Russia high and dry just days before epic race begins

Team Russia faces a race against time to repair its yacht before the start of the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Kosatka, or Killer Whale, was punctured by a hole during last weekend’s port race after hitting the Delta Lloyd yacht and rebounding i

On Saturday, October 11, eight yachts from this year’s race will get underway from the Alicante quayside for the first ocean leg to Cape Town.

Overall it is going to be an incredible journey of 68,000 kilometres.

From Alicante they will head to south, through the Atlantic to Cape Town, which will take around three weeks.

After that they’ll swing round and head north to Kochi in India.

Then to Singapore and China’s Qingdao, before the massive journey to Rio de Janeiro – that will take them just under 40 days.

And after that it is off again to the United States’ Boston, before heading across the Atlantic to moor in Galway on the west coast of Ireland.

The route then sweeps around the north coast of Scotland and into Scandinavia with two short stops in Marstrand and Stockholm.

The epic trip will end up in St Petersburg in June 2009.

It is the longest ever route in the Volvo Ocean Race’s 30 year history.

Kosatka and her crew will be pushed to their limits and will need better fortune over the next nine months than they’ve had in the last few days.