Issue date
After a two week Stopover in Sanya, China, the fleet of six VO65's raced out from the Serenity Marina last Sunday for the 5,264-nautical mile testing Leg 4 to Auckland.
Richard Wingfield, Chair of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), was in Sanya to exchange flags with Yue Jin, Executive Vice Mayor of Sanya, in the departure ceremony.
“We had such a warm welcome from everyone in Sanya," said Wingfield. "It was an honour to be a part of the handover ceremony, meet the sailors and watch the start of Leg 5. The teams, Volvo Ocean Race management and staff and sponsors are all looking forward to coming to Auckland. Many Volvo Ocean Race staff have said they will be sightseeing and holidaying in New Zealand before the event – we hope they enjoy their down time prior to our Stopover.” A large number of sailors' families are also expected to travel to Auckland.
Village Build Begins
The Auckland Stopover Race Village build begins on Saturday 14 February. "It has been a large logistical task getting to this point," says Charlotte Guscott, Venue and Operations Manager. "We are looking forward to seeing our Race Village come to fruition after having seen images of other Race Villages from around the world."
The Race Village opening is on Friday 27 February, so the team will be hard at work over the following 13 days as Te Wero Island, Eastern Viaduct, Halsey Wharf and the remainder of the space is transformed into a Race Village that will host and entertain the many thousands of visitors alongside the Volvo Ocean Race team and the racing teams and sponsors.
The Auckland Stopover runs from 27 February to 15 March 2015.
The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15
The Race features nine Legs and started in Alicante (Spain) in October 2014 with Stopovers in Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajai (Brazil), Newport (USA), Lisbon (Portugal) and Lorient (France) with a brief pitstop in The Hague (Netherlands) before the finish in Gothenburg (Sweden) on 27 June 2015.
It requires the teams to cover 38,739 nautical miles - equivalent to 44,580 miles or 71,745 kms.
The Auckland Stopover
27 Feb 2015: Race Village opens
27 Feb - 3 Mar 2015: arrival of the fleet
13 Mar 2015: Pro-Am Race
14 Mar 2015: In-Port Race
15 Mar 2015: Start of Leg 5, Auckland to Itajai, Brazil
Website
Keep up to date with all the news from the Auckland Stopover on our website. We are on Facebook and Twitter too.
