Volvo Ocean Race Galway

Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race Festival will take place in Galway from 30th June – 8th July 2012. The Volvo Ocean Race is the worlds most prestigious offshore race. The event is a nine-month marathon of the seas, passing through four oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans) and five continents (Asia, Africa, North America, South Amercia and Europe). The race started in Alicante, Spain on October 29, 2011 and sails to Galway from Lorient, France arriving on July 3rd 2012 for the biggest party Ireland will see this year. The Festival in Galway will be held in two areas: the Race Village and the Global Village.

The Race Village

The Race Village, which will host the crews, will offer top-class entertainment, a host of concessions and will be the base for the on-water events throughout the festival.

The Global Village

The Global Village host some of the major events of the festival in the Global Arena, attracting the most influential business people in Ireland and internationally.

Highlights of the Global Village will include:

Global Arena
The Food Pavilion
Ocean Wealth Showcase
The Style Platform
The Sustainable Way
The Adventure Playground
The Innovation Hub
The Craft Quarter
The Classroom
The Healing Centre
The Speakers Corner
& much much more

The course details for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 are outlined below. The racing format and stopover schedule features a number of innovations the most notable sees the event conclude with an In-Port race in the finish port of Galway.

The islands of the Azores in the Atlantic, Fernando de Noronha off the Brazilian coast, and the Fastnet Rock, are all included on the new-look course.

The stopover programmes have been designed to provide non-stop activity for local visitors and international guests in the race villages of host cities.

The Pro-Am races will be first on the agenda for the weekend, where the power of the Volvo Open 70s are showcased to the public and race guests.

The second day sees the Volvo Ocean Race teams battle it out in two In-Port races, which count to their overall points tally. The short course of the In-Port races and the proximity to the stopover harbours and beaches, will allow the public to watch the racing up close.

The finale to the long weekend is the Leg start.

The start and finish ports also have a revamped schedule. Alicante will have a week of festivals between the In-Port and Pro-Am race weekend and the start of Leg One to Cape Town.

Galway will be the first finish city in the event’s history to stage an inshore race after the final leg.

There will be no scoring gates in this edition of the race but the fleet will still pass round some famous islands. On Leg One the fleet will pass the island of Fernando de Noronha, 200 nautical miles off the Brazilian coast as the first proper rounding mark of the race.

Due to increasing pirate attacks and hijacking off the coast of Somalia, the fleet will sail around an exclusion zone, which will be added to this area nearer race time.
The Fastnet Rock is the last landmark the sailors will catch sight of before their final sprint up the west coast of Ireland to Galway.

The race will visit eight stopover ports on five continents and race through four oceans, in under nine months. The Volvo Open 70’s will cover over 39,270 nautical miles racing around the globe.

Information source: www.volvooceanrace.com

Best Rate Hotels

Powered by Booking.com
We Price Match
No Booking Fees
FREE cancellation on most rooms!

loading