Photos: L Tim Stonton R Tim Stonton

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Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:00:00 UTC

The Volvo Ocean Race Port and Teams Conference, a sure sign that the countdown to the 2008-09 race has begun in earnest, took place in Alicante last week.

The conference, hosted by the Alicante start port organisation, was attended by over 150 representatives from competing teams and ports hosting a race stopover.

Of particular interest were the updates provided by new additions to the Volvo Ocean Race family – Qingdao, Kochi, Singapore, Boston and Galway. Representatives from Qingdao included the city’s vice-mayor Madam Zang Aimin, who is also an Executive Board member of the Beijing Olympics Organising Committee. In her address to the delegates, Madam Zang said the race would stimulate interest in sailing among the ranks of youth sailors in China.

Ian Walker skipper of Green Team, a newcomer to the race, said attendance at the port conference was invaluable. “I got a real sense of just how big the Volvo Ocean Race is by being here and listening to the plans outlined by the ports and teams and the race organizers,” he said.

“Its great to talk to the other teams to hear what some of their problems are and to see what some of their good ideas are. There’s great camaraderie among everyone involved.”

Walker also gave an update on the progress of the Green Team. The main focus of the team’s efforts to date have been on fundraising while design and build continues apace at McConaghy Boats at Zhuhai in China.

“We have reached agreement with the first few crew members and the boat is coming on well. The deck goes on next week. The aim is to get the boat over to Ireland in June and start training,” Walker added.

Fellow 2008-09 race skipper, Andreas Hanakamp, also reported that the pieces of the Team Russia entry were falling into place.

“We are progressing very well,” he said. “We are where we should be eight months out from the start in terms of boat build.

“We will announce the core team in April. That will include guys with Olympic medals and a couple of laps around the world already. For now we are focusing on physical training”

Did you know that you can watch hours of race video at www.VolvoOceanRace.tv, the official Race TV channel for free!

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