Volvo Ocean Race To Sweden
Known as the ‘Everest of Sailing’, the epic Volvo Ocean Race, formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race, comes to West Sweden in June. The competitors set off for the eighth leg from Galway, Ireland, at 1pm on June 6 in a sprint to Marstrand Island, 30 minutes north of Gothenburg. The crews are set to put on a dramatic spectacle, and draw huge crowds to the shores, as they near dry land on June 10. From Marstrand the competitors will be waved off as they start the ninth leg to Stockholm on June 14.
The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, visiting 11 ports over nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier ocean yacht race for professional racing crews.