Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race is due to start from Alicante on October 11th. Preparations are now near complete for this prestigious event.

They've built a 500metre long footbridge to take people from the Meliá Alicante hotel to the wharves where the boats are moored. The access roads have been widened and a new roundabout has been built. The total cost of all this work is about 15m euros of which the Catalan Autonomous Government has financed 60% - the remainder is from private sponsorship. Such is the prestige of this event though that they expect to recuperate that easily. With an estimated 1million visitors that could well be true.

On Tuesday, the two Telefónica yachts - Azul and Negro were christened by the Infantas Elena and Christina. Since I feel I've contribute a fair amount of money to these boats, I wish them luck!

Last night over 20,000 people gathered in the village they've built for this event to watch the opening ceremony. Francisco Camps, president of the Catalan Autonomous Government started proceedings at 8:30pm. Visitors then witnessed the spectacle, “Alicante Door of the Oceans”, in which hundreds participated. During the ceremony they used more than 1,000 kilos of gunpowder and 50,000 watts of light and sound. So business as usual - lots of loud bangs and plenty of glitz.

From now until the start date there are different events staged for each day including visits to a replica of the Nao Victoria which was used by Juan Sebastián Elcano on the first around-the-world voyage in the 16th century.

The Volvo Ocean race 2008-09 will finish in St Petersburg, Russia - June 2009. The teams will have sailed more than 37,000 nautical miles via Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm.