagement programmes. The race boats will arrive here from Cape Town on New Year’s Eve giving us a unique opportunity to deliver a spectacular celebratory programme in true Arabian hospitality style for one and all.”

Over the last few years, Abu Dhabi has flexed its credentials as a major sporting hub, with the successful staging of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the European Tour-backed Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and the Red Bull Air Race. Just as the development of new sporting facilities like the Grand Prix track put traditional venues (like the UK’s Silverstone) to shame, so too the investment into the Volvo Ocean Race stopover should give other host cities, not just of the Volvo Ocean Race, but other grand prix sailing events, something to think about.

More Volvo Ocean Race news….

More Middle East Sailing News…