The Volvo Ocean Race and the Alicante – Gothenburg Connection

            17 June 2018

Things have been moving rather fast lately; we are in the “if it’s Thursday this must be Stockholm” phase of our travels. Since we left Alicante, Spain on 7 June (10 days!) we’ve been to four cities: Bergen and Oslo, Stockholm and Gothenburg. Today we are taking a little break from non-stop sightseeing and walking all over the place (I mean, really, averaging 10,000 steps per day since we arrived in Madrid? Time to give it a rest!)

While in Alicante we learned that the city is the home to the Volvo Ocean Race and its associated museum. We certainly have in interest in boats, although we don’t follow the racing circuit. But the race is hard to ignore in Alicante, as one of the boats is prominently featured downtown near the marina.

Volvo Ocean Race boat in Alicante
    --- from Google Street View

Visiting the museum in Alicante, we learned that the race is an open-ocean race (covering some nasty oceans!) that’s run every three years, and started in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race. Now it’s owned by Volvo, and is headquartered in Alicante. During our tour of the museum we watched the videos, and were suitably impressed by the demands of the ocean, and the ruggedness of the boats and those who sail them. And, we discovered the race is currently underway: 2018 is one of the 1-in-3 years when the race is held.

The race is divided, like many long-distance races (think: Tour de France) in multiple stages, or legs. And, it just so happens that this year one of the stops is Gothenburg, Sweden, which is, after all, home port for Volvo, the race’s owner and principle sponsor. This encouraged us to check dates and guess what, we found we would be in Gothenburg shortly after the boats arrived.

In fact, it turns out that today, Sunday, our only full day in Gothenburg, is a major day of celebration (or promotion?) for the ocean race, and the day the seven participating boats will have a short, inshore demonstration race.

So we spent the better part of the afternoon at the large, very busy race village, which is packed with display booths and demonstrations, many related to boats and sailing. Well, there’s also some large construction equipment made by Volvo, the latest Volvo automobiles, and an opportunity for interested participants to be driven around a course full of challenging inclines, in the latest Volvo all-wheel drive SUV. And, since the city of Gothenburg prides itself as being “green” and sustainable, a new all-electric city bus is on display, as well as an electrically-driven garbage truck.

In fact, Gothenburg is serious enough about its sustainable future that the entry way to the race village is set up to simulate what the city may well be like in the near future, with a giant display screen showing an image of the city, and real life-walls supporting a food forest (edible plants growing in planters and on the walls themselves). Forward thinking, and inspiring!

Me in front of the display of what Gothenburg may look like in the future

The "living wall," plants growing vertically 

But the real thrill, of course, were the boats, all lined up at the dock. We arrived just as they were leaving, one by one, to head out to the local inshore course for a turn around the buoys. Each of the seven boats was announced, to great fanfare, then left the dock and headed out the channel.

All seven competing boats at the dock

"Turn the Tide on Plastic" (a boat headlining a campaign to reduce plastic use) takes off for the local race

These are enormous sleds, 65 feet long, with very sharp, narrow prows widening out to broad, flat, open sterns, capable of going very fast in atrocious conditions. This little inshore race was just an amusement, and didn’t count for the overall results, but was thrilling for the spectators (i.e., us!).

Once the boats left, we took advantage of the free shuttle ferry to head over to downtown – always looking for an opportunity to get out on the water! After a decent lunch in a nice café we took the shuttle back to find the race was over. Oops, we missed it! (The race itself was held in the coastal waters just outside the city, but many video screens had been set up to show it.) 

Then the rain started. And boy, it fell hard. No complaints, though; we’ve had nothing but fabulous sunny weather since we arrived in Bergen, a town known for its constant rain.

We spent the next 40 minutes in the Turkish Airlines lounge… and why did Turkish Airlines have a lounge at the Volvo Ocean Race? I dunno. But it was quite comfortable, with sofas, and tables and chairs. And there was an enormous spread of delicious-looking food, which we declined to sample after finding that we were expected to pay for it. Still, the rain was pounding down, so we watched the monitors which now showed scenes from earlier legs of the ocean race (each boat has a dedicated videographer on board, as well as extensive satellite communications gear, so race central in Alicante is constantly in touch with every boat).

There were a few scenes of sunset tranquility as a boat idled along in flat seas. But the more impressive footage was that from the Southern Ocean, rounding the Horn with monster seas while crew members, flecked with ice and snow, hang on for dear life as waist-deep water sluices out the open stern. This is where the real race excitement is, when the boats hit 20-plus knots and fly off the tops of waves, on that thin line between maximum performance and total catastrophe. It takes an extraordinary crew to pull it off, and keep up with it for hour after hour, day after day. These crews certainly earn those few hours of tranquil sunsets!

Promotional photos from the Volvo Ocean Race

"Mapfre", the Spanish boat (and our favorite for that) returns to the dock after racing

Back in quiet Gothenburg the rain stopped just before the boats returned and we watched as each backed up to the dock, to great cheers, and prizes were awarded. Then we boarded the electric shuttle bus to return to Gothenburg’s Central Station, a 10-minute walk from our apartment. As we headed back, we seriously discussed how we came to be here, in this town on this particular day. Why did we choose Gothenburg, and not Malmö, another city we considered? And, the date was chosen months ago, long before we left our home in California when we knew nothing of this ocean race. How remarkable – and how perfect – that the one full day we had in Gothenburg should have such a rare and remarkable event happening!

The electric garbage truck. (Bet it's quieter, too!)

Jacking the cab back down on an electric box truck

A wooden bicycle (hey, it's sustainable!)

But our day wasn’t quite over. We'd been resting up for a bit when a tremendous thunderstorm started, the loud booms shaking the apartment buildings around. Then the rain came, horizontal against the windows. And hail! We watched pea-sized hailstones wash down the windows. Suddenly it stopped, and an hour later the sun was out.

Our time in Gothenburg was short, but certainly unforgettable!

https://youtu.be/Zz1lEOENt-o

In this video of the ocean racing boats leaving the dock for the Gothenburg inshore race, notice how easily they maneuver around the other boats and the mooring buoys. A languid turn of the wheel by the helmsman, and the boat spins on its keel, making the 90 degree turn in its own length. This kind of maneuverability speaks of a sensitivity bordering on instability; these guys are expert sailors (and I'm including the women on board, too!). Upon returning from the race, the boats backed in, first being towed, then motoring under their own power. Sailing boats are notoriously difficult to back well (I know, I've tried!), but these boats are under full control the whole way. Again, a small thing but it speaks volumes for the ability of the crews.

Oh, and if you're not into boats, check out the Volvo SUV test ride! Spectators could ride along with Volvo's drivers over a course showing off the fine handling of these cars. And what does this have to do with the Volvo Ocean Race? Well, there's a reason Volvo pumps so much money into the race, and this is part of their payback!