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The race continues to follow the traditional route of the old clipper ships sailing around the world. The next event starts on November 5th 2005. Traditionally the race has always started in the UK, this year however the race start is in the port of Vigo.
Leg one:
Vigo Galicio to Cape Town
Leg one will start from Vigo and then the fleet will head south via a scoring gate at
Fernando da Noranha on the brazilian coast, to Cape Town, South Africa. Cape town is a logical location for leg one because of it's geographical location as it is here two of the world's great oceans meet.
Leg two:
Cape Town to Melbourne
Leg two will bring the first test of the Southern ocean. It is racing across these long ocean legs that allows the sailors to use their experience and push their boats to the limit. This year scoring gates have been included
Leg three:Melbourne to New Zealand
This leg takes the fleet to New Zealand for a pit-stop. The boats will start racing again as a fleet and not a rolling start as seen in the last race
Leg four:New Zealand to Rio de Janeiro
The fleet go back intothe Southern Ocean and around the infamous Cape Horn, there will also be a scoring gate here and the leg will finish in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Leg five:Rio to Baltimore/Annapolis
Leg five goes directly to Baltimore missing out the stop-over in Florida a scoring gate has been included at Fernando da Noronha.
Leg six:Baltimore/Annapolis to New York
Starts in Annapolis and takes the fleet onto New York this is a new port for the Volvo Ocean Race 2004/2005.
Leg seven:New York to Southampton
Starts from New york and will give the fleet a chance to have a crack at the transatlantic record from the Ambrose light to the Lizard off the south west coast of England. A scoring gate has been added here and the leg will finish in Southampton which was the home for therace for many years.
Leg eight:Southampton to Gothenburg
This is a short but tactical leg through the English Channel and the North Sea to Gothenburg the home of Volvo.
Leg nine:Gothenburg to Baltic finish port
Is a short sprint to a Baltic port for which will no doubt be a spectacular finish. The port has yet to be named and will be closer to the start of the event.
Pit stops provide a great opportunity for the media and the public to get up close to
these magnificent vessels and their crew members while they are in full racing mode.
The pit stops are taking place in New Zealand and in New York and the race is re-started
as a fleet adding an extra spectacular element to this event.