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The Volvo sailing Race has been the sailing’s toughest team challenge and one of the sport’s big three events, alongside the Olympics and America’s Cup.
The Volvo sailing Race has been the sailing’s toughest team challenge and one of the sport’s big three events, alongside the Olympics and America’s Cup.
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
The Volvo Ocean Race has been a significant test for teams and human endurance since 1973. For over four decades, it has been the quintessential regatta for the greatest sailors ever to grace the oceans of the world. The competitors dash over the waves for 45,000 miles, spanning across four oceans, landing in six continents, and making their way to 12 host cities. It’s the longest and toughest of professional sporting events, right up there with America’s Cup and the Olympics.
Basically, for sailors, this race is an obsession, like any sporting event for any other athlete. The best sailors in the world have devoted years and years of their lives to claim victory.
Sir Peter Blake was one of the competitors in the first edition of this, back when it was known as the Whitbread Round the World Race held from 1973 to 1974. He pursued victory relentlessly until he finally won with Steinlager 2 in the 1989 to 1990 race. Once his victory was complete, he was able to move on to other endeavors.
Onboard reporters join the team to give the fans a slice of what happens during such a race. It’s utterly exhausting in every way as each side works at winning for 24 hours a day, pursuing in any way they can to win. It’s a fierce competition, one that requires outsmarting your competition by pure skill. No monetary rewards are earned though the winners get their names etched into the trophy, a prize that professional sailors all covet. To have the opportunity to be etched forever next to great winners like Grant Dalton, Ian Walker, Paul Cayard, Blake and others is an incredible achievement.
While the concept of the race is simple, putting it to action with a 24/7 pursuit for victory makes it one of the most challenging competitions there is out on the open water where the best sailors of the world attempt to make their mark.