Sport - Sailing

India is an important stopover: Frostad

KOCHI: Norway’s Knut Frostad would have loved to get into a yacht and go sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race all over again. With a refreshing new route and some exciting stopovers, the race offers a big challenge to sailors this time, feels the CEO of the Volvo Race.

“India is a very important stopover. It represents a big change for the event and a big challenge. The Volvo Race has had a traditional route for nearly 35 years,” said the Olympian, who sailed in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Games.

By stepping into India, the race was virtually stepping into the unknown. “We did not know exactly what to expect, it was the same for India as well,” said the 41-year-old who has sailed in four Volvo races, twice as skipper.

The pace of the race preparations in Kochi appeared to be very slow a few months ago. But suddenly, almost overnight, everything seemed to be in place, and this surprised the race chief. And the big crowd at the Race Village has clearly floored him.

However, Mr. Frostad would not confirm whether India would figure in the next race, which is likely to start in 2011.

“I don’t want to commit to it now, we go by a year-by-year basis,” said the Norwegian but he dropped a few hints when he said a few moments later, “by going to India, we go to the future.”

But he felt that awareness about the sport should spread in the country.

The Mumbai bomb blasts had raised a few alarm bells in the race office. “Security and safety are very important part of our event. The event itself is a high-risk sport. So, we immediately consulted our risk partners,” said the Norwegian.

“Obviously, it was a concern for us for the nature of terrorism is unpredictable and this time the attack was aimed at foreigners. But we can show that sport and people can stay united in fighting terrorism.”

The change in the 39,000-nautical mile race route this time also meant that the event entered areas where piracy was a problem. “At Cape Town, the race crews were informed about the coast limitation and the sailors were told to sail east of the limitation to stay away from the problem,” said the Volvo Race CEO.

“Also, we took all the sailors and teams for a piracy seminar and training session in South Africa which showed them how to identify pirates and deal with the problem,”

Piracy will once again come into focus in the next leg, Kochi to Singapore, which begins on December 13. “The Malacca Strait has some tradition of piracy in the past. Also, the next leg, from Singapore to China.”

The current global financial crisis has had an effect on the Volvo Race too. “Both Volvo and the competing teams have certainly felt the global crisis and have tightened the budgets.

“Even Kochi has done much without a huge budget.”

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