Latest Volvo Ocean Race news

The Volvo Ocean Race is the only corporate sports event to qualify among the world’s most valuable sports properties.

Italy is back in the world’s premier ocean race for the first time since Brooksfield entered the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1993-94. Italy’s Giovanni Soldini has been named as the skipper of the Italia 70 team, which will race under the Italian flag with a fully Italian crew.

In one of the closest finishes in the race to date, Ericsson 4 held off the recently resurgent PUMA and Green Dragon teams to win Leg 8, and claim their third consecutive leg win and fifth in the race so far. The victory puts Ericsson 4 in an all but unassailable position on the leaderboard.

When the sports colossus Puma took the decision to expand its product range, the means to the end was never in doubt. The company put its money on the Volvo Ocean Race. “Sailing is the perfect blend of sport and lifestyle and the Volvo Ocean Race is the road that leads our firm into the world of competitive sailing,” says the CEO of Puma, Jochen Zeitz.

Last time, Ericsson ended in fifth place. But despite some sporting mishaps, they made a come-back this year. And not just to prove their sailing skills. “Our main concern is naturally business,” says Richard Brisius, managing director of the Ericsson Racing Team. “The previous race was a commercial success.”

Pirate threats and a global financial crisis - the route by sail around the world has provided many challenges for the organisation behind the Volvo Ocean Race. “But we’ve ridden out all the storms,” says the CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad.

Fundamentally sound values, excellent leadership, and concern for the environment. “These are the qualities that Volvo and the international Scouting movement share,” says His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden, who holds the position of Honorary Head of the World Scout Foundation. “These shared qualities make both these organisations fitting partners in an undertaking such as the Volvo Ocean Race.” His Majesty the King of Sweden paid a visit to Boston, U.S., during the weekend of the in-port race to take part in the annual meeting of the World Scout Foundation.

Skipper Magnus Olsson and his Nordic crew have won leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the finishing line in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro this morning.

It can be tough. Nearly impossible when the boat lurches and rolls. But then Guy Salter isn’t just a media member of the crew on board the Ericsson 4 – he’s also a biologist. And overjoyed that he is along on this trip and can chart the movement of life in the world’s oceans.

Telefonica Blue took the victor’s laurels on the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/2009. Into second place sailed Puma while Ericsson 4 took bronze in what many competitors regarded as the toughest leg in the history of the race.