Ci dessous quelques informations du site The Online Yacht Club
qui vous permettent de tout savoir sur cette course qui pour
l'édition 2001 a pris le nom de Volvo Ocean Race

The 1997-98 race started from Southampton in September 1997. The fleet is expected to return to Southampton in May 1998. There will be nine legs visiting seven countries. This was the first time the event has staged nine legs and the first time that the ports of Baltimore/Annapolis, in the USA, Sao Sebastiao in Brazil and La Rochelle, in France, have been visited. It is also the first time since the 1985-86 race that South Africa has hosted a stopover port. The approximate total mileage for the circumnavigation is 31,600 nautical miles.
· Leg 1 - Southampton (Great Britain) - Cape Town (South Africa) - 7,350 nautical miles
· Leg 2 - Cape Town - Fremantle (Australia) - 4,600 nautical miles
· Leg 3 - Fremantle - *Sydney (Australia) - 2,250 nautical miles
· Leg 4 - Sydney - Auckland (New Zealand) - 1,270 nautical miles
· Leg 5 - Auckland - Sao Sebastiao (Brazil) - 6,670 nautical miles
· Leg 6 - Sao Sebastiao - Fort Lauderdale (USA) - 4,750 nautical miles
· Leg 7 - Fort Lauderdale - Baltimore/Annapolis (USA) - 870 nautical miles
· Leg 8 - Baltimore/Annapolis - La Rochelle (France) - 3,390 nautical miles
· Leg 9 - La Rochelle - Southampton - 450 nautical miles

Facts and Figures
The 1997-1998 Race is the seventh Whitbread Round the World Race. The race is held every four years and previous races were staged in: - 1973-74 - 1977-78 - 1981-82 - 1985-86 - 1989-90 - 1993-94

In addition, the following syndicates are now online:
Sunergy (The Netherlands)
Team EF (Sweden)

Class of Boat
There will be only one class of boat in 1997-98 - the Whitbread 60. This will now be the Volvo Ocean 60. This boat was designed specifically for the last race in which 10 Whitbread 60s competed along with four maxis.
The 1993-94 race was broadcast on television in 177 countries and attracted a world-wide viewing audience in excess of 2.6 billion. This put it in 7th position on the list of the most watched sports on television in the world.