Volvo Ocean Race Route

The final piece of the puzzle was revealed today when Auckland was announced as a stopover port for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race. It will be the eighth time the City of Sails has featured in the event.

Auckland last hosted the event in 2001-02. This time it will stage the leg four finish from Sanya in China and the start of leg five, which will take the fleet into the Southern Ocean once again, round Cape Horn and onto Itajaí, Brazil.

With the confirmation of Auckland, the route for 2011-12 is now set and includes: start port of Alicante (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajaí (Brazil), Miami (US), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France) and the finish port of Galway (Ireland).

"Our host port programme around the world is now complete and I can confirm that Auckland has won its bid to become our stopover port in New Zealand," said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad.

"This announcement completes the route and our goal of contracting all the ports before the end of March 2010, significantly earlier than in previous race cycles. The preliminary course will be published during April.

"The people of Auckland have an immense appreciation of sailing, and the Volvo Ocean Race in particular. Many of the world's best-known sailors are from New Zealand, and we are proud to bring the race back to the City of Sails, where we will be sure of a huge reception."

Auckland's selection as the port of choice and return to the race route was welcomed by Mayor John Banks. "This event is a great fit with Auckland's maritime location and of significant economic benefit for our city," he said.

"Auckland has a proud history associated with this event and we look forward to welcoming the fleet and many spectators to our city once again."

New Zealand has fielded many of the world's greatest sailors, including Sir Peter Blake who competed five times in The Whitbread Round the World Race, which became the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001. Blake's victory in 1989-90 on Steinlager 2 included a clean sweep of all six legs.

Velux 5 Oceans

One of the UK's most exciting young sailors has confirmed his entry into the oldest solo round the world yacht race - the 2010 Velux 5 Oceans. Nineteen-year-old Oscar Mead will line up against some of the world's top sailors for the 30,000-mile Velux 5 Oceans race which starts in France in October.

Oscar hit the headlines last year after becoming, at the tender age of 18, the youngest person ever to compete in the Original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR).

Oscar will be the youngest ever skipper to enter the gruelling nine-month round the world race.

Oscar will put his yacht and powercraft design degree at Southampton Solent University on hold for a year while he takes part in the race.

The Velux 5 Oceans starts from La Rochelle in France on October 17 and features five ocean sprints. After heading from La Rochelle to Cape Town, the race will then take in Wellington in New Zealand, Salvador in Brazil and Charleston in the US before returning back across the Atlantic to France.

Groupama Circumnavigation

Groupama 3 set off from off the Creac'h lighthouse (Ushant Finistere) in a good NW'ly breeze and big seas. Franck Cammas and his nine crew will have to be back from their circumnavigation of the globe spanning over 24,000 miles, prior to the morning of 26th December.

A granulated sky, gusts, intermittent showers, setting sun, big Atlantic swell, squalls, breaking waves: here we have the setting for this latest departure to gain a new reference time in the Jules Verne Trophy, the round the world record held by Bruno Peyron and his crew since 2005 (50d 16h 20m). Groupama 3 left the pontoon of the port of Le Chteau in Brest, NW France this Thursday 5th November at 1300 hours before a warm crowd of locals and the crew's families, which came out as far as the Petit Minou lighthouse to bid them farewell. Under two-reefed mainsail and a small jib, Groupama 3 then released her tow at 1400 hours and headed out to sea in a building swell... As such the giant trimaran had to put in a few tacks to get to the North of Ushant before setting the clock running at 15h 50' 22'' UT.

The NW'ly wind associated with the low, which passed over Brittany on Wednesday, was still very active: the stormy sky with its cumulonimbus was generating a twenty to twenty-five knot breeze, gusting to over thirty-five knots... Above all though, the seas were hard at the exit from the English Channel with waves of nearly seven metres offshore! As such conditions weren't ideal for the start, but the next stage in the programme is highly favourable, once the crew reaches the Portuguese coast. As a result, for half a day, Franck Cammas and his nine crew are likely to be tackling beam winds and may even have to sail close-hauled for a few hours.

The Future of VOR

With 62,000 people in the race village and nearly 60,000 more taking in the racing from the sea wall between Salthill and Barna, along the Northern shores of Galway Bay, Saturday’s in-port Race in Galway was a great success. On Sunday morning the Volvo Ocean Race looked again to the future and particularly the next race, which is due to start in 2011.

