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Eleven crewmembers on each of the race boats push themselves to the
limit of human endurance over periods as long as 25 days at sea,
in the most hostile oceans of the world
The teams will face extremes of temperature ranging from
-15 degrees in the Southern Ocean to 45 degrees at the equator
Three of the onboard sailing team must be aged 30 or under.
This allows young sailors to gain Volvo Ocean Race
experience and helps secure the legacy of the race
The 2011-12 race is the 11th edition of the event
In addition to the offshore legs, in-port racing will
give the public front row seats to watch a
spectacular show of speed, technology
and skill
as the Volvo Open 70s race in the Host Port harbours
There are 10 Host Ports: Alicante (Spain), Cape Town
(South Africa), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China),
Auckland (New Zealand), Itajaí (Brazil),
Miami (USA), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France)
and Galway (Ireland)
The race starts in Alicante, Spain on October 29, 2011 and finishes on July 7, 2012 in Galway, Ireland
Ericsson 4 (Leg 1, 2008-09) holds the world mono-hull 24-hour speed record, 596.6 nautical miles. That is an average speed of 24.9 knots.
Sailors in the 2011-12 race have 8 Olympic medals between them, 4 gold and 4 silver. Team Telefónica have 5 while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing have 3.
The race has sailors from 15 nations, 20 NZL, 9 AUS, 8 FRA, 8 ESP, 5 USA, 5 GBR, 2 IRL, 3 RSA, 2 SWE, 2 UAE, 1 GER, 1 NOR, 1 BRA, 1 CHN, 1 BEL
221,000 people played the official Volvo Ocean Race game during the last race. The prediction for this race is for over a million players
Close to 4 million people came to the Volvo Ocean Race villages in the last race.