Facts and Figures
The Volvo Ocean Race was originally known as The Whitbread Round the World Race and was conceived over a pint of beer more than 30 years ago. The first race left England in September 1973 and it has run every four years since. The next Volvo Ocean Race will be the 10th edition of the event and for the first time will be held three years after the previous event.
Covers 37,000nm (equivalent of travelling from London to Melbourne four times).
Longest leg – Qingdao to Rio – 12,300nm.
Shortest leg – Stockholm to St Petersburg – 400nm (equivalent to 153,846 XC90’s end to end).
Up to 35 days at sea between stopovers (with only one change of clothes).
Seven in-port races: Alicante, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Stockholm (worth half points towards the overall total).
Seven scoring gates: (Fernando de Noronha off coast of Brazil twice (legs one and seven), Mauritius, Pulau We – Indonesia, Lat 36 South, Cape Horn,St Johns off Newfoundland.
Five oceans: North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Pacific, Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean.
Four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Record speeds
ABN AMRO ONE, the winning boat in the 2005-06 race covered an average distance of 30,000 miles in 2339hours at an average speed of 12.83 knots.
The boat’s elapsed time was 97 days 11 hours 15 minutes and 39 seconds.
The World Sailing Speed Record for distance covered by a monohull within 24 hrs is held by a Volvo Open 70, ABN AMRO TWO, which covered 562.96 nautical miles during leg two between Cape Town and Melbourne in 2005-06 with an average speed of 23.46 knots.
The Ports:
11 Stopovers: Alicante – start (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa), Cochin (India), Singapore, Qingdao (China), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Boston (USA), Galway (Ireland), Goteborg-Marstrand (Sweden), Stockholm (Sweden), St Petersburg – finish (Russia)
10 Countries: Spain, South Africa, India, Singapore, China, Brazil, USA, Ireland, Sweden, Russia.
2.8 million visitors to all stopovers total, during 2005-06 race.
200 forty-foot containers required to transport all of the equipment needed around the globe.
1,000: the number of people travelling with the race at any one time. Moving from port to port, ahead of the boats is an entourage of journalists, news crews, families, guests, sponsors, additional boats, spare parts, logistical and shore crews.
The Boat – Volvo Open 70
Seven boats racing.
Height of the mast: 31.5m or 103.3ft above water (equivalent to 19.5 Volvo XC90’s piled horizontally on top of each other or 6.5 Volvo XC90’s end for end).
Overall boat length: 21.5m or 70.5ft (equivalent to 4.5 Volvo XC90’s parked nose to tail. Placed upright, the boat would be 1m taller than the height of the Sistine Chapel or two double decker buses).
Space: Two metres of space per person (equivalent to living in a phone box made of carbon fibre).
Speed: The Volvo Open 70 can exceed speeds of 30 knots (equivalent of over 55 km/h in a Volvo XC90).
Sails: Largest spinnaker on a Volvo Open 70 is 500 m² (equivalent to two tennis courts in area).
Number of sails per boat for the race: 24.
Cameras: seven on board including five fixed – able to look forwards, backwards and through 360 degrees, one looking below deck, two handheld operated by the onboard media crew member.
The keel and bulb weighs 6,000kg min – 7,400kg max (just over the weight of three Volvo V70s)
The counterweight produced by the canting keel equates to 70 people sitting on the side of the boat.
The Crew
11 crew. Each day, a crew member climbs the mast to check for damage (9 storeys up).
One Media Crew Memeber onboard to capture all of the action and drama.
Various sailing roles onboard, from skipper to navigator, from bowman to medic, from sail maker to engineer.
Food:
Crews live off freeze dried food re-hydrated with desalinated seawater.
Crews have reported losing up to 25 pounds or 11kg on one leg alone.
Some crew members consume over 20 vitamin pills each day in order to maintain a sound level of health.
Sailors will need to take on a massive 5,000 calories a day. Double the daily average for a man.
Water:
None for showering
50 litres/day desalinated for cooking and drinking.
One Prize: Fighting Finish Trophy
Made by Waterford Crystal which represents the close racing that everyone hopes for
Made from a solid block of crystal
100 hours of work in sculpting of the final shape
Weighs 7.5kg.
Total number of points available: 140, by winning every leg, every in port race and reaching every scoring gate first.