Big Boat Boogie ‘Round the World Race
It is said that the notion of a round the world yacht race was born over a pint of beer in an English pub. From that soggy beginning, the first Whitbread Round the World Race left Portsmouth, United Kingdom on September 8, 1979. The fleet included 17 assorted boats with 163 crew members. The basic plan was to have the boats sail “downhill” by using the same route as the square-riggers. As the name suggests, the Whitbread Brewing Company was the primary sponsor of the race in the beginning.
There just can’t be a story about a sporting event without a score card, therefore, consider the following:
Edition Winning Yacht
1973-74 Sayula II, Mexico
1977-78 Flyer, Netherlands
1981-82 Flyer II, Netherlands
1985-86 L’Esprit d’Equipe, France
1989-90 Steinlarger 2, New Zealand
1993-94 NZ Endeavour, New Zealand
1997-98 EF Language, Sweden
2001-02 Illbruck Challenge, Spain
2005-06 ABN Amro I, Netherlands
2008-09 Ericsson 4, Sweden
2011-2 currently underway
As round the world races go, the first event was relatively short. It covered a little over 25,000 miles and had only four stops: Portsmouth to Cape Town, Sydney to Rio, and back to England. Three crewmembers were lost over board in really big seas, possibly the boats were not well equipped for the conditions. The Mexican yacht Sayula II, a Swan 65, won this event in 155 days, handicapped to 133 days.
The Round the World race is staged every three years. To date, ten races have been staged with the eleventh currently underway. As the race developed, the course got longer and the boats entered got bigger and faster. Similar to the America’s Cup event, there was concern that the race would become so expensive that it would die. The Whitbread 60 was introduced in an attempt to standardize the boats and control costs. Owners of the larger boats were upset because they already had very expensive boats ready to campaign. However, the 1993 event was raced with the newly minted W60s and a mix of maxi ketches. The 1997 and 2001 round the world events were raced exclusively with W60s. Sixty feet is not a very big boat in the southern ocean but the W60s were designed and built for the conditions that they would encounter.
The W60s are a Bruce Farr design and are similar to the Volvo Open 70s with at least one significant difference being they do not carry near the sail area and are not as fast. Even though a 60 is able to surf off the top of a wave at 35 knots, a 70 can cruise along at 24 knots hour after hour. 2001 was also was the year that Volvo assumed sponsorship of race. The race’s name changed to The Volvo Open Ocean Race. By 2001, the race had lost all semblances of an amateur sporting event. Even though there never has been a purse associated with this race, there is nothing at all amateur about the participants. Experience and talent needed on deck in the roaring forties are expensive. By this time the race had gotten longer with the 2001 event having nine stops in 34,000 nautical miles. Also, the fleets had been growing smaller; there were only eight boats in this race. However, they were 8 serious and aggressive Volvo Open 70s.
The 2005-06 event was the first round the world race that did not begin in England but in Sanxenox, Spain. It is also the first event in which Volvo attempted to raise the profile of the event by conducting in-port buoy racing at each of the 9 stops.
During the 2005-06 race, The fleet of 7 was whittled down to 6 when the Spanish boat Movistar was lost when the mechanism that controlled the canting keel failed, allowing it to free wheel 80 degrees back and forth, damaging the boat. Fortunately the ABN Amro II, another 70, rescued the Movistar’s crew. In another incident, Hans Horrevoets, crewmember on the ABN Amro II, was not so fortunate. He was swept off the boat, was recovered, but could not be revived.
The American entry, Pirates of the Caribbean, finishing the
2005-06 race in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The tenth edition of the Volvo Round the world Race, 2008-09, had ten legs that included twenty-four separate events including ten ocean legs and fourteen in-port buoy racing events. Race number 10 began in Alicante, Spain, and, after 127 days, finished in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The winning Volvo Open 70 was Sweden’s Ericsson 4.
Over a third of a million miles sailed in ten races with many of those miles being cold, wet, exhausting, and probably scary. Sounds like it might be fun. More later about the 11th race, which is currently on its 2nd ocean leg.
Extraordinarily wet on the deck of a 70
New Zealand’s maxi ketch Endevour during the 1993-94 event
An illustration of a 70’s canting keel
Innovator Kvaerner, Volvo 60, leg two, 1997-98 race
