Volvo Ocean Race launches official Sustainability Programme with three key new partnerships

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

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United Nations Environment

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PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race

Following the ‘next decade’ event in Gothenburg on Thursday, see below for full details of the race’s sustainability partnerships

The Volvo Ocean Race has launched a major Sustainability Programme for the 2017-18 edition and beyond – signing partnerships with 11th Hour Racing, AkzoNobel and United Nations Environment, while outlining a series of commitments that focus on ocean health.

The race is putting sustainability at its heart and focusing on taking action to help ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’ – the rapidly growing and critical problem of plastic polluting the ocean, highlighted by the United Nations Environment’s Clean Seas campaign that is being adopted by the Volvo Ocean Race.

There are three key pillars to the Volvo Ocean Race sustainability strategy:

To minimise the race’s own footprint with a particular focus on reducing and where possible eliminating the use of single-use plastic by the teams, and in the Race Villages – a challenging task but one that will help to change behaviour by making it a focus.

To maximise the race’s impact using its global communications platform to spread awareness, an educational programme to change views, and a science programme, using the Volvo Ocean 65 racing yachts to capture data while at sea and contribute to our understanding of the oceans in the most remote areas of the planet.

To leave a positive legacy wherever it goes, through many actions but in particular the creation of Ocean Summits to bring together science, government, sport and business, with an objective of getting attending parties to commit to new positive actions in this area.

The three partnerships, announced in Gothenburg on Thursday during a major presentation on the race’s future, provide significant amplification of the race’s efforts.

11th Hour Racing will be the founding Principal Partner of the Sustainability Programme.

The partnership will allow the Volvo Ocean Race to work together with 11th Hour Racing on a wide spectrum of goals, from pioneering new approaches to tackling ocean plastic pollution issues, to providing a model of sustainable practices for the world of sports and event management; promoting change among sports fan as well as on a governmental level to foster long term planning around sustainability, particularly in relation to plastic consumption, waste and ocean health; and inspiring future generations.

This partnership will raise awareness on Ocean Health issues and promote solutions to the specific problem of plastic pollution. Volvo Ocean Race is committed to scaling up its activities right across the sustainability space. The partnership will include the organisation of a series of Ocean Summits to build on the impact created in the last edition in 2014-15, and the production of educational content in the Race Villages at every Host City.

The Summits will foster a space for dialogue, change and action among key stakeholders within governments, companies, education and scientific communities.

“11th Hour Racing and the Volvo Ocean Race are natural partners,” said Jeremy Pochman, Strategic Director and Co-Founder of 11th Hour Racing, a programme of The Schmidt Family Foundation which aims to increase our understanding of the oceans, find innovative solutions to the challenges that impact marine resources, and promote stewardship of the seas through strategic partnerships within the sailing and marine communities.

“Today we applaud a series of outstanding objectives and commitments around the broader concept of sustainability. This is the first milestone in a long term collaborative journey that will benefit the teams, increase the overall efficiency of the event, engage fans all over the world, benefit local and global communities, influence the sporting industry as a whole, and help restore and protect the health of our ocean and waterways.”

via Volvo Ocean Race launches official Sustainability Programme with three key new partnerships| Volvo Ocean Race.

The race has signed a partnership with AkzoNobel to amplify its Sustainability programme.

The partnership – will focus in particular on educating people about reducing plastic use and protecting our oceans – will pro-actively build on the long-established commitment to sustainability of both parties.

“Our involvement with the Volvo Ocean Race and the participation of team AkzoNobel are a perfect fit with our Planet Possible sustainability strategy,” explained André Veneman, AkzoNobel’s Corporate Director of Sustainability.

“There’s a fundamental link between the sustainability goals of the race itself and our own efforts to achieve radical resource efficiency, such as offering sustainable and innovative products to customers that provide a positive social and environmental impact. So it makes perfect sense for us to support the fantastic Volvo Ocean Race sustainability programme being put together for the next race.”

The race will also collaborate with the United Nations to help support its ‘Clean Seas’ campaign.

The partnership with UN Environment will see the Volvo Ocean Race use its storytelling platform to amplify the Clean Seas campaign to ‘Turn the Tide on Plastics’ in the ocean, tackling the growing problem of marine litter.

