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The Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) is a yacht race around the world, held every three years. Originally named after its initiating sponsor, British Whitbread brewing company, it today carries the name of its current owner, Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo Cars and Swedish multinational manufacturing company, the Volvo Group. Presently, the Netherlands holds the record of three wins, with Dutchman Conny van Rietschoten (March 23, 1926 – December 17, 2013) the only skipper to win the race twice. Though the route changes to accommodate various ports of call, the race typically departs Europe in October, and in recent editions has had either 9 or 10 legs, with in-port races at many of the stopover cities. The 2008–09 race started in Alicante, Spain, on October 11, 2008.〔 The route for the 2008–2009 race was altered from previous years to include stopovers in India and Asia for the first time.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Volvo Ocean Race - Race Schedule )〕 The 2008–09 route covered nearly , took over nine months to complete, and reached a cumulative TV audience of 2 billion people worldwide. During the nine months of the 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain in October 2011 and concluded in Galway, Ireland, in July 2012, the teams were scheduled to sail over of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Each of the entries has a sailing team of 9 professional crew who race day and night for more than 20 days at a time on some of the legs. They each have different jobs on board the boat, and on top of these sailing roles, there are two sailors that have had medical training, as well as a sailmaker, an engineer and a dedicated media crew member. No fresh food is taken on board, so the crew lives off freeze-dried fare; they will experience temperature variations from −5 to +40 degrees Celsius and will only take one change of clothes. ==History== In 1972 England's Whitbread company and the British Royal Naval Sailing Association agreed to sponsor a globe-circling regatta, which would be called the 'Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race'. 17 yachts and 167 crew started the first race of , which began from Portsmouth, United Kingdom on September 8, 1973. Approximately 3000 spectator boats set out to witness the historic start.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Volvo Ocean Race - History )〕 The original course was designed to follow the route of the square riggers, which had carried cargo around the world during the 19th Century.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Volvo Ocean Race – talkSailing )〕 From 2001 the ownership of the race was taken over by Volvo and Volvo Cars and the race was renamed the ‘Volvo Ocean Race’. Stopover ports were added in Germany, France, and Sweden being Volvo's three biggest car markets in Europe. Winning the race does not attract a cash prize, as the feat of competing is presented as sufficient reward. Many of the contestants in the Volvo Ocean Race tend to go into other professional teams after the race, such as certain members of Oracle Team USA. The worst weather conditions are usually encountered in the Southern Ocean where waves sometimes top and winds can reach . The 2014–15 race is set to last 39,379 nautical miles, which is the longest route in its history.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Volvo Ocean Race to stop in Newport, RI )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Volvo Ocean Race」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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