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#VOR - Newport in Rhode Island has been announced as the latest stopover for the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2014-15.

The popular sailing base in the 'Ocean State' will be the North American port on the race route for its 12th running as the end point of the leg from Itajaí in Brazil, and is hosting the event for the first time.

"It's about time the race came to the city of Newport and we are looking forward to a real festival that will delight and inspire sailing fans and those who are new to the sport," said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad at the announcement.

Conveniently located between the Irish-American hotspots of New York City and Boston, the crowds in attendance are sure to feature a prominent 'green' element.

As reported at the weekend on Afloat.ie, Gothenburg in Sweden has been awarded the honour of hosting the VOR finale, much to the disappointment of Galwegians after last summer's successful event.

Published in Ocean Race
21st December 2010

Ho Ho Hold-up

Yacht clubs in snowy weather are even odder than snow resorts in summer. But in America's sailing Mecca of Newport, Rhode Island, there was a further inversion at the East Providence Yacht Club on Sunday night after the annual pre-Christmas party reports W M Nixon.

Only a lone barman was left on the premises, and when a large fat white-bearded man dressed in red and carrying a sack came bustling in, he smiled a cheerful welcome. But the new arrival immediately brandished a gun, and by the time the police arrived he had cleared out all the weekend takings – "a lot" – and had made good his escape to the sound of jingling bells.

Published in Coastal Notes

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.