Volvo Buses

UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND

Competitors descend on Alicante in preparation for start of the Volvo Ocean Race

Just weeks away from the start of the Volvo Ocean Race in Alicante on October 29, all six yachts have now arrived in the Spanish port in preparation for this most demanding of events.
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After months of preparation and training at their bases around the globe the teams, featuring the world’s best sailors, have converged on Alicante before the 600 nautical mile qualification race starting on October 7.

A section of the port has been turned into a temporary boatshed for the teams as they make final adjustments to their cutting-edge 70ft racing yachts. Qualification race will be followed by the first series of In-Port races before the yachts and their crews set off on the race proper.

Billed as the ‘Everest of Sailing’, the teams will sail some of the world’s most treacherous seas covering over 39,000 nautical miles via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, and Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon and Lorient, finishing in Galway.

Made up of Olympic stars, world champions and round the world veterans, the six crews boast between them eight Olympic medals – four gold and four silver – and 106 circumnavigations in the Volvo Ocean Race/Whitbread Round the World Race alone.

Throughout the duration of the race Volvo Bus will be holding a number of promotional events, associated with the Volvo Ocean Race, culminating in a special Volvo Ironmark Day when the race concludes in Galway in July 2012.

Details of the events will be announced during the year and will be published on the Volvo Bus website – and on Twitter @VolvoBusUK . Updates on the progress of the race as it visits eight stopover ports on five continents and races through four oceans in under nine months will be posted on the Volvo Bus website. Live race information will be available from the Volvo Ocean Race HQ via a dedicated website: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/.

ENDS


07 October 2011

Caption for image: Volvo Ocean Race Yacht CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, skippered by Chris Nicholson, arrives in the start city of Alicante.

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