The 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race is the 11th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, and an ongoing yacht race which started with an in-port race in Alicante, Spain on 29 October 2011 with six Volvo Open 70 at the start line. The 39,270 NM route goes to Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland and on to Itajaí. The next stop after Brazil is Miami and then across the Atlantic to Lisbon, followed by Lorient and the race is scheduled to finish with an in-port race in Galway, Ireland on 7 July 2012. The race consist of nine ocean races and ten in-port races.
Six teams started the race in October 2011. Of the teams only Team Sanya is racing a second hand boat, Telefónica Blue, which took thirdplace in the 2009-09 race.[1]
| Team & Boat name | Flag & Sail | Design Firm | Builder | Skipper | Boat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg Propulsion Mar Mostro |
USA15 | Juan Kouyoumdjian | New England Boatworks | Ken Read | |
| Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand Camper Lifelovers |
Marcelino Botin | Cookson Boatbuilders | Chris Nicholson | ||
| Team Telefónica Telefónica |
ESP1 | Juan Kouyoumdjian | King Marine | Iker Martinez | |
| Groupama Sailing Team Groupama 4 |
FRA17 | Juan Kouyoumdjian | Multiplast | Franck Cammas | |
| Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing Azzam |
UAE1 | Farr Yacht Design | Persico | Ian Walker | |
| Team Sanya Sanya Lan (formerly Telefónica Blue) |
CHN99 | Farr Yacht Design | King Marine | Mike Sanderson |
The race uses a scoring system where the overall winner will be the team with the most points at the end of the race. All races will count with no discards allowed. The boats are awarded points in every race, six to one in in-port races and 30–5 points (30, 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5) for ocean races (legs). The race have a total of nine ocean legs and ten in-port races. Due to piracy the legs to and from Abu Dhabi will be given two scores with the same total as the other legs. The scores will be divided 80+20 % and 20+80 % respectively.
In addition to the ocean and in-port races there will be no-score pro-am races in every port where sponsors and guests are given an experience as close to that of true professional sailing.[2]
The race began in Alicante on 29 October 2011. It is scheduled to end in Galway on 7 July 2012.[3][4]
| Event | Start Date | Finish Date | Start | Finish | Distance | Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi | Camper | Groupama | Puma | Sanya | Telefónica | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 29 October 2011 | Alicante | 6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Leg 1 | 5 November 2011 | 25 November 2011 | Alicante | Cape Town | 6,500nmi | 0 (DNF) | 25 | 20 | 0 (DNF) | 0 (DNF) | 30 |
| In-Port Race | 10 December 2011 | Cape Town | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |||
| Leg 2 | 11 December 2011 | 4 January 2012 | Cape Town | Abu Dhabi | 5,430nmi | 8 | 20 | 12 | 16 | 24 | |
| 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | |||||||
| In-Port Race | 13 January 2012 | Abu Dhabi | |||||||||
| Leg 3 | 14 January 2012 | 4 February 2012 | Abu Dhabi | Sanya | 4,600nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 18 February 2012 | Sanya | |||||||||
| Leg 4 | 19 February 2012 | 8 March 2012 | Sanya | Auckland | 5,220nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 17 March 2012 | Auckland | |||||||||
| Leg 5 | 18 March 2012 | 4 April 2012 | Auckland | Itajaí | 6,705nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 21 April 2012 | Itajaí | |||||||||
| Leg 6 | 22 April 2012 | 6 May 2012 | Itajaí | Miami | 4,800nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 19 May 2012 | Miami | |||||||||
| Leg 7 | 20 May 2012 | 31 May 2012 | Miami | Lisbon | 3,590nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 9 June 2012 | Lisbon | |||||||||
| Leg 8 | 10 June 2012 | 17 June 2012 | Lisbon | Lorient | 1,940nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 30 June 2012 | Lorient | |||||||||
| Leg 9 | 1 July 2012 | 3 July 2012 | Lorient | Galway | 485nmi | ||||||
| In-Port Race | 7 July 2012 | Galway | |||||||||
| Total score | 19 | 58 | 42 | 28 | 4 | 66 | |||||
On 29 October 2011 Abu Dhabi won the first In-Port race with Puma second and Camper third.[5] The winds was very light on the race day.
The 6,500 NM leg started 5 November 2011 at 1300 UTC.
Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand led the fleet out of Alicante and through the Gibraltar straits.
On 5 November 2011, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing lost its mast within hours of the race's beginning during heavy winds and high seas near Alicante. On 6 November 2011 Team Sanya was forced to head to port after damaging its hull.[6][7][8][9] Team Sanya withdrew from the first leg on 7 November after an assessment of the damage.[10]
The fleet were led round the turning mark near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha by Puma Ocean Racing, powered by BERG Propulsion on 17 November.[11] Several days later at 1500 hours on 21 November their mast failed, splitting into three bits. They retired from the first leg on 22 November and headed to Tristan da Cunha.[12]
Telefónica won the first leg, followed by Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand. Groupama placed third, several days after the leaders, as they missed the lowpressure system Telefónica and Camper used to cross the southern Atlantic at high speed.
To be held 10 December 2011.
The 5,430 NM leg started on 11 December 2011. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing led the fleet out of Cape Town. Team Sanya were forced to suspend racing following a rigging failure.[13] Due to the threat of piracy around Somalia, the fleet will head from Cape Town to a secret port and then be transported closer to the finish line for a sprint into Abu Dhabi. The first part give 80 % of the points (24, 20, 16, 12, 8 and 4 points) and the second part 20 % (6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points) for the same total of 30 to 5 points as the other ocean legs.
To be held 13 January 2012.
The 4,600 NM leg is to start 14 January 2012. Due to the threat of piracy around Somalia, the fleet will do a sprint from Abu Dhabi to a safe haven before being transported out of the danger area will be repeated. From the new port they will then head through the Bay of Bengal and then pass the Malacca Strait. The first part give 20 % of the points (6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points) and the second part 80 % (24, 20, 16, 12, 8 and 4 points) for the same total of 30 to 5 points as the other ocean legs.
To be held 18 February 2012.
The 5,220 NM leg is to start 19 February 2012.
To be held 17 March 2012.
The 6,705 NM leg is to start 18 March 2012. This leg, the longest in the race, will include safety waypoints designed to keep the boats north of the main areas of iceberg risk.
To be held 21 April 2012.
The 4,800 NM leg is to start 22 April 2012.
To be held 19 May 2012.
The 3,590 NM leg is to start 20 May 2012.
To be held 9 June 2012.
The 1,940 NM leg is to 10 June 2012. From Libson the fleet will head to a turning point at São Miguel Island before heading to Lorient.
To be held 30 June 2012.
The 485 NM leg is to start 1 July 2012. This leg is the shortest in the race.
To be held 7 July 2012.
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