Volvo drives into Mumbai's waters...

The Mumbai shores were graced by an interesting visitor in the longest of times, yesterday.

This beauty has come 51,000 kms across the oceans to romance with the sultry Mumbai waters.



And she gets her own team of strong and suave men wherever she goes. She is none other than the 16.5 tonne, Rs 27 crore Volvo VO70 open yacht, which guided Team Ericsson's to fifth place in one of the world's most gruelling events - the Ocean Race.

THE OCEAN RACE

India is among the new stops in the 11th edition of the Ocean Race and Kochi will play host to the event (covered on our site earlier) in December later this year to 9 month long race.

Such is the nature of the race that preparations of begin one year in advance. It is also heralded as the Formula 1 of sailing.

It will start on October 2008 and finish in the Baltic Sea by June end of 2009. The 11th edition boasts of 10 ocean legs, 7 inshore races and 7 pro-am races and also head to new destinations in Asia.

TEAM ERICSSON

As a prelude to the forthcoming action in India, Ericsson 1, the VO70 boat from the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race is currently docked off the Mumbai coast after visiting Kochi, where for the first time there will be a stop during the Volvo Ocean Race in December 2008.

Team Ericsson which has assembled a crack international team is the hot favorite.

THE CREW

The crew which is visiting India this time is the hospitality crew and not the actual racing crew that will be taking part in the race. Skippered by Brazilian legend Torben Grael who has won 4 Olympic medals besides 5 world championship gold, it also compromises of Ocean race winner Brad Jackson of New Zealand.
In an interaction with mediapersons on board the VO70, the promotional captain of the boat Thomas Blixt said that the team has been in training since October and there will be two teams from the Ericsson Racing Team which will take part in the Race, to begin in October 2008 and will reach Kochi in December 2008. ''We are taking part in the race to win and with a bit of luck we can surely be in the top three spots'', he added, while showing the media persons round the boat.


The seven member crew, comprising 3 Swedes, one Dane, one Englishman and a South African, also had an Indian naval officer, Abhilash Tommy on board, when they set sail for Kochi 3 days ago.

It also has an Olympic aspirant Sille Christensen, who claims to have grown up in a boat, since her parents were avid sailors. The 29 year-old had to eventually forego her trip to Beijing as it wasn't financially viable.

OCEAN RACE SIGNIFICANCE

Former Olypian Malav Shroff, feels the World Ocean Race will be a 'wake up call for Indian sport'. The 32-year-old, one of the Indian sailors to have made it to the Olympics, says, "We are not locally accustomed to world standards. This event will make people understand the enormity of fitness."

Hoping that this Volvo has a successful drive into the waters of Mumbai.

Kochi to host Volvo ocean race (2nd leg of the 11 stopover race)

Kochi aka Cochin situated in kerela (India) is the official host to the Volvo Ocean Race. to be more precise kochi will host as the 2nd stopover for the race which will dock on 11 ports.
the stopover port agreement was signed on the 18th of January 2008 by Andy Hindley, Race Director for the Volvo Ocean Race; Mr. N. Ramachandran, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust and Mr. KG Mohanlal, Managing Director, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation.

For those who are not familiar with the race the Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier yacht race for professional racing crews. The 2008 09 race spans over 9 months and will start from Alicante in Spain on 4 October 2008, and for the first time ever touch the Asian waters which include Kochi (India), the yachts will cover over 39,000 nautical miles and will make stops over 11 ports to complete the race successfully.

Here is a visual map with the routes

The seven yachts participating in the race will arrive in Kochi in December 2008 and will stay for 10 days, before starting leg three to Sentosa Island in Singapore. A race village covering 2.5 acres of land will be set up near the BTP berth at Willingdon Island.

The other stopover ports include Cape Town, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio De Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm. The race will end at St.Petersburg, Russia, in July 2009. A few Olympic gold medallists in yachting are among the participants in the race. Kerala Tourism and agencies such as the Yachting Association of India will help to publicise and promote the event.

V. Venu, Secretary, Kerala Tourism, said sponsors were expected to pool funds of around Rs. 5 crore for readying facilities for the racers, tourists and the general public.“We expect to accommodate them in 1,200 hotel rooms, spread over Kochi, Kumarakom and Alappuzha. The organisers will bring in over 10,000 guests, mainly VIPs and corporate heads, from within India and outside,” he said.

All in all it’s a very positive step towards the Indian yachting/ sailing industry and will surely act as a boost for the Indian tourism industry (imagine the no of tourists that will be present for the event) also giving international accreditation for sailing in India. We can surely expect more of such events in India.