Velux 5 Oceans race comes to Wellington

by Jodie Bakewell-White

The ultimate solo yachting challenge – the VELUX 5 Oceans - will visit Wellington, New Zealand.

The route for the 2010-11 VELUX 5 OCEANS, the eighth edition of the classic solo yacht race since it first began in 1982, will begin in La Rochelle in France on October 17 and features five ocean sprints. After heading from La Rochelle to Cape Town, the race will then take to Wellington in New Zealand, Salvador in Brazil and Charleston in the US before returning back across the Atlantic to France.

Ocean Sprint 2 to Wellington sees the race returning to New Zealand for the third time, having previously visited Tauranga and Auckland, in 2002 and 1998, respectively. New Zealand's Capital City will host the race for the first time and will be the ideal venue for the competitors to recover from the long leg from Cape Town before preparing for the treacherous Southern Ocean Sprint around Cape Horn to Brazil.

Velux 5 Oceans