Together, Volvo Ocean Race and UN Environment will draw attention to what is at stake – with one study predicting that there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050 * if we do not act. Each of the Volvo Ocean 65s will carry the Clean Seas message on the boom and the race will amplify the campaign in all 12 Host Cities and across the globe, seeking strong commitments to combat marine litter from countries, cities and individuals alike.

“Marine plastic pollution is a global problem that needs global solutions. Through the #CleanSeas campaign, UN Environment is bringing together countries, companies and citizens who are committed to protect our oceans. We are so excited that Volvo Ocean Race has joined this effort and hope that through this partnership we will see even more commitments. Together, we can turn the tide on plastic,” commented Erik Solheim, Executive Director, United Nations Environment.

via Volvo Ocean Race launches official Sustainability Programme with three key new partnerships| Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner explained the three pillars of the Volvo Ocean Race strategy.

“Firstly, we have to minimise our own impact and that’s true right across all of our operations. Specifically, we are trying to reduce, or eliminate where we can, single use plastics in our Race Villages and our own operations because that problem in its own right is a major one for the health of our oceans.

“Secondly, we are using our global communications platform to change other people’s views and other people’s behaviour in this respect.

“And, thirdly, our goal is to leave a legacy. We go to 12 Host Cities and in each location we are able to impact, influence, change views, and get new commitments while we are there from governments and business.

“We will use a series of Ocean Summits to bring science, politics, government and sport together to get them to commit to changing the way they behave or operate.”

Looking further ahead, the Volvo Ocean Race will use the One Design race boat platform to do everything possible to reduce and then eliminate fossil fuels on board the boats in the future.

The use of a hydro-generator for the first time during the 2017-18 edition should be a significant first step in reducing the use of fossil fuels, with race management able to mandate the use of the hydro-generators by each team.

The long-term vision will be to eliminate the use of fossil fuels on future boats, while maintaining the minimum energy onboard for safety and communications. The commitment to One Design for the new 60-foot foiling monohull unveiled at the Gothenburg announcement provides the best platform to make this happen in the fastest possible time.

One Design means some small compromises on performance can be made to help deliver better solutions in other areas – for example a small weight gain in a One Design fleet, impossible when teams are doing their own designs, can be imposed to allow a heavier but healthier energy source.

“Achieving zero fossil fuel while maintaining safety and communication capacity will take time as the technologies continue to develop,” commented the race’s CEO Mark Turner, “but the important thing is to have a clear goal and ambition.”

Also in 2017-18, the race opted to deliver to all teams the RIB support boats used for both performance management, safety and guest transfers – rather than each team sourcing their own. By managing the whole process and delivering centrally, the race has been able to switch everyone to using a low emission petrol engine from Volvo Penta – with the best-in-class energy efficiency and environment footprint currently available. Centralising non-performance elements of the teams’ operations has allowed many such savings in both energy footprint and cost.

Further details on this Sustainability programme will be released closer to the start of the 2017-18 edition in October.

* World Economic Forum report : The New Plastics Economy January 2016

via Volvo Ocean Race launches official Sustainability Programme with three key new partnerships| Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean Race’s bold new vision creates professional sailing’s ultimate all round test

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

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Benoit Stichelbaut / Dongfeng Race Team

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Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race today unveiled a series of radical initiatives that will create the toughest all-round test in professional sailing

The Volvo Ocean Race today unveiled a series of radical initiatives that will create the toughest all-round test in professional sailing and strengthen the appeal of the 44-year-old round-the-world race to pro sailors, team owners and their sponsors, race partners, host cities and fans.

While the final preparations are being made for the 2017-18 edition, starting 22 October, race organisers used a live event at the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg, the home of the race’s owners and title sponsors, to present a bold vision for the next decade and beyond.

Highlights include the choice of a new 60-foot (18.29 metre) foil-assisted One Design ocean racing monohull, designed by France’s Guillaume Verdier, plus the introduction of a challenging 32-50 foot (10-15m) One Design ‘flying’ catamaran for In-Port Races, for which a new design and build tender process was launched today.

The offshore legs will remain the key to winning the Volvo Ocean Race, but the inshore racing will count more than the current situation, where it acts only as a tiebreaker. That means winning the race in future will demand expertise in both monohull racing offshore and multihull racing in the In-Port Series, as both platforms will be raced by essentially the same crew.

“Three hulls, but not what you might have imagined,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner, revealing the choice of the next generation One Design boats, and referencing the difficult decision of whether to opt for a monohull or multihull design for the ocean legs, a subject that has been passionately debated by Volvo Ocean Race fans.

The race also announced new initiatives including:

Putting sustainability at the heart of the race with the Clean Seas campaign of United Nations Environment, and key partnerships with 11th Hour Racing and AkzoNobel that will significantly amplify the global campaign. The sustainability platform is central to the positioning of the race going forward.

Race activity every calendar year, and the launch of a three-edition Host City tender process with options for tradition-busting new routes and stopover formats.

Building the pathway to the Volvo Ocean Race for sailors and sponsors, via a partnership with World Sailing, the sport’s governing body.

A sponsor-focused Global Team Challenge that will form the centrepiece of a Leadership Development and Team Performance Programme – capitalising on race learnings for business and re-using the Volvo Ocean 65 boats after the 2017-18 edition for the on-water part.

“We had a lot of debate about multihull versus monohull and, in fact, the final solution for us is to do both, so there will be three hulls in future editions – a foil-assisted monohull and a ‘flying’ catamaran,” said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner.

“The Volvo Ocean Race has always been the ultimate test of a team in professional sport and with these changes – collectively the most radical since the race began in 1973 – we are taking it up another level. The obsession that has led to generations of sailors putting everything on the line to win this race will continue, but to lift the trophy will require more skill, dedication and sacrifice than ever.

“We are staying true to our DNA as an ocean race but we will now also be testing the world’s best sailors to their limits inshore as well.

“At the same time, the commercial offering has so many extra elements added to it making it a powerful business transformation platform. We remain one of the few global, professional, world-class sporting events with a great commercial package that goes with it, with an outstanding Business to Business product, along with a rich heritage and strong consumer, media and employee activation options, much of it built into the campaigns.

“We are fortunate as well to have such strong and consistent backing from our owners Volvo, two decades on from their acquisition of the event. The race has never been in such a strong position as we look to the next decade and beyond.”

Volvo announced the agreement to buy the race from former owners Whitbread 20 years ago and has provided vision and staunch backing ever since.

“Volvo said at the time that the race successfully brings together adventure, sport and high level technology,” said Volvo Group’s Henry Sténson, Executive Vice President for Communication & Sustainability Affairs.

“So while much has changed in the last 20 years, fundamentally, nothing has changed. We’re particularly excited to see the Volvo Ocean Race reinforce that commitment to innovation – an area that is so important to us at Volvo Group.”

In addition, Björn Annwall, Senior Vice President for Strategy, Brand & Retail at Volvo Cars, highlighted the race’s renewed commitment to sustainability.

“Volvo Car Group has been involved in sustainability projects for a long time and we’re excited to see the race strengthen its position as a sporting event that is so in tune with its ocean environment and one that inspires such passion.”

via Volvo Ocean Race’s bold new vision creates professional sailing’s ultimate all round test| Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean Race: The Next Decade

Key announcements from the Gothenburg event:

Sailing’s ultimate test: From the edition after 2017-18, the Volvo Ocean Race will be contested in a combination of a 60-foot foil-assisted monohull for the ocean legs and a 32-50 foot ‘flying’ catamaran for use in the In-Port Race Series. Together, they will establish the Volvo Ocean Race as sailing’s ultimate all-round test and strengthen its reputation as the ultimate test of a team in professional sport.

Foil-assisted monohull: The One Design monohull from the in-demand French naval architect Guillaume Verdier will use the latest generation foiling technology to make it incredibly fast to sail and spectacular to watch. Crew numbers are likely to be between 5 and 7, with incentives continuing for mixed male-female crews and youth sailors. The race will build eight of the new monohulls and deliver them from January 2019 onwards. They will be available to lease by teams to reduce campaign start-up costs, with sponsors involved in the current 2017-18 race to be given first option when Notice of Race and Commercial Participation Agreements are published this October.

IMOCA compatibility: Uniquely, the design brief retains an option to allow the boat platform to be converted, inexpensively and quickly, to a fully rules-compliant short-handed IMOCA boat. The 60-foot IMOCA class boats, used in iconic races such as the solo Vendée Globe, have been the drivers of some incredible technical innovation over the past few decades.

via Volvo Ocean Race’s bold new vision creates professional sailing’s ultimate all round test| Volvo Ocean Race.

‘Flying’ in-shore catamaran: Additionally, the race is launching a tender process for a new One Design 32-50 foot ‘flying’ catamaran for use inshore – a boat that will use some of the technology familiar from the America’s Cup and other new multihulls, albeit in a non-development One Design mode.

