Reality hits the Volvo Ocean Race fleet
What a difference a day makes. Just yesterday, this race was all about searching for the big breeze – today, it’s all about surviving in it. If the boats had been tempted to say a little prayer to the weather…
Offshore
News, race results plus editorial coverage from the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Vendée Globe, The Ocean Race, ARC, Fastnet, Transpac, Ocean Globe Race, Global Solo Challenge and Offshore Yachting from around the world.
Navigator takes a punt and women lead the men into the Atlantic
ALICANTE, Spain, Oct 13 – Libby Greenhalgh took her courage in her hands and split with the rest of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet approaching the Straits of Gibraltar – and it briefly left the women of Team SCA in…
Chris Nicholson's Team Vestas Wind leads Volvo fleet as they approach Gibralter
Team Vestas Wind emerged as narrow leaders when daylight broke on the Mediterranean after the first night of Leg 1 but the fleet was closeley bunched after a night of rain and wind shifts as a weather front passed over…
Wild Thing saga gets nasty as owner pays out on “Wharo” in court
Daily Telegraph. By Brenden Hills: IT WAS the high-profile sailing partnership that promised a return to the glory days of its maiden win in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. But the team behind the drama-plagued 100-footer Wild Thing has…
Alvimedica goes overboard fro children's cardiac health
When Dr Cem Bozkurt jumped overboard off the back of Team Alvimedica´s Volvo Ocean 65, it wasn’t just for the thrill of it. It was to jump start a new initiative to raise funds for charities devoted to children’s cardiac…
Brunel wins Volvo Ocean Race start, Abu Dhabi leads fleet
ALICANTE, Spain, October 11 – The seven-strong fleet of the 12th Volvo Ocean Race raced out of Alicante on Saturday for the punishing first leg to Cape Town with rains and strong winds forecast to greet them in the opening…
Volvo skippers in relaxed mood with 24 hours to go
ALICANTE, Spain, Oct 10 – For six guys and one women about to take on the world’s toughest offshore challenge in just over 24 hours, the skippers of the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race were in amazingly relaxed…
Just 48 hours to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/15
ALICANTE, Spain, Oct 9 – While tens of thousands of race village visitors to the Volvo Ocean Race enjoyed the unseasonably hot weather without a care in the world on Thursday, 66 sailors were left to contemplate nearly 39,000 miles…
Team Vestas Wind explains “A Race We Must Win”
It’s been the question every follower of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 has been asking when they see the Team Vestas Wind slogan on their boat’s mainsail: What is ‘A Race We Must Win”? Today Vestas, the world’s biggest wind…
Wilparina 80th entry for Rolex Sydney Hobart
A traditional yacht and one of the smallest in the fleet, it is fitting that Nick Cannar’s S&S 34 Wilparina is the 80th entry to be received in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the 70th edition of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s famous…
Victory for young guns as Alvimedica wins first VOR in-port race
ALICANTE, Spain, Oct 4 – Charlie Enright’s smile said it all as he led his young Team Alvimedica crew to victory in the opening skirmish of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 on Saturday. There’s a long, long way to go…
VOR CEO explains how auto technology changed the ocean race
ALICANTE, Spain, October 4 – Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad today revealed how he and his team used know-how from the event’s parent companies to pull off the game-changing introduction of a new strictly one-design boat for the event….
Shogun V makes it two on the trot with Newcastle Bass Island win
Rob Hanna has sailed Shogun V to successive wins in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Blue Water Pointscore Series (BWPS), this morning being declared winner of the Newcastle Bass Island Yacht Race, the third race of the series. In…
Eating well – the days of the $100 Mars Bars are gone from VOR
ALICANTE, Spain, October 3 – The days of hungry Volvo Ocean Race sailors trading chocolate snack bars at $100 a time are over thanks to the new one-design Volvo Ocean 65 boat. While some focused on their watch tactics or…
Volvo Ocean Race starts with first in-port hit-out on Saturday
ALICANTE, Spain, October 2 – It’s been two long years of waiting but the Volvo Ocean Race returns to action in the opening Alicante in-port race on Saturday with anticipation rising thanks to a new one-design boat which promises the…
Stay up to date with the Volvo Ocean Race
Volvo Ocean Race fans can now carry the world’s toughest ocean race in their pocket, thanks to the launch of a new official mobile app. Developed for both iOS and Android systems, the app is available for download from the…
Spanish VOR boat named – MAPFRE will be the main sponsor
Alicante, 26th September 2014: The Volvo Ocean 65 “MAPFRE” will be the one who will defend the colours of Spain in the new edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The sponsorship was confirmed today, Friday, by the insurance company MAPFRE and…
Final preparations underway for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet
In the Volvo Ocean Race Boatyard, shore crews are going through the final checks and putting the finishing touches to the 7 new one-design boats. In the 1200m2 facility, specifically built for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, the teams are…
Patrice is named provisional winner of Flinders Islet Race
Tony Kirby’s Patrice has provisionally won the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Flinders Islet Race, but due to an error in her rating certificate, it is believed a revised certificate, due from the UK on Tuesday, will leave her outside…
Frenchman gets late call-up for Volvo Ocean Race
ALICANTE, Spain – He’s had to wait two long years but French sailor Seb Marsset finally got the news he was waiting for with a call-up to the Team Alvimedica race crew for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 first leg…
