Kerala - Kochi   

Countdown begins for ocean race

KOCHI: Countdown has started for the India stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race, scheduled to be at the Kochi port between December 3 and 13.

The Consortium of Cochin Port Trust and Kerala Tourism held meetings on Wednesday with the representatives of the Volvo Event Management Company, the UK (VEMUK), Yachting Association of India and the event managers and the marketing agency engaged for the event to review the arrangements being made.

The meeting also discussed the finalisation of the future course for hosting the Race Stopover, which is happening for the first time in India.

Kochi port has already initiated action for redevelopment of the roads and public amenities at the North End of Willingdon Island.

Development of land and covered areas for housing the hospitality pavilions of the race organisers, racing teams, sponsors, pavilion for exhibitions etc will be readied.

Discussions were held on designing the proposed race village, special berthing arrangements required for the race boats, berthing requirements of other boats and yachts visiting the Kochi port during the Race stopover period.

The meeting also discussed the marketing plan and various sponsorships and advertising opportunities related to the event. The marketing agency has already started discussions with potential business houses in India to garner sponsorships for the event. N. Ramachandran, chairman of Cochin Port Trust, Captain Subhash Kumar, Deputy Chairman of the Cochin Port Trust, Cyril C, George, Secretary of Cochin Port Trust, Jeremy Troughton, Director-Operations, VEMUK, Commodore Ajay Narang, Hon. Joint Secretary, General, Yachting Association of India and Malav Shroff, Ocean Blue Boating, Mumbai attended the meetings.

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