Wednesday, June 21, 2006

2008 Volvo Ocean Race to start from Valencian port of Alicante

As you read here first yesterday afternoon, the 2008 Volvo Ocean Race will start from the Valencian port of Alicante. It is now official, as the President of Volvo Ocean Race Glen Bourke announced a couple of hours ago in Valencia.

The speech of Mr Bourke, as well as that of the President of the Valencian Region, did not go into any details other the usual congratulating remarks. No details were given either regarding the route of the 2008-2009 VOR. Glen Bourke, stated that there will be a stopover in the Middle East (Dubai?), another one in India, one in East Asia and probably one in the West Coast of the United States.

Given the start in Valencia, one option in order to sail to Dubai could be to cross the Mediterranean, with maybe a stopover in some other East Mediterranean port (Athens, Alexandria, Tel Aviv?). Then obviously comes the question of crossing the Suez Canal, which seems an odd option. Once in Dubai, sailing to Mumbai, then to Singapore and from there to Tokyo, could be some alternative options, and a final leg to Los Angeles. These are of course our own speculations and just a rough guess of what the tour could be.

Glen Bourke just stated that two of the teams that took part in the race that just ended have already expressed their interest in the new race. The voice circulating among the journalists present in the conference was that there would be three Spanish teams. One will be Movistar, that took part in the 2005-2006 VOR, another one will be sponsored by Caixa Galicia and Pescanova and finally, a third one will be sponsored by the Valencian Government and at least one the region's large business groups.

The Valencian port of Alicante will be the starting point of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race. Photo by Leah Shalom / Valencia Sailing

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