A sustainable future: The race has three pillars of action on sustainability – reduce its own footprint, maximise its impact using its global communications platform, and leave a positive legacy wherever it goes. Centred on a partnership with the United Nations Environment Clean Seas campaign, the focus will be on the call to action ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’. A founding partnership with 11th Hour Racing is providing the resource to permit significant amplification across all Science, Education and Ocean Summit programmes. AkzoNobel will further boost the education and awareness programme. The Volvo Ocean Race’s long term ambition is to reduce and then eliminate the use of fossil fuels on future boats, while maintaining safety and communication performance, as well as developing new construction methods and operational strategies for the race overall.

New racecourse and stopover formats: The race is planning big changes to the racecourse and stopover formats over the next decade – moves that will strengthen commercial appeal while preserving its sporting integrity. While the race is committed to two more starts from its home, and important partner, in Alicante, some future races could start and finish outside Europe, and potentially feature a non-stop leg around Antarctica or even a non-stop lap of the planet. But while routes may vary, the race will commit to visiting North America, South America, Australasia, Greater China, and at least 5 major European markets at least once every two editions, providing commercial clarity for any two-cycle plans even without the precise route being known. In addition, Host Cities will be able to choose from a range of flexible stopover formats – from the 24-48 hour pit-stop, to shorter form stopovers of five days, through to traditional ‘two weekend’ stopovers with full activation. The bidding process for the next three editions is launched today.

Race activity every year/Potential shift to two-year cycle: The Volvo Ocean Race Board has asked race management to look into the feasibility of shifting the race to a two-year cycle. That process is still ongoing but what is already certain is that in future there will be race activity of some kind in every calendar year – a clear evolution from the current situation, with a gap of over two years between editions.

A pathway to the Volvo Ocean Race: The race and its co-owners Volvo Car Group and Volvo Group will become official partners of World Sailing, as part of a long term strategic plan to develop the next generation of offshore sailors and their sponsors by providing a clear developmental pathway. The race will establish Volvo Ocean Race Academies as part of future Host Venue partnerships and will also provide a stepping stone for future offshore sailors into the Olympics, if and when offshore sailing is included, which could be a showcase event as early at Tokyo 2020.

Leadership Development and Team Performance Programme / Global Team Challenge: Organisers will introduce a new Leadership Development and Team Performance Programme for businesses, focusing on learnings from the race in areas such as leadership and teamwork. The programme will feature a ‘shadow’ ocean race called the Global Team Challenge, designed for sponsors to give their employees a unique experience of the sport under near identical conditions to those faced by the professionals. The Global Team Challenge will be safety focused, raced along part of the Volvo Ocean Race route, in detuned versions of the current generation Volvo Ocean 65s and with a ratio of 3 professional sailors to 8 amateurs. The basic package will be included in the commercial offering for team sponsors, with activation opportunities to support employee development HR programmes, Employer Branding (recruitment and talent acquisition) as well as additional opportunities for B2B and media activation. This programme will also act as a new entry point for future sponsors of teams in the race.

50th anniversary celebration: The Volvo Ocean Race began life in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race and 2023 marks its half-century. The race is considering plans for a special 50th anniversary race that will honour the sailing legends who have taken part.

The next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race starts from Alicante on 22 October 2017 and will visit a total of 12 Host Cities on six continents. The teams will compete over 46,000 nautical miles (83,000 kms) to the finish line in The Hague at the end of June 2018.

via Volvo Ocean Race’s bold new vision creates professional sailing’s ultimate all round test| Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean Race unveils combined Monohull-Multihull future – the ultimate test of a professional sailing team

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Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race has solved the question of whether its future should be monohull or multihull – by opting for both

The Volvo Ocean Race has solved the question of whether its future should be monohull or multihull – by opting for both. The introduction of a foil-assisted 60-foot (18.29 metre) monohull for the ocean legs plus an ultra-fast 32-50 foot (10-15m) flying catamaran for use inshore will elevate the race to the ultimate all-round test in professional sailing.

The race announced the next generation of One Design boats – to be introduced in 2019 and designed for use over at least six years ­– as the centrepiece of its vision for the next decade which significantly raises the game in both sporting terms and commercial value.

