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Alicante, Spain – Thousands of people will flocked to the Volvo Ocean Race today as the Alicante Race Village opened for a three-week fiesta at the start port for the 2011-12 race.
Alicante’s Puerto de Salida flung open the doors to the public , welcoming the world to the first of the 10 host ports in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12.
Festivities kicked off with a Rolling Stones tribute concert before the six teams competing in the world’s toughest crewed yacht race are presented. The night finished with a huge fireworks display lighting the skies over the Race Village just before 2200.

Like something from a Formula 1 grand prix, the Alicante Race Village is 40,000 square metres dedicated to entertainment with a programme brimming with concerts, shows, exhibitions, sailing clinics, rides, fireworks and restaurants.
It is also home to the Volvo Ocean Race Experience, an interactive attraction designed to suck landlubbers into the world of a Volvo Ocean Race sailor through its 3D cinema, simulator and winch grinding challenge. Artist collective Skeleton Sea will lead workshops as part of the Keep the Oceans Clean! Campaign, and look out around the Race Village for Wisdom, the mischievous albatross.

The centrepiece of the Race Village will be the six 70ft Volvo Open 70 yachts and the crews that will race them 39,000 nautical miles through the world’s toughest oceans.
Team Telefónica, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, Team Sanya, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Groupama sailing team and PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG Propulsion are the teams taking part. For the first time ever the team zones will be open to the public allowing fans to watch master boat builders and design experts at work.
Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad said: “One of our objectives has been to transform the Volvo Ocean Race into a festival. On the water it’s a race and on land it’s a festival. We’re not a football match where it lasts for 90 minutes and then you go home – the Volvo Ocean Race is something to come to, experience, be seen at and ultimately enjoy.”

The Alicante Race Village opened from Sunday to Thursday, and was to free to enter except for some ticketed concerts.
The Race Village will also provided the perfect place to watch the yachts race – on October 29 when they lock horns in close-quarter combat metres from the shore and again on November 5 when the teams start their 6,500 nautical mile sprint to Cape Town, South Africa.

“What other major sporting event can you have access to for free?” said the Volvo Ocean Race’s Director of Operations Heather Sherer.
“There are so many entertainment opportunities that bring the feeling of being at sea to the shore, from the 3D cinema that is state-of-the-art that will give you a new perspective of life on board to the bouncing castle for the little ones.
“For the first time ever we are offering the opportunity to get up close with a Volvo Open 70, with a limited number of the public to be given dock side access to the fleet.”
This weekend sees the start of the Academy Team Racing Clinic, offering youngsters from sailing clubs across the region to compete against each other in single-handed Optimist dinghies. Try Sailing, another important initiative to inspire new generations of sailors, also gets underway, offering children a chance to try the sport for the first time.