7/23/10: Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 — NEB and PUMA Ocean Racing

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG Propulsion will build new VOLVO 70 at New England Boatworks

Puma at New England Boatworks

Ken ReadPUMA Ocean Racing, skippered by Newport local Ken Read, announced 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.

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 program will utilize all the hard earned experience gained during the last race to give PUMA Ocean Racing a great starting point.

“We feel that PUMA 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.”

Toshiba in the Whitbread Round the World Race 1997-1998NEB partners Tom Rich, Steven Casella and David MacBain are proud to have this opportunity to showcase Team NEB’s boatbuilding skills on a global stage. Boatbuilding technology has come a long way since NEB built the Whitbread 60, TOSHIBA for Team Dennis Connor for the Whitbread Around the World Race in 1997. Toshiba survived this torturous test of methods and materials and even became well known as being the one boat in the fleet that could “Take a licking and come back ticking.” Since that time NEB has built many successful hi-tech offshore sailing yachts for discerning clients in the US and abroad.

NEB built boats are all built to handle whatever Mother Nature tosses their way on any given race, but sailors everywhere agree that the Volvo Ocean Race, known as “The Everest of Sailing,” may be the toughest endurance sailing race. Leading up to this event, NEB’s highly experienced boatbuilding team will join forces with a core group of talented boat builders from PUMA Ocean Racing. Sea Trials are scheduled to begin next spring from the team’s training base in Newport.

This edition of the Volvo Ocean Race begins in October, 2011 in Alicante, Spain and ends in Galway, Ireland in June 2012
Photo Credit, PUMA’s il mostro below and Ken Read above: Sally Collison/PUMA Ocean Racing.
Video: Puma Extreme Offshore Sailing

Puma in the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race