Mark the date in your diary – the Volvo Ocean Race party will officially start on October 11, when the Alicante Race Village opens its doors to the public.
The news completes the schedule for the Volvo Ocean Race’s Home Port. As previously announced, the first official action of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 will be the Alicante In-Port Race on Saturday, October 14.
The race itself begins eight days later on Sunday, October 22 when the teams will sail Leg 1 from Alicante to Lisbon.
That means the Alicante Race Village will be open for a total of 12 days from October 11 to October 22.
A full Race Village programme will be announced later in the year but visitors can already look forward to an exhilarating experience, with a programme of events focused around the world’s longest and toughest professional sporting event.
The Race Villages will feature a new ‘pit lane’ experience including innovative team bases, where the public will be able to interact with crews in a casual environment, and The Boatyard facility, where repairs are carried out in full view of the crowds.
The route for 2017-18 will take the sailors over 45,000 nautical miles around the world and will feature three times as much sailing in the Southern Ocean as in recent editions.
As well as Alicante and Lisbon, the race will also take in Cape Town, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff and Gothenburg before the grand finale in The Hague.
The forthcoming race will be the fourth edition to start from Alicante and the city has already been confirmed as Start Port for two more races after 2017-18.