Volvo Ocean Race News

Ship design and engineering company C-Job Naval Architects on Thursday announced changes to its executive team. Job Volwater will move from his position as Chief Commercial Officer and take on the position of Chief Executive Officer. He takes over from Basjan Faber, who will take up the position of Chief Financial Officer at the company.Faber and Volwater founded C-Job Naval Architects in 2007. Volwater was previously in the position of CEO until 2017 when he took a leave of absence to take the role of Sailing Team Director for Team AkzoNobel in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Navico, parent company to the Lowrance, Simrad, B&G and C-MAP brands, announced on Thursday that its board of directors has appointed Knut Frostad as President and Chief Executive Officer.“Knut Frostad has been on Navico’s board for 14 years and brings solid experience in the industry and understanding of our business as former CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, as well as director and advisor to several international companies,” said Hugo Maurstad, chairman of the board of NavicoFrostad’s day-to-day leadership of Navico will begin immediately…

Recently, team AkzoNobel completed its first Volvo Ocean Race, concluding the final leg in second place and finishing fourth overall. The team finished on the podium on six of the eleven legs.During the race, the team was supported by two Damen Workshop Containers. The two containers leapfrogged each other across the 11-legs and 83,000 km of the round-the-world race, ensuring that team AkzoNobel had onshore support every step of the way.The provision of workshop containers was a natural way for Damen to offer support to the team. The shipyards group has extensive experience in logistics and in the provision of services to ensure optimal vessel performance in terms of both safety and efficiency…

After nine months of gruelling competition, the Volvo Ocean Race boats have started the final leg of the closest-ever contest in the round-the-world event’s 45-year history. As the seven competing Volvo 65s passed the Inmarsat-branded start line in Gothenburg, Sweden today, three teams were in a virtual tie for the ultimate crown, with everything to be decided in the 700nm sprint to The Hague. Two teams – MAPFRE and Team Brunel – now sit tied at the top of the overall leaderboard on 65 points with Dongfeng Race Team currently just one point behind them on 64. However, if Dongfeng beats the other two in Leg 11, it means they will also be positioned to receive the bonus point for the shortest elapsed time around the world.

Vesper Marine designed its Virtual AIS Beacon in 2010 and installed the first solution in 2011. Developed to address the need to make hazards at sea visible when costly physical infrastructure is not appropriate or is impossible to deploy, the Virtual Aid to Navigation technology that Vesper Marine has created is based on the international standardized AIS, which all large ships must use and many yachts and smaller vessels are now choosing to install due to the safety and collision avoidance benefits it provides.

Sailing fans flocked to a harbor in the Dutch city of The Hague yesterday to welcome team AkzoNobel’s new Volvo Ocean Race yacht, which was officially christened by the city’s Mayor. With the start of the race just four months away, skipper Simeon Tienpont and his crew arrived in the Netherlands from Lisbon to a rapturous welcome, when dignitaries and supporters caught their first glimpse of the newly built boat. “It’s a very special moment to have our new boat christened here in The Hague,” said Tienpont. “In many ways, the race starts right here and now for us. Added Mayor of The Hague, Pauline Krikke: “We are very proud to partner with team AkzoNobel in the Volvo Ocean Race. I wish Simeon and his crew the best with their preparations between now and the start in October.

The Volvo Ocean Race will celebrate 45 years of history with a Legends Race on the final leg of the 2017-18 edition from Gothenburg to The Hague, says a press statement. Any yacht to have featured in the Whitbread Round the World Race or Volvo Ocean Race, dating back to 1973-74, will be welcome to join the 2018 Legends Race. The race will be run over the same course, and around the same time, as the closing leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, which starts from Gothenburg on 21 June. The announcement was made at the yacht racing seminar Meetingspot in Gothenburg and follows a hugely successful Legends Regatta that was held before the…

Crew members of Great Britain wave goodbye after setting off for Race 9 at the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Today,  March 20, 2016. Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - Renowned by many as one of the toughest features of the circumnavigation, the fleet departs Qingdao for The Seattle Pacific Challenge from China to Seattle, USA, on Sunday. The mighty Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest and at times, the closest humans to the teams will be those on the International Space Station some 300 miles above them. The 2016 edition of Asia’s most exciting race marks another chapter as the number of international entries continues to rise and swells the entries to 34.

