Race Report 2017-18
1 Bigger than sport The Volvo Ocean Race is a challenge bigger than sport. It is the world’s longest and toughest sporting event, with best sailors on the planet battling the elements, as well as each other, in a test of teamwork, skill and individual endurance. As a sailor, the deprivations you experience on the Volvo Ocean Race are too many and too varied to list exhaustively, but include: lack of sleep, physical over-exertion, fear and psychological trauma, no fresh food, no privacy, no escape. Sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race requires total commitment. This isn’t a situation where you can dip your toe into the water to test the temperature before jumping in. Once the race starts, it means you’ve signed on for nine months and 45,000 nautical miles of the closest, toughest competition in sport. There’s no prize money for the winners. You take this on to measure yourself, to see where you stand when things get very diffcult — and it always gets diffcult. But for the victors, there is the ultimate satis- faction of lifting the Volvo Ocean Race trophy and having their name etched in history alongside the very few to have fulflled their dream by overcoming one of the toughest challenges in all of sport. The following Race Report has been produced to share the impact of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race, the closest edition in the 45-year history of the event. The purpose of the Race Report is to align the perceived, measured and real results of the Volvo Ocean Race for stakeholders.
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