VOLVO OCEAN RACE EM ITAJAI SC

One year to Itajaí

Setur/Marcos Porto
By April 2012, the Volvo Ocean Race sailors will have sailed over 28,000 nm since the start of the race and at the end of leg 5 the fleet will arrive in Itajaí, Brazil, the fifth stopover on the Volvo Ocean Race route.

Click to play One Year to Itajai - Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 Setur/Marcos Porto Setur/Marcos Porto "We had a team in the past, so our relationship with the race is very strong and we also expect to compete again with another team in the near future..."
37 years ago, the very first Whitbread fleet sailed around the world stopping in only three ports - Cape Town, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro, before finishing in the UK. Over the years the route for the Whitbread, which then became the Volvo Ocean Race, has altered, visiting more countries as the fleet races around the globe. But despite these changes, there have been a few of those countries that have found it hard to give it up and one is Brazil.

Alan Adler, Star World Champion in 1989 and J/24 world champion in 2006, is one of Brazil’s leading sailors and in the past, has had a close involvement with the round-the-world race. In the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race, he was the syndicate head of Brasil1, the first Brazilian boat ever to enter the race. Today he is the CEO of Brasil1 Sports and Entertainment.

Adler believes there is a deep-rooted connection that ties the country with the race. “Brazil has been running the Volvo Ocean Race for many years, so it’s important to keep it in Brazil and in South America,” he states.

“We had a team in the past, so our relationship with the race is very strong and we also expect to compete again with another team in the near future. So it’s very important to keep promoting the Volvo Ocean Race in Brazil, so the media and the public can understand. And once we have Brasil1 back in the race, it will be great!”

Brazil’s association with the race goes back more than three decades; the first two editions stopped in Rio de Janeiro, as did the last three. São Sebastião was also a host port, during the 1997-98 Whitbread. In total, the Volvo Ocean Race / Whitbread race has visited Brazil six times and for next edition the city of Itajaí, in the state of Santa Catarina, has opened its doors to the event.

“For Santa Catarina, there are many reasons to host the Volvo Ocean Race. Firstly, we’re talking about one of the top ten world sporting events, so we know the importance of such a global event in terms of the image for Santa Catarina, the potential for tourism and the economic business involved in promoting this area of the country,” explains Adler.

“Today Santa Catarina is one of the biggest and most important states in terms of tourism in Brazil. There is a lot of business involved in this area and it is the second biggest harbour in terms of exports in the country. I think that associating the country with the Volvo Ocean Race and bringing all this attention to Santa Catarina is a great thing. Santa Catarina is not holding any world cups or Olympic games, so the Volvo Ocean Race is a natural candidate to fill this gap,” he continues.

The 6700 nm of leg 5 may present some of the severest conditions of the race. After sailing through the Southern Ocean, the latitudes of the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties and finally rounding the infamous Cape Horn, the exhausted sailors will look forward to the Brazilian welcome of Itajaí.

“I think were going to have great support and great attendance,” Adler enthuses. “Not only from the people in Itajaí but also from the surrounding areas. I think everyone will be looking forward to receiving the boats and getting to know the Volvo Ocean Race.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of engagement and commitment, especially from the local governments and local populations. They are already getting involved now and running some new projects and I’m sure that there will be a lot of crowds waiting for the boats to arrive in Itajaí next April.”