Pit stop in Wellington, New Zealand for Volvo Ocean Race

Southampton, England, September 29, 2004 – Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, joined Mayor Kerry Prendergast, Wellington City Council, and Stephen Moir, Commodore of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club (RPNYC), to announce that New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, will host a pit stop for the Volvo Ocean Race from 17 - 19 February 2006.  Although the event has a long association with New Zealand, this will be the first time that the race has visited Wellington.

The Volvo fleet will race from Melbourne in the third leg of the event, arriving in Wellington for a pit stop of between 24 and 48 hours.  The fourth leg of the race to Rio de Janeiro, will be a fleet restart on either February 18 or 19, depending on the time of arrival in Wellington.

The only other scheduled pit stop during the 2005-06 race will be New York in May 2006. The pit stop concept was first introduced to the Volvo Ocean Race in Hobart during the 2001-02 event when the fleet took part in the gruelling Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

“This is the world’s premier ocean race and Wellington has one of the most exciting positions geographically for ocean racing. Hosting the Volvo Ocean Race fleet here is confirmation of that – it literally puts us on the global ocean racing map,” said Mr Moir.

Glenn Bourke added,  “It’s great to be including Wellington as a new port to the Volvo Ocean Race itinerary, and it will be a pleasure to bring the competition to such an event-friendly city.  The Volvo Ocean Race has always been well supported by New Zealanders and we are very pleased to have the first pit stop of the event in the southern hemisphere.”

Wellington Mayor, Kerry Prendergast, said the event would bring global media attention to Wellington. “The international media coverage that this event attracts will be fantastic for Wellington’s global profile.  Wellington is now building a reputation as an ocean racing port of the highest standing and we are looking forward to giving the Volvo Ocean Race a very warm welcome when they arrive.”

For further information on the Volvo Ocean Race, please contact
Lizzie Green, Tel: +44 1489 554 832  Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Website: www.volvooceanrace.org

Mike Boswell, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club 
Tel: +64 21 289 0815
Email: mike.boswell@rpnyc.org.nz

Current stills archive (royalty-free images for media):
http://media.vemuk.com
For assistance, please contact: Patrick Anderson,
Tel +44 777 55 33 956, Email: mailto:Patrick.Anderson@volvooceanrace.org

• Notes to editors
• The Volvo Ocean Race will start with an in port race in Sanxenxo, Galicia, on November 5, 2005.
• The start of leg one, the first offshore leg, will be from Vigo, Galicia, on November 12, 2005.
• The Volvo Ocean race is a round the world yacht race featuring nine offshore racing legs.  Included in the 2005-2006 event will be an inshore race at each of the main stopover ports including the start port in Galicia.
• Four teams from the last race measured the media value of their exposure. The results showed an average of US$50 million, which equates to a 200-300% return on their sponsorship investment.
• Volvo Ocean Race achieved a cumulative audience of over 800 million viewers ranking it among the top international sporting events.
• Research on awareness of the competing teams was also conducted which again showed an increase by up to 30% for some sponsors.