The 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race will return to Cape Town!

update (24 November 2017): Team MAPFRE from Spain just crossed the finishing line! Welcome to Cape Town!

update (24 November 2017): The first boats will arrive at Cape Town's V & A Waterfront around 16:30 local time!

update (24 January 2017): The Volvo Ocean Race 2017/18 will begin on 22 October 2017 with Leg 1 – a 700-nautical mile sprint from Alicante in Spain to Lisbon in Portugal. The boats will leave Lisbon for Leg 2 of the race on 05 November 2017 and are expected to arrive in Cape Town in South Africa about three weeks later (approx. 26 November 2017 +/-). The Cape Town In-Port Race will take place on 08 December 2017 and Leg 3 (Cape Town to Hong Kong) will begin two days later on 10 December 2017.

The Volvo Ocean Race route 2017/18 has been announced - and Cape Town in South Africa will again be one of the cities the famous round-the-world yacht race is going to make a stopover at. The 13th edition of the race will stop in eleven cities on five continents and will last around nine month (approx. 45,000 nautical miles). The 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race starts from Alicante in Spain with a 700-nautical mile (3-4 days) sprint to Lisbon in Portugal. Leg 2 of the race will lead the yachts from the Portuguese captial over 7000nm (22 days) to Cape Town. From Cape Town the sailors will embark on one of the toughest legs (Cape Town to Hong Kong) in the history of the Ocean race with an expected 32 days at sea and a distance of 11,900nm.
The departure date of the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race has not yet been announced, but it typically departs Europe in October.



Leg 1: Alicante > Lisbon
Leg 2: Lisbon > Cape Town
Leg 3: Cape Town > Melbourne
Leg 4: Melbourne > Hong Kong > Guangzhou
Leg 5: Guangzhou > Auckland
Leg 5: Auckland > Itajai
Leg 6: Itajai > Newport
Leg 7: Newport > Cardiff
Leg 8: Cardiff > Gothenburg
Leg 9: Gothenburg > The Hague

Cape Town first appeared on the Volvo Ocean Race route in 1973-74, in the inaugural edition of what was then the Whitbread Round the World Race. The Tavern of the Seas was so far a stopover in 11 ot of 13 editions of the famous round-the-world yacht race.