Tag: Volvo Ocean Race

Richard Brisius, the President of the Volvo Ocean Race, informed that one of the race's sailors, John Fisher, from Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, fell overboard and is now presumed to have been lost at sea. The Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag team performed an exhaustive search for several hours in extremely difficult weather conditions, but they were unable to recover their teammate.

This decision is unprecedented in the sport Five yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race have been transported on an armed ship through part of the Indian Ocean because of the threat of piracy.They will be set down off the coast of the United Arab Emirates before a one-day sprint to the finish in Abu Dhabi.Puma Ocean Racing's British skipper Ken Read said: "Sometimes the real world gets in the way of our little race."It is the first time that the 15-tonne racing yachts have had to be lifted onto a ship in open waters.With their 31m masts still in place, the yachts were hoisted up and placed in custom-built cradles on board the ship at an undisclosed "safe haven" port after setting sail on leg two from Cape Town, South Africa, on 11 December.They are expected to arrive at a location off the coast of Sharjah in about six days.Britain's Neal McDonald from Telefónica said: "It ranges from people trying to bum cigarettes off you and a bottle of water to ransom."And I think although our lives aren't worth very much, I think if they see a big sponsor's name, which they recognise or which they have seen somewhere else, ...

Armed ship protects the yachts from pirates

Volvo Ocean Race returned to full competition over the weekend All six entries in the Volvo Ocean Race returned to full competition over the weekend as the Cape Town stop-over came to an end and the second stage got underway to Abu Dhabi via the pirate-infested waters of the Indian Ocean.Just three of the original six starters arrived in Cape Town two weeks ago with Spain's Telefonica skippered by Iker Martinez taking first place for leg one. While the New Zealand crewed Camper placed second followed by French entry Groupama, Ian Walker's Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Mike Sanderson's Team Sanya arrived by ship last week after damage on the first night at sea.And Ken Read's Puma Ocean Racing also arrived by ship having diverted to the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha after a dismasting. The last-minute arrivals before Saturday's In-Port Race that counts for 20 per cent of a normal long ocean leg saw Telefonica reverse their first In-Port race result in Spain of last place with another win.Hot on their heels was Chris Nicholson's Camper while Read and Walker disrupted Franck Cammas on the French boat, highlighting what appears to be a significant weakness in Groupama's ...

Taking the threat of piracy very seriously , despite the extreme security measures

VO70s to be shipped for sections of the next two legs The Volvo Ocean Race's anti-piracy plan will see the fleet transported by an armed heavy lift ship from an undisclosed Safe Haven Port in the Indian Ocean and resume racing from a set-down point along the Sharjah coastline in the northern Emirates, within a day's sailing of the Leg 2 finish in Abu Dhabi.Back in August it was announced that the route for Legs 2 and 3 would be re-drawn because of the threat of piracy in the Indian Ocean. With the fleet set to depart Cape Town for the start of Leg 2 on Sunday, Race Director Jack Lloyd has made parts of the plan public for the first time.The six boats will leave Cape Town as scheduled on Sunday, 11 December and continue to be tracked as normal until they reach a point in the Indian Ocean. From there, details about the boats' location will be switched off to the public as they sail on to a Safe Haven Port. At that port, the boats will be loaded on to a ship protected by armed guards and featuring other security measures and transported to the northern Emirates. ...

The escalating piracy problemforced organisers to redraw the routes The escalating piracy problem in the Indian Ocean has forced organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 to redraw the routes for the second and third legs.

The plan avoids racing in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean Organisers have cut short the Abu Dhabi leg of the round-the-world yacht race to counter the threat of piracy.The seven 21-metre yachts will still sail into the capital on New Year's Eve to complete the second stage of the Volvo Ocean Race - but not from Cape Town, as planned.Instead they will have been loaded on to a ship at a secret location on the east African coast and transported to an undisclosed port in the UAE, from where they will race to Abu Dhabi.The plan avoids racing in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, where there have been 178 reported incidents of piracy this year.Jon Bramley, a spokesman for Volvo Ocean Race, said a decision had not yet been made on where they would continue the third stage of the race, from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, the southernmost city in China."I know they have consulted some really top people in maritime safety and also many experts, and in the end the advice was overwhelming. Once they gave us the advice that we would have been really irresponsible to run through certain waters, then we ...