Volvo Ocean Race reveals route for next year’s race, and it is the longest yet

In this handout image provided by the Volvo Ocean Race, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, third team to arrive to Abu Dhabi after Leg 2 from Cape Town. (Photo by Francois Nel/Volvo Ocean Race/Getty Images)

The next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, the world's premier round-the-world sailing event, will start in Alicante, Spain late next year and be the longest distance in race history, organisers said on Wednesday.

The 13th ocean race, which will take eight months to complete instead of the previous nine, is reckoned to be the toughest professional challenge in yachting and this time will cover a daunting 45,000 nautical miles and visit 11 cities, said chief executive Mark Turner.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, skippered by Briton Ian Walker, won the 12th edition of the event in June 2015 after covering 38,739 nautical miles in just under nine months. Earlier this month, it was announced that the team wouldn't participate in the next race.

• More: Walker feels wistful following successful run

The first leg will be from Alicante to Lisbon in October-November 2017, and then on to Cape Town, Guangzhou via Hong Kong, Auckland, Itajai in Brazil, Newport in the United States, Cardiff in Wales, Gothenburg, arriving finally in the Hague in June 2018.

“We believe this route is one of the best ever... we are taking the sailors to some of the most remote corners of the planet,” said Turner.

“Above all, we are taking the fleet deep into the Southern Ocean: the Roaring 40s, Furious 50s and maybe Screaming 60s,” he added, referring to latitude bands.

Crews need to survive on a diet of freeze-dried food and a maximum of four hours’ sleep a day.

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