Volvo Ocean Race - Speculation rife on Auckland stopover

by Richard Gladwell on 31 Mar 2010
Speculation is rife around the Auckland waterfront, on the expected announcement of the final stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race. Media have been invited to a function today where it is expected that some announcement will be made on the back of the statement from the Minister of Economic Development, Gerry Brownlee, last Friday that the Governement would be contributing NZD1.5 million to the stopover.

The details of the duration and timing of the projected stopover are not known - whether it will be a pit stop to break the long leg of over 12,000nm from China to South America, or whether it will be a full stopover with the usual In-Port race, which would be the biggest on the harbour since the first races of the 2000 and 2003 America's Cup.

Previous restarts of the then Whitbread Round the World Race created major harbour and road traffic issues for authorities, as thousands of yachts and launches took to the water and spectators crammed every vantage point around the waterfront.

Night-time finishes underlined Auckland's passion for sailing with North Head, at the entrance to the Waitemata harbour coming alive with spectators, listening to radio commentary on the finish and seeing the often very close action unfold before their eyes.

Details have yet to be provided on the course, however in the past a feature of the Auckland finishes have been the long ride down the Northland coast, with spectators coming out to view the passing yachts or, even staying with the fleet for the whole ride from North Cape at the entrance to the Tasman Sea all the way to the finish in Auckland.

Even after sailing for thousands of ocean miles, the approach down the Auckland coast has set the scene for some great finishes in the past including that between Peter Blake's Steinlager and Grant Dalton's maxi ketches, where the lead changed in a rain squall, warning of which was later claimed to have been picked up by listening to a local radio station, running live talkback on the race finish, where a caller rang in from West Auckland to say the squall was on the way along with a major wind change and the crews had better be prepared.

Despite not having a yacht in the race for the past few editions, many New Zealanders have played a leading role in the crews, including Stuart Bannatyne and Brad Jackson, watch captains aboard Ericsson 4 in the 2008/09 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. They were later honoured by Yachting New Zealand as Sailor of the Year for their efforts and joining an elite group of three, joining another New Zealander Mark Christensen as the only sailors to have won the famous round the world race three times.

Brad Jackson and Stu Bannatyne sailed on New Zealand Endeavour in the 1993-94 race winning the maxi class. Then, in the 2001-02 race, Bannatyne, collected his second win in three races as a member of the illbruck crew. Jackson made it two as watch captain on the all conquering ABN AMRO ONE crew in the 2004/05 race. This latest win now means both Brad Jackson and Stu Bannatyne have three wins each, from five races.

Sail-World will be reporting later in the day from the media conference this afternoon. Stay tuned to www.sail-world.com for the latest information.