The occasion was the third in a series of ‘round table’ meetings where future plans for the race were presented and explained. The Galway sessions follows similar presentations held in Rio de Janeiro and in Boston. In Ireland, special guests invited to attend included, amongst others, French multihull ace Franck Cammas, solo sailors Rolan Jourdain and Jean-Luc Nelias and noted French America’s Cup sailor Luc Gelluseau.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad opened his presentation by explaining again why and how the race must embrace changes so as to become more successful in the future. The number one objective is to increase the number of competitors in the next race. A larger fleet is needed 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. To that end, changes already announced include a reduction in crew members, from 11 to 10, and nearly a 40% reduction in race sails.

According to Frostad there are three pillars to work on to get more teams on the water in the future. 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.

Frostad and his team which includes renowned racing class technical expert Ken McAlpine and rules expert Bill Edgerton, explained further elements of change. They included the crew make-up for the next race. In an effort to encourage female participation, the 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. In terms of the Volvo Open 70 Class Rule, the maximum weight for the keel fin and bulb will be set at 7,400 kgs in the future. There will also be a minimum keel fin weight to be defined at a later date. 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, compared with a range of 13,860 to 14,000 in the current edition of the race. The combination of these two adjustments is an attempt to create a common righting moment for the whole fleet which will yield closer racing between the existing and future fleets of Volvo Open 70s and stop the expensive research and long slow builds that result in maximized bulb weights. Teams with less time and funding have been compromised with the stability of their boats and hence competitiveness.
Headfoils will be banned, headsails will either be set on furlers or with hanks. Stacking of the boats, the movement of sails and loose stores, spares and equipment inside the boat, will be limited to the centre section of the hull.

On the energy side, the overall weight of each yacht’s batteries will be reduced by 100kgs. This reduction will allow design and build teams to put the same 100 kgs into the primary and secondary structure of the hull without increasing the weight of the boat. Currently, very few of the fleet carry any solar panels so each Volvo Open 70 will also be required to carry a renewable energy source capable of generating 80 Watts of electrical power.

Further discussion centred around two-boat testing. The organisers are seeking to ensure that a team needn’t build two boats to be competitive in the next edition of the race. With that in mind, 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. There will be more information on this at a later date.

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

Boissieres Finished

At 14h35'50" GMT Sunday 22nd February Arnaud Boissieres, the skipper of Akena Verandas, crossed the finish line of the 2008-2009 Vendee Globe in seventh place after 105 days 02 hours 33 minutes and 50 seconds of racing averaging 11.04 knots on the water covering 27,841 miles. He sailed the 24,840 theoretical miles at an average speed of 9.85 knots.

Marc Guillemot Took 3rd Place

Marc Guillemot (Safran) crossed the Les Sables d'Olonne finish line at 01h21min36sec GMT on Sunday to clinch a hard won third place in this epic sixth edition of the Vendee Globe solo non stop around the world race.

Guillemot managed to wrest third from Sam Davies, GBR, (Roxy) by a net 1 hour and 19 minutes and 25 seconds. Guillemot received a time compensation of 82 hours for diverting from his course to assist in the evacuation of injured Yann Elies 800 miles south of Australia in the Southern Ocean.

Samantha Davies, GBR, (Roxy) crossed the finishing line at 00hrs 41mins 01 secs as the third competitor to complete this epic sixth edition of the Vendée Globe solo non stop around the world race and return to Les Sables d'Olonne. Ironically Davies had to wait two days and two hours (50 hours) to see whether she hang on to third place in this sixth Vendée Globe as the final result depended on Marc Guillemot's finishing time.

British yachtswoman Dee Caffari, 36, onboard Aviva celebrates as she sets a new world record as the first woman to have successfully completed a solo, non-stop circumnavigation both ways around the world. She managed to complete the voyage even after sail delamination caused two huge holes in her main sail. The jubilant solo skipper and former PE teacher crossed the Vendee Globe finish line after 98 days at sea. She has been sponsored by the world's fifth largest insurance group Aviva since her first world record voyage in 2005/06. She started her current race, the Vendee Globe on 9 November 2008 from Les Sables d'Olonne, France.

Vendee Globe

Marc Guillemot announced this morning that there was some serious damage to Safran, concerning her keel after he noticed that it was loose in its box and had slid down a few centimetres.

Late this morning, Marc Guillemot called his shore team to inform that he had lost the keel.

Marc Guillemot has filled the ballast tanks on his monohull to lower at the most the centre of gravity and is sailing under small jib with three reefs in the mainsail.

The boat is now configured to sail without a keel and is continuing to Les Sables d’Olonne at reduced speed. By the end of the week, the weather should improve with essentially downwind sailing.

Brit Air Finished 2nd

Continuing rough conditions across the Bay of Biscay have made this a long and stressful final week at sea for Armel Le Cleac'h on Brit Air. With winds averaging 35 knots (gusting to 45 in squalls) and 5 to 6 metre high waves on the beam, Armel le Cleac'h has chosen to sail cautiously towards the French coast, and the finish. Battling it out for third place on the water, Sam Davies, GBR (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot are also looking forward to finishing. For the moment, the advantage seems to be tipping back in favour of the French skipper, who has managed to get around the Azores high via the west. Sailing downwind in a 25-knot southwesterly wind, the VPLP-Verdier designed Safran was sailing at 15 knots boat speed, while Roxy was still tacking upwind close to the high-pressure area in fading winds.

After the cool, calm delivery of Michel Desjoyeaux just over five and a half days ago to win his second Vendée Globe, Les Sables d’Olonne welcomed the rookie with a bite, Armel Le Cléac’h, who brought Brit Air across the finish line at 08:41 hrs GMT Saturday February 7 morning under perfect blue winter skies and a watery sunshine, to finish in a well deserved and highly creditable second place. A skipper just 31 years old, whose patience and prudence masks an innate predatory instinct and timing, which has seen him regularly succeed as runner up after other favourites have fallen, but he still admitted today that his mother worried if he had been eating enough.

Jourdain Quits

After 84 days of racing, in second place since December 16th , Roland Jourdain took the hard decision this morning to bring his Vendee Globe to an end and stop at the Azores. After losing part of his keel last Thursday, the skipper of Veolia Environnement has done all he can to ensure the stability of his boat and his own safety in some very difficult sea conditions.

Michel Desjoyeaux Wins

Sailing a course distance of 28303 miles, averaging 14.02 knots, French solo skipper Michel Desjoyeaux has shattered the Vendee Globe solo round the world race record today on his way to becoming the first solo skipper ever to win the solo non stop around the world race twice.

After winning the race in 2000-01 on PRB, eclipsing the young emerging British skipper Ellen MacArthur by 1 day 28 minutes, Desjoyeaux joined the 30 strong field for this race, the biggest entry ever round the world race in sailing history, as one of the clear favourites.

Desjoyeaux crossed the finish on Sunday 1st February at 15:11.08 GMT , after 84 days 03 hours 09 minutes of racing. Foncia completed the race in twenty knots of breeze under sunny skies, greeted by a massive armada of spectator boats before being warmly welcomed by huge crowds who gathered along the waterfront and harbour area of Les Sables d'Olonne, where the race departed at 1202 GMT November 9th 2008.

The gruelling race has taken a high toll of the 30 skippers who started the non stop solo round the world race. As Desjoyeaux finished this afternoon, nine are climbing northwards in the Atlantic ocean while some 7,700 miles behind two are expected to pass Cape Horn and leave the Pacific tomorrow. Eighteen skippers have been forced to abandon. In early December Yann Elis had to be evacuated off his Generali when he sustained a broken femur while working on the bow of his boat, and Jean Le Cam was rescued when he capsized off Cape Horn by Vincent Riou, the 2004-5 winner of the race.

Storm Ahead Vendee Fleet

Whilst to the east of Rio de Janeiro the leading duo are still making relatively slow progress as they struggle to escape into more solid breeze, what Meteo France have described as the worst storm of this Vendee Globe awaits the trio of Brian Thompson, Dee Caffari and Arnaud Boissieres as they pass Cape Horn.

Marc Guillemot (Safran) stopped at the Falklands Islands at 1000hrs this morning to work on his mast track. British Yachtswoman Dee Caffari, onboard Aviva, has endured further damage to her mainsail following a battering by a 65 knot storm in the southern ocean. The solo skipper had already repaired a number of tears to her mainsail, but knew as she approached the notorious Cape Horn in a vicious storm it may lead to more damage.

A temporary decrease in wind strength will help Dee Caffari round the Cape in the next 36 hours and prepare for the next storm looming on the weather forecast. She will continue to conserve the mainsail as much as possible before attempting the repairs around the Falkland Islands.

Half the Fleet Still Fights

At 1920 GMT, only a matter of an hour and 20 minutes since passing Cape Horn, Vincent Riou called his team to report that PRB has been dismasted. When the call was made PRB was in a position about 7.8 miles to the North West of Cape Horn. Both skippers Riou and Le Cam are safe and well. He called back to his team about an hour later, saying that he did not want to issue a Mayday signal, but was trying to locate a suitable vessel to tow them, perhaps through the contacts of Isabelle Autissier. They believe that the temporary lashing which they had made to the chainplate gave way. They had around 25 knots of NW'ly wind when the rig came down but have a limited chance of setting a jury rig while they are in the islands. Riou and Le Cam acted quickly to cut away the rigging and free the broken mast. Since they cut the mast free PRB is reported to be drifting at 1.5 knots to a course of about 25 degrees, effectively away from the islands.

A PAN PAN call was made, a simple request to any available assistance, as opposed to the obligations of a Mayday. Vendee Globe Race Direction have been in contact with the Chilean authorities. The 32.7 m general purpose vessel Alacalufe of the Chilean Navy has been dispatched from Port Williams, 55 miles away.

Meantime at the front of the fleet, Michel Desjoyeaux is significantly quicker than his nearest rival, second placed Roland Jourdain.

1. Michel Desjoyeaux, Foncia, 6312.5 miles to finish
2. Roland Jourdain, Veolia Environnement, + 108.9 miles to leader
3. Armel Le Cleac'h, Brit Air, + 659.7 miles
4. Vincent Riou, PRB, + 742.5 miles
5. Sam Davies, GBR, ROXY, + 1860.4 miles

Vendee Globe

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is holding on to his lead, steady at around 65 miles over second-placed Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environment), but extending slightly away from the rest of those hanging on to his coat tails as the leading four pick up some more northerly pressure. As he lead across into the ocean which he remarked recently that he has always found more conducive to higher speeds, he has nearly doubled his lead since yesterday afternoon and now has just over 80 miles ahead of Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement), while Seb Josse (BT) in third has lost a little against the pace of Mich Desjoyeaux. Jean Le Cam in fourth (VM Matériaux) is valiantly keeping up.

Yann Elies' spirits and mood have lifted knowing help is with him and on its way His medical condition is stable. Marc Guillemot has attempted several times to throw water, food and medication down the companionway hatch to his stricken fellow skipper, but it has so far proven too difficult for Yann to grab them. Yann Elies, the skipper of Generali who broke his left femur on December 18, was successfully transferred to the Australian Navy's HMAS Arunta, an Anzac Class Frigate.

Vendee Globe Fleet in Problems

Cheminées Poujoulat entered Morbihan Bay in 40-45 knot winds on Sunday evening. In spite of the help that was given to him, Bernard Stamm was unable to moor up where a buoy had been set up for him while using his engine, the assistance of a RIB and the help of Dominique Wavre on board. Very quickly a series of events led to the 60-foot Imoca boat being driven ashore. The skipper was taken off safe and sound.

Vendée Globe leader Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) reported early this afternoon that he had suffered a high speed collision with a floating object and badly damaged the mechanism at the head of his rudder.

The Nicois skipper has been forced to slow, deep reefing his mainsail to keep Paprec-Virbac flatter to maintain steerage with his port rudder as he climbs to pass the West Australian ice-security gate.

He insisted this evening’s during a live radio broadcast that he will fight on and try to affect a repair which he said will not be at easy.

Vendee Globe Update

Passing Heard Island it is Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac II) who remains clear leader of the Vendée Globe, chosing a more southerly course through the channel between the Kerguelen islands archipelago and Heard Island. Gaining 8.5 miles on those in pursuit of him, Dick has been marginally quicker overnight than Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) who is still locked in battle royal with Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) and Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3). After a high speed, difficult overnight passage in confused, big seas and gusty winds of 35 knots there is still just 3.6 miles of difference between Desjoyeaux, third placed Jourdain, Mike Golding in fourth. In turn a gap from fourth to fifth placed Seb Josse (BT) of 36.8 miles is opened.

