Race draws up secret route over piracy fears
Source: Agencies |
August 19, 2011, Friday
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FEARS of Indian Ocean piracy have forced the Volvo Ocean Race to draw up a secret route for the second and third legs of the 2011-12 round-the-world challenge, organizers said yesterday.
Plans to sail through an East African corridor in the Indian Ocean on Leg Two from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, and again on Leg Three from Abu Dhabi to Sanya in China, have been scrapped after advice from marine safety experts and the sport's governing body.
Instead, competing boats will race from Cape Town to an undisclosed 'safe haven' port, be transported closer to Abu Dhabi, and then complete the leg from there.
The process will be reversed for the third leg before the race continues on to Sanya, the fourth of 10 host ports in a race that will not finish until July 2012.
"This has been an incredibly difficult decision," said race chief executive Knut Frostad. "We have consulted leading naval and commercial intelligence experts and their advice could not have been clearer: 'Do not risk it.'
"The solution we have found means our boats will still be racing into Abu Dhabi and competing in the in-port race there. Abu Dhabi is an important part of our plans, a real highlight being the race's first-ever stopover in the Middle East, and we will now have a really exciting sprint finish to the emirate over the New Year period as well."
The race, with six teams declared so far, is to set off from Alicante to Cape Town in November, and will finish in July 2012 in Galway, Ireland.
Piracy is a well-organized and highly lucrative business and has expanded into a vast area off the coast of Somalia, with Somali pirates currently holding a number of vessels to ransom.
Plans to sail through an East African corridor in the Indian Ocean on Leg Two from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, and again on Leg Three from Abu Dhabi to Sanya in China, have been scrapped after advice from marine safety experts and the sport's governing body.
Instead, competing boats will race from Cape Town to an undisclosed 'safe haven' port, be transported closer to Abu Dhabi, and then complete the leg from there.
The process will be reversed for the third leg before the race continues on to Sanya, the fourth of 10 host ports in a race that will not finish until July 2012.
"This has been an incredibly difficult decision," said race chief executive Knut Frostad. "We have consulted leading naval and commercial intelligence experts and their advice could not have been clearer: 'Do not risk it.'
"The solution we have found means our boats will still be racing into Abu Dhabi and competing in the in-port race there. Abu Dhabi is an important part of our plans, a real highlight being the race's first-ever stopover in the Middle East, and we will now have a really exciting sprint finish to the emirate over the New Year period as well."
The race, with six teams declared so far, is to set off from Alicante to Cape Town in November, and will finish in July 2012 in Galway, Ireland.
Piracy is a well-organized and highly lucrative business and has expanded into a vast area off the coast of Somalia, with Somali pirates currently holding a number of vessels to ransom.
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