The latest development follows the recent confirmation of Qingdao as an Asian stopover. Hong Kong has moved a step closer to becoming a port of call for 2008-09 following a round of meetings this week between Volvo Ocean Race organisers and government representatives. Race’s commercial director George Blake said negotiations were at an advanced stage. “We have the Hong Kong government’s endorsement, now it depends on the response we get from the corporate community.” he said. Blake added that West Kowloon was among a number of options being assessed as possible venues and an in-port race could be staged in Victoria Harbour. Karl Kwok, president of the Hong Kong Sailing Federation, said that understanding what was required to host a Volvo Ocean Race stopover was “a bit of a learning curve. It's taking some effort but if Hong Kong wants to call itself Asia's world city it needs to get major events like this to town," he said. Meanwhile, Volvo veteran Matt Humphries has been part of the discussions with authorities in Hong Kong with the intention of putting together a Hong Kong-backed entry.
The Dutch syndicate, headed by Peter de Ridder, had been in negotiations with a number of potential backers but with the start of the next event in Alicante next autumn, it was decided time had run out to put a competitive entry together. The funding shortfall at this point has a direct impact on the timings in terms of logistics and the construction of a new boat. The tough decision to abandon the project, which had been launched 10 months’ ago, was made jointly by de Ridder, skipper Ray Davies, and operations manager Dirk de Ridder. Commenting on the decision, Glenn Bourke, CEO of the race, said: “It is disappointing that Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine team will not be joining us for the 2008-09 race but I understand that they had set themselves a deadline on funding and that deadline has now passed. Mean Machine had purchased the former Pirates of the Caribbean Volvo Open 70 as a training boat and had been making great strides in their on-the-water preparations. In May they shattered the North Sea Regatta race record with a stunning run on the final leg from the English port of Harwich to Scheveningen in the Netherlands. Peter de Ridder and his crew, which included 2005-6 Volvo veterans Dirk de Ridder and Jules Salter (both ex-Pirates), South Africa’s Jonathan Swain (ex-movistar) and Dutchman Simeon Tienpont (ex-ABN AMRO TWO), took 11 hours and 5 minutes to cover the 185 nautical miles, eclipsing the previous mark by eight hours.
Custom Search