Peyron Out

Shortly after 1400 hours on Wednesday, Loick Peyron informed his shore crew about Gitana Eighty's dismasting. Barely three hours later, battling with what remained of the spar to manufacture a jury rig, the skipper of the monohull equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, went over this fateful incident during a special radio session. It is worth pointing out that Loick Peyron climbed to the top of the mast no later than yesterday and was able to perform a thorough and satisfactory check of the rig at that time.

Vendee Globe

Gitana Eighty has lost 11.4 miles to Seb Josse (BT), 17 miles behind he was still making two knots faster as the 1000hrs GMT poll arrived and speeds of those chasing and to his east have so far remained stable. To the west Mike Golding has just experienced a spell of lighter winds and hard work to keep the speeds up. Some skippers admit that they prefer to be a bit further back, although not too far, of course, in order to observe before making their move. The weather situation in the southern Atlantic,is complicated and confused. At the end of November, the zone of high pressure has settled in for the duration and is likely to force the leaders to adopt a route taking them away from the shortest course.

Positions on Tuesday 25th November
1. Gitana Eighty (Loick Peyron) 20,263 DTF
2. BT (Sebastien Josse) 13 miles from the leader
3. Brit Air (Armel Le Cleac'h) 43.7 miles
4. Paprec Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) 45.7 miles
5. PRB (Vincent Riou) 52.1 miles

Eight Retired from Vendee

It may have been a tough, physical first night for the 30 skippers who started the Vendée Globe in Les Sables d’Olonne yesterday but a malicious cold front is forecast to hit them during this afternoon and into tonight which will give them a severe test as they try to escape November's grim clutches in the Bay of Biscay.

While Marc Guillemot on Safran has held his lead, his decision to tack to the south while the fleet seeks to maximise their westing gives him the edge, but the leading boats show very little speed difference. Mike Golding’s decision to follow Guillemot with two tacks last night seems to have paid off, the British skipper on Ecover has made up ten places from last night’s rankings and is now lying 13th and sitting between Guillemot and the main pack.

The tally of skippers forced to head back to Les Sables d'Olonne since the start has risen to eight following the news that Kito de Pavant's Groupe Bel as well as Yannick Bestaven on Aquarelle.com have both been dismasted. Derek Hatfield on Algimouss Spirit of Canada is returning with electrical problems. Hugo Boss returning after suffering structural damage. Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss has structural damage to the hull of his Open 60 and is returning towards Les Sables d'Olonne. While around 200 nautical miles from Les Sables d'Olonne, Michel Desjoyeaux - the skipper of FONCIA - informed his team that he had decided to turn back to port. A small leak in one of the ballast tanks caused an electrical problem making it impossible to start the engine to recharge his batteries.

Vendee Globe Started

The sixth edition of the Vendée Globe got underway at 13h02 today (Sunday), on a gloomy day of variable south-westerly breezes with confused choppy seas inshore and a heavier swell out at sea. But the overcast conditions couldn’t dampen the atmosphere, with hundreds of thousands of spectators lining the sea walls and clambering onto precarious vantage points to give the 30 skippers the famous Les Sables d’Olonne send-off. After emotional farewells on the pontoons, the sailors were treated to a crescendo of applause, cheering, horn-blaring and flag-waving from the crowds as they made their way out to sea.

It’s been a tough first night in the sixth Vendée Globe, with the fleet facing headwinds of 20-30 knots and 4-6 metre seas, and two boats already returning to port — Dominque Wavre on Temenos returned soon after the start with electrical problems, but was able to fix them and rejoin the race shortly after 11pm, whilst Bernard Stamm has also been forced to turn back after a collision with a fishing boat damaged his bowsprit.

This morning’s position update shows Marc Guillemot (Safran) still the leader. Most of the fleet are heading directly west as fast as possible, except three — leader Guillemot, and British contenders Mike Golding (Ecover) and Sam Davies (Roxy), who have each put in two tacks to stay on a more direct south-westerly course.

Vendee Globe All Ready

Everything is ready for the Vendee Globe that starts this Sunday. Mike Golding is the only skipper of the magnificent seven to have finished twice, third in 2005.Alex Thomson started in 2004 and had to retire. Of the seven boats, no fewer than five of the 18 new builds are new for this Vendée Globe cycle: ECOVER 3, AVIVA, Artemis, Bahrain Team Pindar, and Hugo Boss, not including the British owned BT.