Spain´s Crown Prince Felipe joined Team Telefónica

Spain´s Crown Prince Felipe joined Team Telefónica as they sailed away from the departure ceremony before transferring to a frigate to fire the starting gun at 1400 local time (1300 GMT). That set the teams off on what was gearing up to be a lightning sprint around an inshore course in front of thousands of spectators – the prelude to a mammoth three-week, 6,500 nautical mile first leg to Cape Town.

 Emotions were running high on the dockside prior to the departure ceremony as the sailors said tearful goodbyes to their loved ones and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing received a special send-off from French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane – sporting royalty to accompany the real sort. Thousands of people packed Alicante’s Puerto de Salida Race Village to experience the excitement pulsing through the docks. Even hardened competitors couldn’t help but get caught up in the emotion of the moment.

 For Team Sanya skipper Mike Sanderson, the race’s most experienced skipper and winner of the 2005-06 edition, it is the first time he has competed in the Volvo as a father. “Today feels different to any race I have done,” said the New Zealander Sanderson, whose wife Emma competed in the 2001-02 edition on Amer Sports Two. “There are more emotions when you leave for a Volvo Ocean Race and even more so when you have to say goodbye to kids

. I’d be lying if I said it was just business as usual. It means so much more.” Following the traditional “kiss and cry” moment the teams were introduced to VIPs including Prince Felipe and Zidane. The Prince, a keen sailor, visited the Volvo Ocean Race with his wife Letizia when the Princess of Asturias was named godmother to Telefónica last month. Zidane heralded the race as beautiful and the boats wonderful but admitted the prospect of three weeks at sea with 10 others in such cramped conditions was not for him. With the boats departing to their team songs, the spotlight turned to the racecourse where hundreds of spectator boats had gathered to get up-close and personal with the six Volvo Open 70s. Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing drew first blood in the event’s curtain raiser, the Iberdrola In-Port Race, sailing to a 14-minute victory to claim six points and the top spot on the leaderboard.

 Leg 1 sees the teams take on the unpredictable Mediterranean, the tidal bottleneck of the Straits of Gibraltar and the strong northeasterly trade winds of the North Atlantic before facing the Doldrums, a constantly-moving area of high pressure found a few hundred miles either side of the Equator, notorious for being one of the toughest regions on the planet to sail through. Once through the Doldrums the teams will search out the southeasterly trade winds close to the Brazilian shore, hoping to pick up the meteorological slingshot effect that will fire them through the South Atlantic to Cape Town. But first the teams will have to face a baptism of fire in the first 24 hours of the race, with head-on winds of more than 25 knots forecast and choppy seas – potentially boat-breaking conditions. “The conditions at first will be ideal for these boats – fast sailing in fresh breeze,” said Gonzalo Infante, the Volvo Ocean Race’s chief meteorologist. “But within about 12 hours, as the boats race into the night, they will have to punch upwind into winds around 25 knots and confused seas. These boats will be slamming around and it will be very wet on deck.”

 Assuming they emerge unscathed from the rough ride early in the leg, the teams will have an eye on breaking the 24-hour distance record of 596.6 nautical miles, set by Ericsson 4 on leg one in the last race. Leg 1 is expected to take around 21 days to complete. Once in Cape Town the teams will have less than three weeks to rest and recuperate before the start of Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi.