Alicante to Cape Town

The racetrack for the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race, due to start from Alicante in Spain in the autumn of 2011, is now set and the first port of call will be Cape Town, South Africa, making its eighth appearance as host to this premier ocean race. This marks the beginning of the port announcement process for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 and the rest of the course around the world will be revealed before the end of March.

The Volvo Ocean Race is the only professional sailing event that visits ports around the world and it is a delicate balance to select a track that is not only challenging to sail, but presents an attractive business case for potential sponsors and partners for both the race and the competing teams.

Leg one at 6,500 nautical miles, which in 2008-09 took the eventual race winner Ericsson 4 21 days, 17 hours and 54 seconds to complete, is one of the longest in the race and historically, the team that wins this leg has gone on to claim the winner’s trophy.

For Cape Town, hosting the 11th Volvo Ocean Race/Whitbread will be the biggest event following its hosting of the FIFA World Cup. Over two million tickets have been snapped up for the World Cup, which takes place throughout South Africa in June this year.

The V&A Waterfront will be a perfect place for shore crews to prepare the boats for the next test in the race, and for guests to enjoy the ambience and unique atmosphere this ocean classic generates. However, the stopover will allow little time for rest. There will be a full schedule of sailing ahead of the start of leg two, including the important in-port racing, which counts points towards the overall winner’s trophy, as well as pro-am racing.

The European ports of call for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2012, including the finish port will be the next to be announced and the entire route is set to be revealed before the end of March.

BMW Wins 33rd AC

Alinghi put forth a tremendous effort today in its attempt to defend the 33rd America's Cup. The Swiss team from the Société Nautique de Genève led for most of the first leg of the triangular course, but couldn't hold off the Challenger BMW Oracle Racing. Alinghi lost the race by 5m26s and the America's Cup Match, 2-0.

Team president and principal helmsman Ernesto Bertarelli congratulated his competitor after the race: “Congratulations to the BMW Oracle team. The boat was faster, there's no question about that.”

Today's race was postponed for more than six hours from the scheduled start time of 10:06 as, similar to Friday, the race committee waited for the wind to settle. Around 16:10 the race committee set a windward mark bearing 100 degrees, just south of due east, and the two crews started at 16:25. Bertarelli guided Alinghi 5 onto the race course on port tack about mid-line, despite receiving a penalty. The crew wanted the right side of the course, hoping for the favourable wind shift. Almost 14 minutes into the race Alinghi 5 tacked to starboard and into a right-hand wind shift that lifted the 90ft load waterline catamaran into the lead. For the next 35 minutes or so both boats held starboard tack with Alinghi, now steered by Loïck Peyron, to windward of the challenger and holding the lead in the wind shift.

Alinghi crossed the challenger near the windward mark, but lost the lead when it tacked to port to approach the mark. The challenger led by 28 seconds at the first mark and then, propelled by its wing, increased that lead by more than 2 minutes at the second mark.

Alinghi was created in 2000 by Ernesto Bertarelli and won the 31st America's Cup at its first try in 2003, defeating Team New Zealand 5-0 to become the first European team to win the Cup. The Swiss team successfully defended the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007 defeating Team New Zealand again 5-2.

Groupama 3

After 24 hours on the water, Groupama 3 is conceding a deficit of nearly a hundred miles in relation to the reference time. However, this minor discrepancy at the start of this round the world is nothing to worry about, since it was all part of the plan for Franck Cammas and his crew as they set sail from Ushant on Sunday afternoon.

On paper, this might appear worrying, but on water the situation is becoming favourable again for the giant trimaran this Monday afternoon: the calm conditions settling over the Bay of Biscay are now a distant memory for Groupama 3. This was the first challenge during this impromptu start, which only really took shape 24 hours before they set off. Indeed the chance to be part of the 'meteorological window' was worth taking And for the time being the forecasts are holding true on the water. The ride across the Bay of Biscay was fairly quick until the early hours, where Franck Cammas and his nine men had to put in a gybe to anticipate the NE'ly wind shift.

Groupama 3 had to link together three gybes to clear Cape Finisterre and free herself from the coast (and the shipping) in order to benefit from an E'ly wind, which was increasing in strength the further south the giant trimaran got. From midday, Franck Cammas and his nine crew were racking up steadier speeds again for the long drop down towards the equator. As such the haemorrhage of miles conceded in relation to the reference time has been stemmed and this afternoon the boat was making the same speeds (over 22 knots) as its predecessor, Orange 2. Groupama 3's position has become favourable as she will now be able to make the descent towards the Cape Verde archipelago on virtually one tack.