Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) is a yacht race around the world. Held every four years, the race takes the competing yachts through some of the worst sailing conditions in existence. Though the route is changed to accomodate various ports of call, the race typically departs England in September. The general route leads down into the southern ocean, round the tip of Africa, and then around the southern ocean - where waves sometimes top 100 feet and winds can reach 60 knots. Competitors eventually round Cape Horn and turn back into the atlantic for the trip back to England. The route generally covers in excess of 28,000 miles over open ocean - not for the faint of heart.

In 1972 England's Whitbread company and the British Royal Naval Sailing Association agreed to sponsor a globe-circling regatta, which would be called the "Whitbread Round the World Race". The race has been greatly modified in the ensuing thirty odd years, but remains true to it's original goal: A test of will, courage and skill against the best (or more accurately, worst) nature has to offer. Along with the Vendee Globe, the Whitbread (now Volvo Ocean Race) is the ultimate sailing adventure.

Whitbread 1973-1974

The first race started off from Portsmouth, England on September 8, 1973. Seventeen yachts of various sizes and shapes took part. During the race three sailors were swept over board, never to be seen again.

Sayula II skippered by Ramon Carlin won the overall race in a time of 133 days 13 hours.

Whitbread 1977-1978

On August 27, 1977, 15 boats started out from Southampton under gale force winds and driving rain.

Flyer a Sparkman & Stephens designed yacht skippered by Cornelius van Rietschoten won the race. All 15 boats finished the 26,780 nautical mile race.

Whitbread 1981-1982

On August 8, 1981, 29 boats started out from Southampton.

Flyer, a German Frers designed maxi skippered by Cornelius van Rietschoten (a.k.a Conny van Rietschoten), winner of the 1977-78 race, won the race. Unusually, Flyer won both on line honours AND on handicap. Only 20 finished the race out of the 29 that started it.

Whitbread 1985-1986

On September 28, 1985, 15 boats started out from Southampton.

L'Esprit d'Equipe skippered by Lionel Péan won the race in a corrected time of 111 days 23 hours. Phillips Innovator was second, and Fazer Finland third. (UBS Switzerland was named first on elapsed time, with Lion New Zealand as runner-up. Drum (carrying owner/pop star Simon Le Bon) finished just a breath behind.)

Whitbread 1989-1990

1989-90 Overall Final Standings

The race was run with several classes (for size of boat). This race featured the first all-woman crew on Tracy Edwards' Maiden. Although in a much smaller boat than many of their male counterparts the ladies fared well - claiming two leg victories in class. The tradition of the Whitbread including an all-female crew remains to this day.

1989-90 Leg Winners

Steinlager 2 skippered by Peter Blake won the race easily. For the first time since 1981-82 (when the race comprised just four legs), the victor won every leg (albeit closely chased by both Grant Dalton's Fisher & Payskel NZ and Pierre Fehlmann's Merit entries). The vast difference in speed and capability of the many different boats involved in the 89-90 race lead to the creation of a committee to examine the commission of a Whitbread class boat for use in future races. Many of the Maxi yachts in this years race were nearly twice the size (LOA) of the smallest, and carried well over twice the sail area. The net result of this was that many of the smaller boats finished the longer legs more than ten days after the leg winner. In the overall results, the last finisher was some 52 days behind Blake's Steinlager 2 128 day aggregate time. In addition, the expense of the big yachts was getting to be too much - even for the well funded teams like Steinlager, Rothmans and Merit. Eventually, the new class would be called the W60 - but it's gestation would not be quick or lack controversy.

Whitbread 1993-1994

The 1993-94 Whitbread was run to "mixed class" rules (as with prior races). New for the 93/4 race was a purpose built Whitbread boat - the W60. As with previous years a handicap was applied to different boats based on their race rating. The competitors were none too keen or running both Maxis and W60's together. The two competing classes battled throughout with protest flags always at the ready. Many entrants wanted the old maxis banned for this year, however owing to concerns over whether enough new boats would be ready (not to mention the large investments the Maxi owners had made in previous years), several Maxis were allowed to compete in the 93-94 race.

1993-94 Final Standings

Intrum Justitia was originally skippered by Roger Nillson, who was injured on the first leg.

• Corrected time takes the boat's handicap into account

Leg Results:

Whitbread 1997-1998

Race run for the first time with all W60 boats and to a "points vs time" (instead of aggregate leg time) scoring system to enhance the value of the shorter race legs. Also, in an effort to attract additional media coverage, the Whitbread race committee divided the race into no less than 9 legs for the 97-98 race. Volvo had it's first major association with the race in 1997-98 by sponsoring the trophy (thus the race was officially known as the Whitbread 'round the world race for the Volvo Trophy) and some of the media coverage. For the first time running to W60-only specification, this year's Whitbread attracted just 10 entries - the fewest to date.

Overall Results:

• Toshiba was originally skippered by Chris Dickson. Dickson was fired after Leg 1. Hans Bouscholte was also replaced by Roy Heiner after leg 1. America's Challenge syndicate withdrew prior to the start of leg two for financial reasons.

Leg Winners:

Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002

For the 2001-2002 race the sponsorship of the race being taken over by Volvo and Volvo Cars. The race was renamed the Volvo Ocean Race. Stopovers were added in Germany, France, and Sweden being the Volvo's three biggest car markets in Europe. In addition the points system had been modified significantly in an effort to keep the race competitive until the final leg. The previous "points" race having been effectively won two full legs before the final gun.

2001-02 Overall Final Standings

John Kostecki, who had co-skippered with George Collins on Chessie Racing in the 1997-98 Whitbread to great effect, captained his first Volvo Ocean race winner in 2002. Assa Abloy's new composite mold technique proved very quick, but not quite quick enough, while long time Whitbread skipper Grant Dalton's two boat syndicate suffered badly from a lack of preparation time (the Amer boats were last in the water).

For Leg 3, yachts joined the iconic Australian Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race that begins on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day).

The next Volvo Ocean Race will start in Europe in the autumn of 2005. Currently six boats are entered (Dec/04) in the new format (Volvo 70 boats instead of the W60's of the last three races). For the first time, the Ocean race will not start in England as the Galicia region in Spain has been selected as the starting point. The race will again run nine legs, but will also feature some "pit stops" designed to break up the longer legs into more manageable sections (and, of course, provide more media exposure). It seems the original Whitbread concept is in danger of being released with the 2005-06 race.

See also

• Volvo Baltic Race
• Vendee Globe

External Links

• Volvo Ocean Race (http://www.volvooceanrace.org/) - Official site
• Volvo Ocean Race (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/volvooceanrace/) - National Geographic