Volvo Races To India
The Volvo Ocean Race has moved forward with plans to bring the 2008-09 event to India with the major south-western port of Kochi the likely stopover on the new race route through the Middle East and AsiaRace organisers signed a Letter of Intent with Kochi on April 26 as a major first step in ongoing negotiations towards a full port agreement to host the world’s premier offshore ocean marathon which starts in Alicante, Spain, in mid-October, 2008.
The Kochi Port Trust will be responsible for organising the stopover.
“India has never hosted such a prestigious sailing event and we are very excited that the Volvo Ocean Race is considering Kochi as a serious candidate for the competition,” said Kochi Port Trust chairman N. Ramachandran.
The booming shipping port on the Malabar Coast is now one of India’s foremost tourist destinations and the stopover will bring thousands of additional visitors to Kochi.
The race, established in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race and lasting over nine months, will journey more than 39,000nm and visit up to 12 countries and ports on its new route.
After sailing from Spain via Africa, the fleet goes to the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and China before a leg of 12,000nm to South America. It then moves on to the USA’s east coast and Europe on the way to a Baltic port finish.
The Volvo Open 70s are the world’s fastest monohull racing yachts.
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
