Volvo Ocean Race Departs Newport With a Return in 2018 Possible
Monday, May 18, 2015
The Volvo Ocean Race fleet departed Newport, Rhode Island on Sunday and is headed for Lisbon, Portugal.
Huge Success
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Newport has been a great success. I’ve been to an American stop seven times since I did my first race as a sailor and I cannot recall anything as good as this. We waited 42 years to come to Newport and that was way too long," said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad on the stopover.
The success of the Newport Stopover led Frostad and the Volvo Ocean Race to enter into a exclusive two-month negotiating window with local organizers and state officials to bring the race back to Newport in 2018.
During the 12 day stopover, the race village at Fort Adams State Park saw 125,000 fans come through and participate in the various events taking place. That number is five times the population of Newport and five times the number of visitors that last U.S. Stopover had in Miami three years ago.
Home Stretch
With just six weeks left in the race, the fleet will return to European soil for the first time in almost eight months in Lisbon. The race will conclude on the weekend of June 19-21 with the final race day taking place on June 27 with the Gothenburg In-Port Race.
Current Standings
1 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE) 11
2 Dongfeng Race Team (CHN) 17
3 Team Brunel (NED) 21
4 Team Alvimedica (USA/TUR) 24
5 MAPFRE (ESP) 24*
6 Team SCA (SWE) 35
7 Team Vestas Wind (DEN) 44
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