Don McIntyre is on the hunt for two young adventurers to sail around the world
We are on the hunt for young adventurous sailors, who we hope to send around the world in a little boat, all by themselves. Imagine the sights they would see, the people they could meet, the horizons they should cross…
Good fleet of 28 entered in Flinders Islet Race
With the 70th edition of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race looming, a large and varied field of 28 boats is entered for Race 2 of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Blue Water Pointscore Series (BWPS) to start off Point…
Chris Nicholson's Team Vespas Wind wins Volvo shakedown by 10 seconds
Ten seconds. It’s less than the amount of time that it will take you to read this sentence – and it’s also the whisker-thin difference between the first two Volvo Ocean Race teams to return to Alicante at dawn this…
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completes solo qualifier at age 75
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, at 75-years-old will be the oldest competitor in this year’s French single-handed classic transatlantic race the Route de Rhum, having completed the necessary qualification voyage. Sir Robin sailed the 500-mile qualifier solo down the English Channel and…
Dramas in store as seven Volvo 65s set off on Leg Zero
ALICANTE, Spain: Seven Volvo Ocean Race boats set off together for the two-day Leg Zero on Friday knowing that a series of “crises” loom for all of them – and they have all been planned by the organisers. The fleet will…
No Australians yet entered in Groupama Race, the world's longest windward/leeward
The Groupama Race, the 4th sailing tour of New Caledonia, will start on 19th of october. This race is the longest leeward-winward race around the biggest lagoon in the world: 600 milles in paradise. Last day to register is in 8…
Team Spain announces crew for Volvo Ocean Race
Michel Desjoyeaux is France’s best-known sailor and has won many of the sport’s biggest prizes but the lure of joining Team España in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 has brought him back to compete for a fourth time aged…
Clipper Race announces Australia crew meet and greet nights
The tenth anniversary edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race starts in August 2015 and the 40,000 mile route will take almost 12 months to complete. It is the world’s longest ocean race, and also one of the…
Piracy not a concern for Volvo Ocean Race
With less than 80 days before the start of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, a dramatic course change was initiated due to concerns of piracy in the Indian Ocean. That year, the Cape Town to Abu Dhabi leg involved all…
Tomas Cichoki departs France to sail around the world
Captain Tomas Cichoki, 57, departed Brest, in France, on the 6th September 2014 in a Delphia 47, sailing single handed and non stop around the world, following the clipper route down the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, then…
Loick Peyron to take the helm of Banque Populaire in Route du Rhum
Armel Le Cléac’h, who seriously injured his hand and has been forced out of the 2014 Route du Rhum, will be replaced in the solo transatlantic race by Loïck Peyron. The sailor from La Baule, who was forced to retire…
Hairy Biker director to bring you video from mid-ocean
ALICANTE, Spain, Sept 4 – A film-maker with a background of making hit documentaries and dramas, but zero experience in sports programmes, is the surprise choice of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 to direct their flagship half-hour weekly show. Frenchman…
Volvo Ocean Race sailors put through intense training sessions with Ocean Safety
Some of the biggest names in racing underwent intensive safety training with Ocean Safety in preparation for the Volvo Race, one of the world’s most prestigious round-the-world races, which starts on October 11th. Ocean Safety worked with the Volvo Ocean Race…
Marc Guillemot prepares Safran for Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe
On November 2, the skipper of Safran will line up at the start of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. This will be Marc Guillemot’s fifth appearance in the queen of the transats. It is a race he has particular affection…
Experienced ocean racers join Chris Nicholson for the VOR
ALICANTE, Spain, September 1 – Chris Nicholson’s Team Vestas Wind crew will enter the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 with less time to prepare than any of their rivals but brimming with experience combined with youthful energy. The Australian skipper is…
Fifty entries received already for 2014 Sydney-Hobart Race
It’s all about the numbers for this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, with entries in the 70th edition of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s blue water classic swelling to 50, including classic yachts such as Love & War…
Can One-Design = Life at the Extreme?
New technology is changing the face of sailing, rapidly. It seems that every week a new foiling boat concept pops up or an alternative wingsail product enters the market. Yet amidst all this development, offshore racing classes are turning one-design…
Nominations now open for 2014 Ocean Racer of the Year Awards
Nominations are now open in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Racer of the Year Awards. The awards will be announced on Thursday 11 December 2014 and the CYCA welcomes nominations from fellow offshore clubs that have suitable candidates…
Still time to sign up for 2015/16 Clipper Race
The world’s longest ocean race, uniquely for amateur sailors – the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is now 70% full for the 2015-16 edition, following a surge of crew sign-ups. The 40,000 mile, eleven month long event, known as…
Good omens for Volvo Ocean Race as Abu Dhabi smashes record
COWES, Isle of Wight, August 16 (Volvo Ocean Race) – Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing fired a huge warning shot across the bows of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 fleet with a record-breaking monohull victory in the Sevenstar Round…
