Volvo Ocean Race Is Close To Announcing Return To Rhode Island

Monday, June 29, 2015

 

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Start of Leg 7 off the coast of Fort Adams on May 17th | Photo: Dan Nerney/Sail Newport

GoLocalProv has confirmed Brad Read, Executive Director of Sail Newport/Director of the Volvo Ocean Race Newport Stopover, is currently in Gothenburg, Sweden working with Volvo Ocean Race management and officials on a new contract that would bring the race back to Newport.

Noting the great enthusiasm and footfall of the Volvo Ocean Race Newport Stopover, Knut Frostad, CEO of Volvo Ocean Race, announced on May 16th that Newport had been awarded an exclusive two-month negotiating window to secure the North American stopover in the next edition of the global race.

While an announcement regarding Newport could come at anytime, the final route and dates for the 2017-'2018 race will be announced in January.

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Already six ports have been confirmed for the 2017-’18 race: Alicante, Spain, Cape Town, South Africa, Auckland, New Zealand, Lisbon, Portugal, Cardiff, Wales, and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Success Of Newport Stopover

More than 130,000 people visited the Race Village at Fort Adams State Park between May 5 - 17.

In comparison, 65,000 visited Newport for the 2012 America's Cup finals.

The large crowds during the 12 day event ranked Newport ahead of Abu Dhabi and on equal footing with Cape Town, even though Newport’s population is a fraction of those ports.

Read was named "Seahorse Sailor Of The Month" for July by Seahorse Magazine for his leadership and the success of the Newport Stopover.

Enthusaism To Bring Race Back To Newport

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Knut Frostad, CEO of Volvo Ocean Race, speaking with media in Newport on May 16th | Photo: Dan Nerney/Sail Newport

Before the Volvo Ocean Race left Newport for Lisbon, Frostad shared with the media that the Newport stopover saw the most visitors (quadruple that of any previous North American Stopover) since the race started visiting North America in 1989-’90, and he noted the enthusiasm of local residents.

“I’ve been to an American stopover seven times now and can’t recall anything as good as this,” Frostad said of Newport back in May. 

Frostad also said that although it took a while for the race to visit Newport, a key to returning would be a strong commitment from governing officials. Frostad noted that Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and RI Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed were committed to bringing the race back to the City-by-the-Sea. 

“Hosting a stopover is a joint venture,” Frostad said in May. “We bring a show to the city and the city has to bring infrastructure and together we make the stopover. A good stopover has to do with enthusiasm and commitment from the government. It’s very much about the commitment of the government and the delivery partner, which in this case is Sail Newport. The local government, state government, governor and senator have all committed what they can to make the next stopover successful.”

 

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Make sure you mark each one of your bucket-list and there's no better time to start but now!

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#29

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#28

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#24

Visit the Norman Bird Sanctuary

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#23

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#22

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#21

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#20

Listen to Buddy Cianci Radio

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Make the East Bay Vineyard Crawl

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Visit Goosewing Beach

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Goosewing Beach provides you with all you could want and more.

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Ride or Run the East Bay Bike Path

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#14

Go to the Bristol 4th of July Parade

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If you attend near the Fourth of July, make sure to stick around for fireworks after the game. 

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#5

Walk Along The Cliffwalk

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#4

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#3

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#2

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#1

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