Puma Ocean Racing to build new VO70 near training base
by Bridgid Murphy 29 Aug 2010 08:45 BST
PUMA Ocean Racing, skippered by Ken Read (Newport, USA), is proud to announce that New England Boatworks Inc. has been contracted to build PUMA’s new Volvo 70 for the upcoming VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2011-2012. Design for this latest generation round the world race yacht will be provided by Valencia based Naval Architecture firm Juan Yacht Design. Juan Kouyoumdjian’s designs have a perfect record in the VOR since the inception of the Volvo Open 70 Rule. They are credited with designing the 2006 VOR winner ABN AMRO One and the 2009 VOR winner Ericsson 4.
The project is still in the early stages, with molds currently in production. Read, speaking to the newly formed NEB/PUMA Ocean Racing build team, confirmed that this new project will take full advantage of the years of experience assembled between the PUMA build group and NEB’s boatbuilding team. After placing second in the last Volvo Ocean Race in 2009 Read insisted that the PUMA program will utilize all the hard-earned experience gained during the last race to give the team a great starting point. “We feel that PUMA Ocean Racing has an advantage by keeping the construction of all the major components for this project close to our home base in Newport,” said Read. “Fortunately, NEB provides our team the perfect facility and team to build what we hope is the finest boat ever constructed for this type of race.”
NEB has proven offshore boat building experience, with projects that include the Whitbread 60, TOSHIBA for the 1997 Whitbread Round-the-World Race. “These boats are designed to withstand the harshest conditions, and we’re proud to have this opportunity to showcase NEB on a global level,” said NEB partners Tom Rich, Steven Casella and David MacBain.
PUMA will launch and begin sea trials in Spring 2011 out of their training base at the Newport Shipyard.
The Volvo Ocean Race begins October 2011 in Alicante, Spain and ends in Galway, Ireland in June 2012. The eight stopovers in between include: Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya (China), Auckland, Itajaí (Brazil), Miami, Lisbon and Lorient (France). PUMA continues to produce and expand their line of sailing performance gear and remains the first Sportlifestyle company to participate in a venture of this kind. PUMA will also be the official supplier of all Volvo Ocean Race merchandise.