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18th January 2013

Volvo Ocean Race Returns to Brazil for 2014-15

#VOR - Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race have announced that the Brazilian state of Pernambuco will enter a team in the next edition of the round-the-world offshore challenge in 2014-15.

In addition, its capital city of Recife will be the first stopover port along the race route, which starts in Alicante in the second half of next year.

The Recife team is only the second publicly announced team for the 12th edition of the VOR, following the SCA all-women's team announced last August.

Details about the stopover and the team, including the identity of the skipper, will be announced in the coming weeks.

“[The] announcement of the Pernambuco team and Recife stopover are fantastic news for the race,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad. “I’m delighted to see the Race strengthen our ties with Brazil, Recife and Pernambuco in this way.

"Coming to Recife at the end of Leg 1 means there will be a lot of attention on this great city and having a Brazilian team in the race will be fantastic for fans across the country."

The decision to make Leg 1 of the route from Alicante to Recife means the VOR will be visiting Brazil in one of the biggest sporting eras in the nation's history – just a few months after the country hosts the 2014 Fifa World Cup and less than two years before the Olympic Games in Rio.

Recife was one of over 80 ports to express an interest in hosting the race when the bid process was launched in 2012. The deal announced yesterday will see Recife host the race for the next two editions.

The last Brazilian team to enter the Volvo Ocean Race was Brasil 1 in 2005-06. Torben Grael was the skipper and Knut Frostad, now the Volvo Ocean Race's CEO, featured as a crew member on some of the legs. The Brazilian campaign proved to be a big success and generated great interest worldwide and in the media. Grael went on to win the Volvo Ocean Race as skipper of Ericsson 4 in 2008-09.

The Volvo Ocean Race's links with Brazil date back to 1973, when the first edition of what was then known as the Whitbread Round the World Race stopped at Rio de Janeiro.

The race also visited Rio in the second edition in 1977-78 and again in 2001-02, 2005-06 and 2008-09. In 1997-98 the race stopped at São Sebastião and in the last edition in 2011-12, Itajaí was a host port.

Meanwhile, Team SCA have unveiled the livery for their VOR 65 new design when it is launched and ready to race later this year.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the new design VOR 65 - priced at €4.5 million, about 20% less expensive than the 70-footer that ended its run in Galway last summer - was developed with the idea of reducing the costs of competing in the gruelling round-the-world yacht race.

The official VOR website has images of the SCA livery, with nature-inspired graphics and colours designed to reflect the eco-friendly values of the title sponsor, global hygiene company SCA.

At the beginning of February, a number of Team SCA women crew candidates will leave Southampton on a first test sail together with several leading off-shore coaches.

Team SCA have not yet revealed the identity of any of the crew, including the skipper.

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About the Golden Globe Race

The Golden Globe Race is the original round the world yacht race. In 1968, while man was preparing to take his first steps on the moon, a mild mannered and modest young man was setting out on his own record breaking voyage of discovery. Off shore yacht racing changed forever with adventurers and sailors, inspired by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, following in his pioneering wake. Nine men started the first solo non-stop sailing race around the World. Only one finished. History was made. Navigating with a sextant, paper charts and an accurate and reliable time piece, Sir Robin navigated around the world. In 2018, to celebrate 50 years since that first record breaking achievement, the Golden Globe Race was resurrected. It instantly caught the attention of the worlds media as well as adventures, captivated by the spirit and opportunity. The original race is back.

The Golden Globe Race: Stepping back to the golden age of solo sailing

Like the original Sunday Times event back in 1968/9, the 2018 Golden Globe Race was very simple. Depart Les Sables d'Olonne, France on July 1st 2018 and sail solo, non-stop around the world, via the five Great Capes and return to Les Sables d'Olonne. Entrants are limited to use the same type of yachts and equipment that were available to Robin Knox-Johnston in that first race. That means sailing without modern technology or benefit of satellite-based navigation aids.

Competitors must sail in production boats between 32ft and 36ft overall (9.75 10.97m) designed prior to 1988 and having a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing edge. These yachts will be heavily built, strong and steady, similar in concept to Robin's 32ft vessel Suhaili.

In contrast to the current professional world of elite ocean racing, this edition travels back to a time known as the 'Golden Age' of solo sailing. Suhaili was a slow and steady 32ft double-ended ketch based on a William Atkins ERIC design. She is heavily built of teak and carried no computers, GPS, satellite phone nor water-maker, and Robin completed the challenge without the aid of modern-day shore-based weather routing advice. He had only a wind-up chronometer and a barograph to face the world alone, and caught rainwater to survive, but was at one with the ocean, able to contemplate and absorb all that this epic voyage had to offer.

This anniversary edition of the Golden Globe Race is a celebration of the original event, the winner, his boat and that significant world-first achievement. Competitors in this race will be sailing simple boats using basic equipment to guarantee a satisfying and personal experience. The challenge is pure and very raw, placing the adventure ahead of winning at all costs. It is for 'those who dare', just as it was for Knox-Johnston.

They will be navigating with sextant on paper charts, without electronic instruments or autopilots. They will hand-write their logs and determine the weather for themselves.

Only occasionally will they talk to loved ones and the outside world when long-range high frequency and ham radios allow.

It is now possible to race a monohull solo around the world in under 80 days, but sailors entered in this race will spend around 300 days at sea, challenging themselves and each other. The 2018 Golden Globe Race was a fitting tribute to the first edition and it's winner, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

Background on Don McIntyre (61) Race Founder

Don is an inveterate sailor and recognised as one of Australia s greatest explorers. Passionate about all forms of adventure and inspiring others, his desire is to recreate the Golden Age of solo sailing. Don finished 2nd in class in the 1990-91 BOC Challenge solo around the world yacht race. In 2010, he led the 4-man Talisker Bounty Boat challenge to re-enact the Mutiny on the Bounty voyage from Tonga to West Timor, in a simil