Early Tuesday morning April 8th, as the sun was coming up, the first Volvo Ocean Race boats emerged through the morning fog marking the end of a 5700 mile trip from Itajai Brazil to Newport RI. This is the second consecutive time Newport has played host to the Volvo Ocean Race, but Newport is no novice when it comes to hosting sailing events. Newport had a historic run hosting America’s Cup from 1930 to 1983 and is the venue for countless regattas every year. Newport is arguably the sailing capital of the country and it’s a fitting and beautiful venue to host such an event
The Volvo Ocean Race is an epic race pitting seven teams and their Volvo 65 one-design boats on an odyssey around the world. The race makes 13 stops over 11 legs. The boats begin in Alicante Spain, circumnavigate the globe and finish in the Hague. Some of the finest sailors in the world take part in the race that is equal parts skill, endurance, and adventure. This past leg saw the boats cross the equator for the final time and took nearly 16 days to complete only to see the winner MAPFRE cross the line 1 minute head of the Brunel.
As a local Rhode Islander working for a Rhode Island-based company, it gives me a lot of pride that our community can play host to this kind of event. You can see support for the race on virtually every business in town and local homes showing support for their favorite team. It also provides perspective on the history that cities like Newport have played over the years. Newport is home to many sailors, but the Volvo Ocean Race provides a great gateway for non-sailors and people unfamiliar with the sport to learn and understand more about sailing. I believe a major part of its appeal is the endurance, hardship, and sacrifice these sailors make to take part in it. These legs take the sailors to some of the roughest parts of the world’s oceans, dealing with constant cold and wet in difficult conditions for days and weeks on end. It’s an amazing physical and mental accomplishment and that human element is captivating. Fortunately for the fans, the Volvo Ocean Race is not as intense now that the boats are docked and the Race Village is open. Stop by and see all the interactive features available and see the incredible boats.
A big focus of this edition of the Volvo Ocean race is raising awareness about ocean pollution and steps we can take to help clean up our oceans.
“Did you know that eight million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year? That’s a whole garbage truck per minute – and 80 per cent of that comes from land-based sources. It means that if no action is taken, the ocean will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.”
– Volvo Ocean Race
Single-use plastic is a major culprit contributing to this problem. Individuals and companies can take steps to reduce the use of plastics and help prevent them from making their way into our oceans. At Advanced Remarketing Services, a big part of what we do is facilitate the scrapping and recycling of junk cars. Steel, aluminum, and plastic make up the majority of your vehicle and 80 percent of that can be recycled, reducing the impact on landfills and helping reduce pollution in our oceans as well. We are deeply involved with the recycling impact on the land, but we can’t forget about the impact our wast, particularly plastic has on our oceans. To learn more about vehicle recycling see our blog post on the benefits of recycling your car. For more information on what you can do and different programs available for cleaning up our oceans visit. www.volvooceanrace.com/en/sustainability
Here at Advanced Remarketing Services, we may not have a direct link to the Volvo Ocean Race, but we have a link to the city and town of Newport RI and we are proud of that connection