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  More VOR innovations announced - Sailing from North America & beyond
 | | Team Alvimedica – Volvo Ocean Race © Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica / Volvo Ocean Race |
Last week, the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) announced a major change to the number of crewmembers that each team is allowed to carry aboard for the 2017-2018 edition of this fully crewed, around-the-world race that will make pit stops in 11 cities (on five continents) as it wends its way from its Alicante, Spain starting line (October 2017) to it's finishing line in The Hague, Netherlands (June 2018). While the new rules put an increased burden on male-only teams while strongly encouraging mixed-sex and all-female teams, these changes, it turns out, are just the beginning of a series of evolutions that this cutting-edge race is employing to ensure that its storylines stay fresh.
Keen students of offshore sailing will remember that the 2017-2018 VOR will be the second edition of this round-the-world stage race to use the fleet of seven Volvo Ocean 65 One Design boats, rather than the box-rule boats, such as the old Volvo Open 60s or Volvo Open 70s, that were used in the 2014-2015 race. (Interestingly, the VOR recently announced that an eighth boat is now under construction at Persico Marine in Italy, and will be ready for a still-undisclosed team come 2017.) While these older bespoke designs were quicker than the Volvo Ocean 65s, they were historically less robust and cost significantly more money to design, build and maintain.
 | | Volvo Ocean Race Boatyard, Alicante © Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race |
This last point is of significant note, as the 2014-2015 VOR also featured a collective boatyard that serviced each team, helping to slash costs. Now, the VOR is further developing this idea with the announcement of premium team bases, which are designed to enhance the “pit lane” experience for fans and VIPs alike.
“That face to face contact with the heroes is key,” said Richard Mason, a four-time VOR participant who now serves as the event's operations director. “I remember when I was a kid and the Race visited Auckland, my home town. I went to meet Sir Peter Blake who lifted me up onto the helm of his boat, Ceramco. I instantly knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life.”
 | | New team bases to enhance fans' experience - Volvo Ocean Race © Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race |
A key goal of the pit lane experience is to give fans a better look at the amount of work and preparation that goes into each leg, as well as the overall culture of this storied race. To this end, the VOR has also announced that the race will be loosening its long-held no-internet-for-sailors rule, and will be allowing sailors to send social-media updates from the boats to their social-media networks using the race's proprietary “crew communicator” platform. Starting with the 2017-2018 edition of the race, fans can now get official updates from the onboard reporters, as well as crew updates via social-media feeds, provided, of course, that they are patched-in with the right social-media platforms and feeds.
Here, however, the VOR is clear that these social-media posts will be one-way feeds, and that the sailors will not be able to use their newfound internet access to receive responses, private email or other information that could somehow be used to their strategic advantage.
 | | Dongfeng Race Team – Volvo Ocean Race Sam Greenfield/Dongfeng Race Team/Volvo Ocean Race |
“All athletes have their own network, so it is a good way of making the race more personal,” said three-time VOR veteran Gerd-Jan Poortman (NED). Fans will be able to read what the sailors want to say–and not just what they are asked about in an interview. It is going to be great for fans.'
While the pit lane and the social-media feeds are designed to help fans become more engaged, the VOR also recently announced that all eight participating teams will be issued a team-branded M32 catamaran, as well as a support RIB, which will be used to take sponsor VIPs and guests out sailing. According to a VOR press release, more than 2,400 corporate guests were able to hop aboard the Volvo Ocean 65s during the last race, and this number is expected to spike more than four-fold thanks to the addition of the M32s.
 | | M32 Series Stockholm - 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race |
“The challenge that we have found is that the pressure of preparing the boats and crew for the next offshore leg limits guest sailing opportunities, especially leading up to the In-Port Race and departure day,” said VOR race director Phil Lawrence. “That's the main driver for introducing M32 boats into our stopovers. Our aim is to get even more people to have that unique experience on the water, even more entertainment on the water for the public, and even more value for sponsors in each Host City.”
While sponsor and VIP involvement are key aspects to the VOR, so too is safety and preparation, and the 2017-2018 VOR will require two key qualifiers: the 600-mile 2017 Fastnet Race, followed by a race from Plymouth, UK to Lisbon, Portugal (which collectively constitute “Leg 0”), and the Prologue Race, which will take crews from Lisbon, to Alicante, where they will remain until the VOR's official start.
 | | Skipper Charles Caudrelier (FRA) during Leg 8 to Lorient onboard Dongfeng Race Team in the 2014-2015 edition of the VOR. Yann Riou / Dongfeng Race Team |
“You train for months, alone, and so it's good to be able to do more racing as a team before the start,” said Charles Caudrelier (FRA), who served as skipper of the Chinese-flagged Dongfeng Race Team in the 2014-2015 race. “It's very different, racing under pressure, than training, and good for boat testing.”
 | | Volvo Ocean Race - In-port Race - Newport Leighton O'Connor |
Finally, for North American VOR fans, Newport, Rhode Island will again play host to the continent's sole stopover in May of 2018. So, if you love offshore racing as much as we do, plan to visit the “City by the Sea” in 2018 and check out these innovative changes for yourself. Who knows-you might even get lucky and find yourself aboard a team-branded MC32 catamaran or-even cooler-a Volvo Ocean 65.
Please stand by for more VOR news, as it becomes known.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor
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