IT WAS ON 18th January, early this year, that Andy Hindey, Race Director of the Volvo Ocean Race announced the beautiful city of Kochi as the host of the second stopover for the world’s premier yacht race for professional racing crews.
- The Everest of Sailing
- Two for Ericsson 4
- Partners for the Great Ride
- Facts & Figures
- Volvo Ocean Race Official Website
- Kochi VOR Website
It has been a long 11 months since then, during which the world has been overtaken by astonishing events that have threatened many a sporting event. A financial meltdown accompanied with the sword of regional instability hanging above many an arena was not what global events had factored into their gameplan. The Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) was no exception.
If the rise in sea piracy during the year was at the front of everyone’s minds, to top it all, a week before the yachts were scheduled to touch Indian shores for the first time, the country witnessed its worst terror attack. The eight-strong racing fleet was just 700 nautical miles from the finish line of Leg Two in Kochi, and 1,000 km from Mumbai where terrorists were holding the city to ransom.
Amidst speculation that the competing teams would skip calling on the Indian port, the arrival of the leading Erricson 4 team three days before schedule brought smiles to a nation battling the crisis and India’s sport industry caught between the twin disasters of a corporate world short of spare cash and a country labeled as a security threat.
A huge international contingent of support members, high profile visitors, media and tourists is a great sign in these trying times and should go a long way in rekindling faith in the country’s capabilities to successfully organize large international events.
The Cochin Port Trust is making all efforts to play the ideal host to the seven teams which have reached the race village set up at the picturesque Willingdon Island. The boats will now stay here for 10 days before starting Leg Three to Sentosa Island in Singpaore, another first-timer on the race schedule.
High security measures have being undertaken to ensure that the celebrations for one of the most expensive events in the world are impressive. It does help that Kochi is the headquarters of the Southern Naval Command.
“News of the Mumbai terror has been quite shocking for our team, but thanks to the tight security arrangements made by the Port Trust, we are positive about the event”, says Jeremy Troughton, Planning and Operations Director, Volvo Ocean Race.
Sea Marathon
Starting from Alicante in Spain, the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will for the first time visit Cochin, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia.
The Race, regarded as the ultimate in ocean racing competition, commenced its round-the-world sailing on 4th October 2008 from Alicante in Spain. The race will span some 39,000 nautical miles, stopping at around 11 ports and taking nine months to complete. The 2008-09 event is the 10th running of this ocean marathon.
The first stopover was at Cape Town, where the Ericcson 4 team established their lead and now has a total of 26 points to retain the fleet lead after they docked first in Kochi the early morning of November 29.
“We’re very happy to be here. Very relieved and very satisfied. Relief is a common emotion after how light it got at the end,” said watch captain Stu Bannatyne. “There’s always a risk to get overtaken when you park up. The others can see where you’re parked and it can all disappear very quickly.”
“The race now has Singapore, Qingdao (China), Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm on its itinerary before reaching the finishing line at St.Petersburg.
The participants of the Race require physical endurance and sheer grit of the highest order to deal with life at the extreme, as they race day and night for more than 20 days at a stretch in some of the legs, facing potential dangers such as gales and storms, ice bergs, ocean debris and the whales! The Race is thus, the ultimate in world class water-sporting competition on the extreme edge of adventure, drama and endurance.
Each racing yacht is manned by a professional crew of 10, plus – for the first time this year – a non-competing media specialist, whose sole responsibility will be to ensure that the best footage and interviews are beamed back to shore. Sailing fans will be able to witness crews battling storm-force winds and 30-metre waves in some of the most treacherous waters in the world as the racing action is beamed with the help of onboard cameras into the living rooms via satellite.
Kochi Calling
The booming shipping port on the Malabar Coast, the closest Indian port to the international sea routes, is now one of India’s foremost tourist destinations and the race stopover is expected to bring thousands of additional visitors to both Kochi and the State of Kerala. The Kerala State Tourism Department envisages the event will bring significant visibility as well as economic benefit to the region.
The Yachting Association of India (YAI), an active advocate of the race coming to India, sees the hosting of the VOR stopover as an important boost to India’s ongoing campaign to establish itself as a venue for hosting major sporting events following its successful bid to stage the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010.
“Hosting one of the world’s top three sailing events will obviously boost any future bid to host major sailing as well as other sports events in India,” said Commander Ajay Narang, Honorary Joint Secretary-General, YAI. “It will also be a tremendous fillip for local sailing,” he added.
According to Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, it has always been “part of our vision to take the race to different and wider audiences and we are delighted that Kochi has become part of that vision. India not only presents huge opportunities for the development of the event, but this coupled with the daunting challenges the competitors will face when racing their grand prix yachts in unfamiliar waters, will make the visit to India even more exciting for everyone involved. India has hundreds of millions of enthusiastic sports fans and we know they will enjoy this challenging race, with its passion, teamwork, adventure and excitement.”
More Fun
PUMA Ocean Racing skipper Ken Read during Skippers Press Conference in Cochin at the end of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race (Pic: Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race)
With the early arrivals the stopover in Kochi is now a 13-day affair instead of the planned 10-day stopover. However, the official welcome ceremony and the opening of the Race Village to the public will be done as previously planned on December 3.
The Race Village, which has been set up entirely for the VOR, is decked up in complete grandeur. Apart from being the venue of a host of cultural performances and trade activities, the race village will see several foreign media who will be in Kochi to cover the race.
On arrival in the Kochi waters, the yachts were escorted by the Indian Navy with VIP boats, ground team members and press boats greeting the yachts. There was a traditional welcome beating of the drums ceremony by a local troupe near the BTP jetty where the boats are berthed.
The event is expected to attract well-heeled sailing connoisseurs from all over the world and will be beamed to 1.8 billion people across 180 countries.
A Great Ride
The Race stopover is slated to be one of the most exciting visual extravaganzas that the country has ever witnessed. The Race Village will see more tourists arriving to meet the sailors, experience the facilities and learn more about this fascinating Race.
Apart from the world’s fastest ocean racing yachts with state-of-the-art technology back up, the event would also attract hundreds of other luxury yachts and sailing vessels of different depiction, making the event truly spectacular.
Key events planned to showcase the city and the region’s cultural heritage include a mix of nautical and land-based activities incorporating a regatta, open-air concerts, food festivals, and cultural events showcasing Kerala music and dance next to a constant presence of sail and pleasure craft on the marina.
Among the Stopover activities being scheduled, a unique event that is planned is the famed Snake Boat race among the winners of the Nehru Trophy Boat race and a Volvo Ocean Race team, which may feature members of the race management as well as sailors from the racing teams.
Kerala Tourism is also planning a rendezvous of its unique houseboats during the Stopover. This entails about 70 houseboats from Alleppey, with around 100-125 rooms, being moored off the picturesque Bolgatty Island, thus making a distinctive Kerala Houseboat Village. Food courts serving multiple global cuisines will be another major attraction.
Future Berths
A major item of work has been the lengthening of the berth for boats/ yachts in the Race Village area. Though this was a planned project for the expansion of the Cochin Port, it was being taken up at an accelerated pace to meet the exacting demands of the VOR Stopover.
In future, the berth will be used by the Port Trust to berth cruise ships. Even at present Cochin port gets the maximum number of visits of luxury cruises, every year, with 42 during the last year. The Stopover is thus advancing the availability of facilities and infrastructure for handling of large vessels for berthing.
Four major international luxury cruise vessels are expected to land at Cochin port during the Stopover period. The cruise vessels include Legend of the Seas, Celebrity Quest, Seabourne Spirit and Nautica. Certainly the best fillip that the sport and industry can get now.