“We had a lot of debate about multihull versus monohull – strong arguments in both directions. We decided on three hulls – a monohull plus catamaran!” Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner revealed at a special event at the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg, home of the race’s co-owners Volvo Group and Volvo Car Group.

“This new formula for the Volvo Ocean Race will, for the first time, test world-class sailors at the top-end of both aspects of the sport – in what remains our core DNA offshore ocean racing on foil-assisted monohulls, plus inshore racing during the stopovers employing the latest ‘flying’ multihull technology.

“We’re using the best tool for each discipline. It’s going to push the sailors, and sailing teams overall, to levels they have never previously had to perform at in order to win one of sailing’s ultimate prizes.”

To win the Volvo Ocean Race in the future will demand expertise in both monohull on the offshore ocean legs and multihull racing in the In Port Series, as both platforms will be raced by essentially the same crew. Currently the In-Port series counts only as a tiebreaker in the case of equal points at the final finish line – in 2014-15 it actually changed the overall positions for two teams, confirming that it was already critical to do well even as a tiebreaker. In the future, the In-Port series will take slightly more importance again, but without changing the fact that it’s the ocean legs that count for the lion’s share of the points.

via Volvo Ocean Race unveils combined Monohull-Multihull future – the ultimate test of a professional sailing team| Volvo Ocean Race.

France’s in-demand Guillaume Verdier is designing the new monohull, which will use the very latest in foiling technology and is essentially a turbo charged IMOCA 60. The plan is that the design will include an option for the platform to be convertible, relatively quickly and inexpensively, to a short-handed rules-compliant IMOCA boat, able to compete in other major events on the IMOCA circuit such as the solo Vendée Globe and two-up Barcelona World Race.

A tender process opened today for the design and build of catamarans (32-50 foot; 10-15 metre) which will be built to a strict One Design rule like the monohulls, permitting much of the very latest ‘flying’ technology to be built in, but at relatively low cost.

“The America’s Cup, one of the other pinnacles of our sport, will always be at the absolute cutting edge development wise, with incredible technology leaps that we will see first-hand in Bermuda next week which are quite stunning,” said Turner. “We have seen the same technological advances in the IMOCA class with the introduction of foils in the recent Vendée Globe.

“Our goal with the Volvo Ocean Race is to set the bar as high as we can within the confines of existing campaign budgets, and within the context of One Design – where one is obliged to lock the technology level for each race cycle.”

Initial builds will be 8 of each mono and multihull, and will be made available to teams on a lease basis, thereby removing the asset purchase barrier that often prevents teams start-up, with sponsors involved in the upcoming 2017-18 edition getting first option. The first of the new boats will be completed by January 2019, with the whole fleet ready by the middle of that year.

Persico Marine in Bergamo, Italy will lead the construction of the new monohull and the race’s own team of boat builders and experts at The Boatyard will complete the final fit-out, at a location to be confirmed as part of the Host City Tender process.

While it will be strictly One Design, there will be a lot to play with and learn on these new machines – plenty of scope for ‘tinkerability’ by the teams in terms of the way the boat is set up to race. Possible evolutions in between editions will be built in as far as possible to the concept from the start.

“The new boats will be delivered on a lease basis, and along with the growing package of benefits provided centrally by the race, we expect budgets to be at a similar level today,” explained Race CEO Mark Turner.

Those team budgets are at an average of 10-12m euros spread over two years, including several million normally attributable to activation costs.

“The provision of central services and equipment allows the sailors to concentrate on winning the race on the water, rather than duplicating costs across the campaigns,” Turner continued.

“Teams and sponsors are going to have to act quickly because we do expect these exciting new boats to sell out quickly. The Notice of Race, Commercial Partnership Agreement, and Boat Lease for the next edition will be published before this upcoming 2017-8 race starts in October.”

via Volvo Ocean Race unveils combined Monohull-Multihull future – the ultimate test of a professional sailing team| Volvo Ocean Race.

Verdier, who is currently finalising plans for the next generation boat alongside his team of designers, said: “I’m extremely excited to be trusted with the task of delivering the next generation of Volvo Ocean Race boat. Volvo Ocean Race sailors have a reputation as relentless athletes who push extremely hard and the future boat design reflects that.

“For that reason, it’s important to retain a certain level of safety in the design, which is especially key due to the places the fleet races through, such as the Southern Ocean.

“Given their reputation, we know that Volvo Ocean Race sailors are unlikely to retract the foils, and where many single-handed sailors might slow down, they won’t.

