Photo by Paul Todd courtesy Volvo Ocean Race
By Steve Klamkin and Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
Knut Frostad, the CEO of Volvo Ocean Race, visited Rhode Island Tuesday to announce that Newport would be the only U.S. stop of the Volvo Ocean Race 2015, an offshore, international, sailing regatta.
"We work with 10 different coahes and countries to bring this event together," he said. "And we still have to deal with Mother Nature, we have to deal with pirates, we have to deal with icebergs, and all of it in the same event, and it's one of the most uncontrollable, unpredictable events of the world."
Organizers believe the event will bring hundreds of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars to the local economy.
"Newport is to sailing, what Augusta is to golf," said Brad Read of Sail Newport. "We are the absolute perfect destination for the Volvo Ocean Race."
Officials like Governor Lincoln Chafee and House Speaker Gordon Fox expressed their excitement over the news.
"Sailors all know that it's a huge accomplishment for these sailors to go around the world, racing at high, high speeds," said Governor Lincoln Chafee Tuesday. "And now Rhode Island has a stop. We haven't had a stop. Boston, Baltimore, Miami have been the other North American stops. Now Newport, Rhode Island is one of those stops."
House Speaker Gordon Fox said he was excited about the news, although he's a "boy from Providence" that doesn't "do a lot of sailing."
The yachts won't arrive in Newport until May 2015, and are expected to stay for 11 to 12 days. Forstad said the race is one of the three most prestigious in sailing, along with the Olympics and the America's Cup. No one, he said, has won all three.
"To win it, it's really the Mount Everest of Sailing," he said. "To win this event…only very few can do it."
