Volvo Ocean Race to have stopover at Kochi

Kochi, Apr 27 (UNI) Kochi will be the stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race and a Letter of Intent had been signed in this regard between the Koch Port and the organisers.

''India has never hosted such a prestigious sailing event and we are very excited that the Volvo Ocean Race is considering Kochi as a serious candidate for the competition,'' Chairman of the Kochi Port Trust N Ramachandran said.

The Volvo Ocean Race, world's premier offshore ocean marathon, would start in Alicante, Spain, in mid-October 2008.

Kochi was among a number of Indian ports attended in recent discussions with the organisers. The Kochi Port Trust would be organising it with the full backing of the Kerala State Tourism Department (KTDC).

KTDC, a principal stakeholder in the exercise, envisaged that the event would bring significant visibility as well as economic benefit to the region, a release said here.

''Kerala Tourism see this as an opportunity to project Kochi as an exciting destination, and we will be happy to extend all support to the Kochi Port Trust to bring the event to the state'', Kerala Tourism Secretary Venu said.

''Hosting one of the world's top three sailing events will obviously boost any future bid to host major sailing as well as other sports events in India,'' said Honorary Joint Secretary-General YAI Commander Ajay Narang.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Glenn Bourke also greeted the Letter of Intent with Kochi as a significant step forward after months of discussions. The race, established in 1973 as the Whitbread Round-the-World Race and lasting over nine months, would journey more than 39,000 nautical miles and visit up to 12 countries and ports in its new route.

After sailing from Spain via Africa, the fleet would go to West Asia, India and Southeast Asia before a stop in China, ahead of its longest leg of 12,000 nautical miles to South America. Then it would stop at the US East Coast and Europe on the way to a Baltic port finish.

UNI