“With that in mind, it’s a huge challenge to design a machine that is both extraordinary to sail, but also safe at the same time.”

Crew numbers will be between 5 and 7, plus the OnBoard Reporter, and rules will continue to include incentives for mixed male-female crews and youth sailors.

Speaking about the key decision on boat design, Turner also said that in the longer term, the race could even go fully multihull.

“Following our detailed discussions this time around, there is no longer any kind of conceptual barrier to the Volvo Ocean Race going multihull offshore in six years’ time, a decision to make just 3 to 4 years from now. We came very close to going that route this time.

“In the next decade, it’s very possible that we’ll see multihulls from the new French Ultime class racing across the oceans, most of the time flying above the water, rather than on it – a significantly greater challenge than doing so inshore in flatter water.

“But ultimately, we felt that it was too early in the development curve, especially when building a large One Design fleet, to jump in to this now. Modifying an entire fleet with every technology step is not realistic.”

via Volvo Ocean Race unveils combined Monohull-Multihull future – the ultimate test of a professional sailing team| Volvo Ocean Race.

Fifth Volvo Ocean Race entry Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag to represent Hong Kong in 2017-18

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Andrea Francolini

The fifth entry to the 2017-18 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race will sail under the name Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and will represent Hong Kong, it was announced today (full story below)

The fifth entry to the 2017-18 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race will sail under the name Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and will represent Hong Kong, it was announced today.

The campaign will be backed by Seng Huang Lee and Sun Hung Kai & Co., the Hong Kong-based owner of supermaxi yacht Scallywag, and aims to promote competitive sailing in Asia and build a long-lasting youth sailing legacy in the region. Hong Kong will be a Host City in the Volvo Ocean Race for the first time in the 2017-18 edition, starting in October.

“This campaign will showcase world class competitive offshore sailing in Hong Kong and China with the first time stopovers for the Volvo Race in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. I have every confidence that Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag will make Hong Kong proud,” said Lee.

Mr Lee grew up in Sydney, Australia, a stone’s throw from the start line of the iconic Sydney to Hobart Race – and it was watching the fleet leave every year for the start of the race that first got him hooked on sailing.

He purchased the 100-foot yacht Scallywag, previously known as Ragamuffin, in 2016, and the team has already set numerous speed records. The entry into the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race is the next step in Mr Lee’s long-term vision to build a strong sailing legacy in Asia, and see more Asian teams compete at international events.

The team, racing a Volvo Ocean 65, will be skippered by experienced Australian sailor David Witt, who returns to the Volvo Ocean Race following a 20-year absence, after competing in 1997-98 race onboard Innovation Kvaerner – the boat led by former Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Knut Frostad.

A veteran of the Sydney to Hobart Race, having competed the challenge over 20 times, Witt is regarded as one of the best heavy weather sailors in the sport, and is keen to retest his mettle in the Southern Ocean when the fleets heads south later this year.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the Scallywag team to represent Hong Kong on a truly global stage,” said Witt. “With the race returning to a more traditional route and competing in One Design yachts, we feel that we are capable of achieving something that has been a life long personal dream.”

With more than five months to go before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the starting grid is filling up.

The other confirmed entries so far are team AkzoNobel (skippered by Simeon Tienpont, Netherlands), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier, France), MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández, Spain) and Vestas 11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright, USA).

The race will start from Alicante on 22 October, with the fleet capped at eight One Design Volvo Ocean 65 racing yachts. Seven of them have undergone an extensive refit process after being raced in the 2014-15 edition; the eighth is brand new, built for team AkzoNobel.

The 2017-18 edition will see the teams cover a total of 46,000 nautical miles in a race that features a total of 12 Host Cities – including Hong Kong – and finishes in The Hague at the end of June.

The first ever Hong Kong stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race will take place in early 2018 with the boats expected to arrive from Melbourne on 20 January.

A series of races will be held in and around Hong Kong during the stopover including the In-Port Race and an Around the Island race.

On 18 May, Volvo Ocean Race will announce a series of initiatives designed to position the race for the next decade and beyond.

The presentation takes place at 0800 UTC in the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg, home of the race’s co-owners Volvo Group and Volvo Car Group. Fans can follow the announcements on Facebook Live.

via Fifth Volvo Ocean Race entry Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag to represent Hong Kong in 2017-18| Volvo Ocean Race.