Feature

Bread Crumbs from Volvo Ocean Race

Published on March 9th, 2017

(March 9, 2017) – It wasn’t long ago when Scuttlebutt World Headquarters would receive correspondence from prominent sailors announcing their intention to compete in events such as the Volvo Ocean Race. However, these efforts often wouldn’t have much standing, with the hope to get the media to bite so as to heighten their exposure.

Fake it ’til you make it.

The pendulum now seems to have swung the other way. With the start of the next Volvo Ocean Race just seven months away, team forming is kept so quiet that you’d worry there’d be a start at all. To avoid this worry, race organizers have pulled back the curtains. Slightly.

The fourth team for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 is now confirmed – but won’t be revealed until later this month. The new campaign would join previously announced Team AkzoNobel, Dongfeng Race Team, and MAPFRE.

With boats 7 and 8 likely to be undergoing the stringent re-fit process at the Boatyard in Lisbon until around May/June 2017, the full fleet is unlikely to be announced before the summer.

While the one-design concept has reduced the need for teams to begin their campaigns as early as in previous editions, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to. Perhaps they are now just making sure sponsor checks are good before they do.

Race details – Race route – Facebook

2017-18 Edition: Entered Teams – Skippers
• Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED)
• Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA)
• MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP)

Background: Racing the one design Volvo Ocean 65, the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race begins in Alicante, Spain on October 22 2017 with the final finish in The Hague, Netherlands on June 30 2018. In total, the 10-leg race will visit 12 cities in six continents: Alicante, Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg, and The Hague. Seven teams are expected to compete with the hopes for one more.