IMTRA, the leading manufacturer and importer of quality marine products, announced today the addition of Prentice Weathers to its sales team. Focusing on business development efforts for the big boat segment, Weathers has joined Imtra in a Custom Product Sales position. In his new role, Weathers is dedicated to providing excellent customer service, product support and follow-through to key clients. Working closely with product manufacturers, engineers and the sales team, Weathers will evaluate proposed system designs to ensure proper performance and installation, and will provide technical sales support and product recommendations. With a mastery of IMTRA product and integration detail…

The new RH Marine Group, formerly known as Imtech Marine was introduced at the Europort exhibition in Rotterdam today. Following the recent acquisition by Parcom Capital and Pon Holdings, Imtech Marine will now be known as RH Marine Group, built on the roots of founding companies Radio Holland and van Rietschoten & Houwens. The two ‘pillars’ for service and newbuild activities within Imtech Marine are also involved in the new naming structure. Global NavCom, Connectivity, On Board ICT service and maintenance brand Radio Holland will keep its name but will have a new logo.

The Volvo Ocean Race has agreed a three-year partnership with the Yacht Racing Forum. "We are delighted to welcome the Volvo Ocean Race as a long-term partner,” said Bernard Schopfer, the event’s CEO. "We have been working hard at developing a new structure for the Forum, with a new team of dedicated people, new partners, a beautiful venue and an exciting programme. Knut Frostad, the outgoing CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, has been an avid supporter of the Yacht Racing Forum since its debut in Monte Carlo in 2008. He will once again be a speaker at this year's conference, looking back at what he has achieved as Volvo Ocean Race CEO over nearly eight years at the helm. "The Forum is an important event for the international yacht racing community,” he said.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing won the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), despite pulling into the port of Gothenburg, Sweden, in fifth place on Monday. The Emirates team, skippered by Walker, triumphed in the nine-month triennial race after finishing fifth in the ninth leg from Lorient to Gothenburg. The team had accumulated enough points in the previous legs to take first in the 12th around-the-world sailing competition, making it the first Asia-based crew to win. Abu Dhabi spent 148 days at sea, traveling 38,739 nautical miles over four oceans and hitting 11 ports on six continents. The team beat out six others, a much better finish than its fifth-place result in the 2011–12 race. The crew logged two stage wins, three second-place finishes, and two thirds.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had the Volvo Ocean Race trophy within their grasp as the seven boats entered the final lap on Saturday heading for Gothenburg after a one-day ‘pit-stop’ in The Hague, reports the Khaleej Times. The Emirati crew, skippered by Briton Ian Walker, has an eight-point lead in the nine-month offshore sailing marathon and would need to finish last in the leg and accrue two penalty points to lose that advantage. Since the re-start from The Hague pit-stop on Saturday, it has been an obstacle course of exclusion zones and variable winds for the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15. And now as the fleet approaches the northern tip of Denmark, winds have been backing and diminishing.

Though Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing extended their lead in the Volvo Ocean Race in-port series French town Lorient on the coast of Brittany, it was Team Alvimedica who took the victory, serving up a perfectly constructed race as they selected the best wind. Team Alvimedica sailed into first in Sunday's In-Port race with Italian sailor Alberto Bolzan on the helm and skipper Charlie Enright calling tactics. Team Alvimedica can claim their second In-Port Race victory of the Volvo Ocean Race, moving the young team up the overall In-Port standings to third place. It was a beautiful win for the team and especially memorable for Seb Marsset who calls Lorient home.

All-women sailing crew Team SCA have recorded their first victory of the Volvo Ocean Race, clinching the eighth leg in the Bay of Biscay off the coasts of France and Spain. The Swedish boat, skippered by Briton Sam Davies, won the eighth and penultimate 647-mile stage, from Lisbon to Lorient, by more than 48 minutes. In an impressive performance the all women team crossed the finish line after 3 days 13 hours 11 minutes and 11 seconds to take their first leg win of the Volvo Ocean Race in Lorient. Team SCA led the fleet for more than half the leg and once in pole position, then dominated. A tactical decision to choose the more offshore course as they headed into the Bay of Biscay and forecasted 30 plus knot upwind conditions paid dividends.

Navatek, the naval research and design company based in Hawaii and Rhode Island, and NEB, a leading builder of high-tech composite and aluminum boats based in Portsmouth, R.I., announce the launching of the Sea Blade 35, a 35-foot rigid hull inflatable boat (RIB) with a top speed of 60 knots. The Sea Blade line of powerboats features a patented hull form designed by Navatek founder and Chairman Steven Loui, a native of Hawaii. The stabilized monohull design has a slender center hull with two stabilizing amas, which form entrapment tunnels between the main hull and amas. Hull panels of 0 or +50-degree deadrise are arranged in longitudinal steps starting with a pad keel.

Spanish boat MAPFRE led the Volvo Ocean Race fleet out of Newport, Rhode Island, and into the most challenging of the remaining three legs through the North Atlantic, reports AFP. Newport was the only North American stopover on this year's race, which ends in June in Goteborg, Sweden. The stopover has been so successful that race officials have changed their normal protocol and offered the Newport organizers an exclusive two-month window to seal a deal on the next race as the only North American stopover. During the 12 day stopover, the race village at Fort Adams State Park saw 125,000 fans come through and participate in the various events taking place. That number is five times the population of Newport and five times the number of visitors that last U.S.

Chinese challengers Dongfeng Race Team, which suffered a broken mast in the previous leg, won a closely-contested sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race late on Wednesday. They beat overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing into Newport, Rhode Island, by just three minutes and 25 seconds after an absorbing 24-hour dogfight along the U.S. east coast. Skipper Charles Caudrelier took Dongfeng across the line in Newport, clear of Ian Walker's Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing entry Azzam. Team Brunel arrived third to Rhode Island, roughly 50 minutes behind Azzam, with Mapfre finishing about 35 minutes later in fourth. As of Thursday morning, Team Alvimedica and Team SCA had yet to arrive. The victory in the 5,010-nautical mile stage cut the deficit to the Emirati boat to six points.

After 19 days of sailing, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing has won leg five of the Volvo Ocean yacht Race, between New Zealand and Brazil. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing emerged victorious on Sunday after 6,776 nautical miles (nm) of immensely challenging racing in leg five to take a big advantage at the top of the Volvo Ocean Race standings. Ian Walker’s crew fought off three competitors during a “drag race” of nearly 2,000 nautical miles up the east coast of South America to be the first to arrive at Itajai, Brazil, about 400 kilometres north-east of Sao Paulo. To add the icing to their cake, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing set the new best mark for the most nautical miles sailed in 24 hours with 551 leading up to Cape Horn. "Awesome.

As the six-strong fleet Volvo Ocean Race continued to endure a helter-skelter ride toward Cape Horn in the Southern Ocean, the American boat Team Alvimedica took the lead, reports AP. The Volvo Ocean Race fleet in the wild Southern Ocean was fighting two battles on Sunday – for bragging rights to lead the fleet round Cape Horn, and the race to win Leg 5. The Turkey/USA crew of Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) is currently narrow favourites as they led a group of five boats at 1240 UTC on Sunday. Should Enright’s crew achieve either, it would be a major achievement for a team that is the youngest in the race and led by a 30-year-old Volvo Ocean Race first-timer who first dreamed of entering a team on the film set of the Disney movie, Morning Light some eight years ago.

A massive one kilometre-wide iceberg has forced the Volvo Ocean Race to change the positioning of their ice gates to keep the fleet clear of trouble in the Southern Ocean on Leg 5 from New Zealand to Brazil, says a Reuters report. The berg was heading towards the path of the six-strong fleet, so organizers and their advisers, French company CLS and Dutch weather expert Marcel van Triest, opted late on Thursday night to move the current ice limit route further to the north. The main iceberg is not the only concern. Growlers – pieces of ice that have broken away and float semi-submerged in the icy cold water – are also a major threat to the fleet. The race has pre-set ice gates, or ice limits, on this leg to keep the fleet clear from icebergs.

The fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race in New Zealand finally got underway on Wednesday following a three-day delay to avoid the worst of Cyclone Pam. The nine-month round-the-world yacht race was scheduled to leave Auckland for Itajai, Brazil on Sunday. The 6776 nautical mile race from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil will take roughly three weeks to complete. It will take the fleet back into the Atlantic for the closing stages of the leg for the first time since November before passing Cape Horn. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, skippered by Britain’s Ian Walker, are currently leading the overall standings ahead of the Dongfeng Race Team thanks to a better performance in the In-Port races.

Cyclone Pam continues to delay the restart of the Volvo Ocean race with organizers grounding the six yachts in the race until weather associated with the deadly system stabilizes. The organizers are being cautious with the sea state in the wake of the cyclone an immediate concerns. Race management and operations team have a round-the-clock watch system of personnel on Auckland's viaduct to monitor the weather and its effect on the boats. “We now don’t expect the impact in Auckland to be as high as first feared,” said Volvo Ocean race meteorologist, Gonzalo Infante. Organisers had already been forced to postpone the start of Leg 5 to Itajaí from Sunday (0100 UTC) to no earlier than midnight on Monday (2400 UTC)/Tuesday midday local time because of Cyclone Pam…