Volvo Ocean Race - Worthy of the Hype?

Eight fast, squirrelly boats, 11 crew on each, and a whole globe on which to pit their skills.  For crewed ocean racing, this is the high end, and despite having started only last Saturday, the mass of the fleet from the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race is already around 1,000+ miles into its 37,000 mile route.  This race was once known simply to sailors as “The Whitbread,” and while the sponsor has changed, the concept has remained the same:  Get your boat and crew around the world, faster than anyone else. 

The Whitbread race started in 1973.  On the heels of the accomplishments of Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who had both sailed solo around the world (Chichester with one stop, and Knox-Johnston with none), the race was designed to push the limits of crewed rather than solo boats.  Push the limits it did, as in the very first race, three sailors were lost, and the challenge received the reputation as a “deadly race.”  Despite this (or perhaps because of it), the race continued to be run.  The millennium saw Volvo breathe new life into the race, to be run every three years, and the Volvo Ocean Class boats have become a benchmark of monohull design.

Today's boats are sleds:  Fat-sterned planers with deep, heavy bulb-keels, knife-sharp bows and seeming acres of canvas aloft.  Fast, some say too fast, as despite numerous modern safety devices and protocols, the '05-'06 edition still saw Hans Horrevoets tragically swept overboard and lost in the Atlantic.  At the same time, some have claimed that the race is being "nerfed" (made so safe it's boring), pointing to the facts that the stopovers are long, no leg is over 30 days at sea, traditional (pole) spinnakers are banned in favor of safer asymetrics and code zeros, unscheduled repair (pit) stops are allowed (with penalties), and the keel-bulb:overall weight ratio of 7.4:14 tonnes [metric tons] is still less aggressive than it could be.

To add to the controversy, some say that today's race is as much fanfare as adventure, forgetting that this was the case with the original Whitbread as well.  While there is more than enough hyperbole being slung regarding the hugely expensive boats and teams (and the sponsors do deserve credit and visibility, lest we lose professional racing), the fact remains that these are boats most of us would give our eye teeth to sail just once, and they're currently rocketing their way from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, South Africa with enviable speed. 

YachtPals News will be covering the Volvo Ocean Race over the coming months (the conclusion is expected in June of '09), and go into detail regarding the teams, the boats, and the course.  We'll also do our best to bring you the action while sparing you the hype.  As always, we will not run press releases or "canned ham" pre-written articles, but cover the events as they happen, from the perspective of sailors and not sponsors.  Because beneath the fluff and pomp, there's one hell of a race being run by 88 hard-core mariners, and with nods to the sponsors who make this happen, it's still the sailors who are the stars of this show.

- YachtPals Crew exclusively for YachtPals.com

"Well I guess we are doing ok as after nearly 1000 miles of racing, and it feels good to take pole. The boat seems to prefer a bit more wind in running conditions, we have tweaked out a small lead over Ericsson 4, but I am still worried about our reaching performance against the boats with max keel weight.  The Canary islands are looming in the future and we will all have to make some tough decisions on whether to risk passing through the islands and getting stuck in the light airs behind, or commit to one of the longer passages round the end of the island chain.  I guess we will see tomorrow what boats go where and who has made the right call." - Ian Moore, Green Dragon Navigator

Volvo Ocean Race Current Leg 1 Standings:

1    Ericsson 4    5737nm Distance to Finish
2    Puma 5740nm DTF
3    Green Dragon 5741nm DTF
4    Ericsson 3 5746nm DTF
5    Telefonica Black 5753nm DTF
6    Delta Lloyd 5800nm DTF
7    Team Russia 5827nm DTF
8    Telefonica Blue 5829nm DTF

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Video: The yacht Green Dragon sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race.