Volvo Ocean Race´s last leg..

Yesterday I watched the start of the end of an amazing journey
that took place outside Sandhamn on Thursday in splendid weather and with winds at 11 knots. After eight months and over 37,000 nautical miles, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet today is in the home straight, headed up the Gulf of Finland to the finish line in St. Petersburg. The weather conditions at the start couldn´t be much better and hundreds of boats followed the event at 2PM when the boats took of on the last leg of their long journey ending at St Petersburg.

See the video of the start of the last leg of the race outside Sandhamn on Thursday.

The Volvo Ocean Race is undeniably the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world.
During the nine months of the 2008-09 Volvo Occean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain in October 2008 and now concludes in St Petersburg, Russia, the teams have sailed over 37,000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm, Sandhamn. (I just happened to "sail" up to view to the start under Canadian flag!)

(photo: Pia Ehrenpreis)