Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 Photos @ Boston MA

Lots of photos from the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race North American Port stop at Fan Pier in Boston,Massachusetts.

The sailboats arrived at Fan Pier in Boston 15 days after departing Rio de Janeiro,Brazil for the 4,900 nautical sixth leg of the ten-leg Volvo Ocean Race around the world. Fan Pier in Boston is the only North American port stop that the Volvo Ocean Race makes this year making it one of the cities biggest attractions this summer. Taking a look at a map of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race you’ll see the ten legs of the race and get a feel of just how intense the competition is. That’s 37,000 nautical miles of sailing.

2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race Map

The complete list of legs for the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race:

Alicante,Spain –>Cape Town,South Africa (6,500 nm)
Cape Town,South Africa –>Cochin,India (4,450 nm)
Cochin,India –>Singapore (1,950 nm)
Singapore –> Qingdao,China (2,500 nm)
Qingdao,China –>Rio de Janeiro,Brazil (12,300 nm)
Rio de Janeiro Brazil –>Boston,USA (4,900 nm)
Boston,USA –>Galway,Ireland (2,550 nm)
Galway,Ireland –> Marstrand,Sweden (950 nm)
Marstrand,Sweden –> Stockholm,Sweden (525 nm)
Stockholm,Sweden –>St. Petersberg,Russia (400nm)

Total Natuical Miles:37,000

Eight sailboats left Alicante,Spain in October 2008 to begin this year’s Volvo Ocean Race. Seven yachts remain after five legs. Team Russia quit their attempt in Singapore at the end of Leg Three due to lack of financial funding. The seven yachts that sailed into Fan Pier to complete Leg 6 —in the order of their finish —are:

Ericsson 4 (Skipper:Torben Grael)
Ericsson 3 (Skipper:Magnus Olsson)
Telefonica Blue (Skipper: Bouwe Bekking)
Puma (Skipper: Ken Read)
Telefonica Black (Skipper: Fernando Echavarri)
Delta Loyd (Skipper: Ger O’Rourke)
Green Dragon (Skipper: Ian Walker)

The boats will be at Fan Pier in Boston until Saturday,May 16th when they set off for Galway,Ireland and try to conquer the 2,500 nautical mile Leg Seven of the Volvo Ocean Race . While in Boston,the sailboats will compete in one in-port race. This in-port race takes place just a few miles off the coast of Boston. Here the teams are able to score additional points towards their overall Volvo Ocean Race totals. With so few points separtaing first,second and third place,the in-port race will surely be a fierce battle. Up until the in-port race,however,the sailboats are out of the water receiving repairs and re-stocking. The yachts are within just a few feet of where Fan Pier visitors are allowed so it’s a great chance for everyone to see these technical marvels up close. They really are an engineering and technical feat.

In general,there is a lot to do at Race Village at Fan Pier. Lots of information,lots of cool stuff to see and lots of people to enjoy it all with. Here’s a photo of Race Village on the morning it first opened on Saturday,April 24th. If anyone is local to Boston or will be in the city before May 16th,I’d highly recommend stopping by Race Village and Fan Pier.

Here are some of the photographs from Race Village and around Fan Pier.

Volvo Ocean Race,Fan Pier - Dry Dock

Race Village Boston,Volvo Ocean Race

On Sunday,April 25th I photographed the first three sailboats —Ericsson 4,Ericssson 3 and Telefonica Blue —as they crossed the finish line of Leg Six at Fan Pier. Unfortunately,I missed Team Puma’s arrival. Originally the boats were due in between 9am and 12pm on Sunday,but a shift in wind patterns and an outgoing tide delayed the arrival until late afternoon,early evening. It made for one hell of a long day.

Ericsson 4 won Leg Six and as it stands,is the overall Volvo Ocean Race Leader with 77.5 points. Ericsson 3,having scored seven points with its 2nd place finish sits in 4th place overall with 53 points. Telefonica Blue came in 3rd place and took over 2nd place overall (64.5 points) from Puma,but only by one-half point. Puma sits in third place overall with 64 points. With four legs to go,and a small number of points separating the leaders,the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race is far from over.

These are some photos from Sunday afternoon as the sailboats arrived in Boston Harbor at Fan Pier.

Ericsson 4,Boston Harbor

I was at Fan Pier in Boston to photograph the winner and runner up teams —Ericsson 4 (winner) and Ericsson 3 (2nd place) —as they received trophies on the main stage at Race Village. Torben Grael,skipper of Ericsson 4 and Magnus Olsson,skipper of Ericsson 3 accepted the trophies on behalf of their crew. These photos here were taken at the main stage of Race Village just after Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 arrived at Fan Pier in Boston.

Ericsson 4,Leg Six Winners

Ericsson 3,Leg Six Runner Up

One of the best parts of the opening weekend was Elan Trotman and his band performing on Sunday April 25th at the main stage in Race Village. Click through to see a gallery of Elan Trotman photos from that evening.

Elan Trotman Photo Gallery

And be sure to check out the official website of the Fan Pier stopover for a ton of good information about the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo Ocean Race at Fan Pier Boston Facebook page is another wealth of Volvo Ocean Race information.