Event of the Day: Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1

Our event of the day 

is Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race. The 2017-18 race will begin in Alicante, Spain and will finish over eight months later at The Hague, Netherlands. With a total distance of over 45,000 nautical miles and temperatures varying from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius, this is one of the most brutal yacht races in the world and is considered one of the pinnacles of sailing. Seven teams will tackle the gruelling mission this year with crews consisting of people from around the world. The first leg stretches 1,450 nautical miles as the racers begin on Spain’s East coast in Alicante before heading towards the island of Porto Santo (around 43 kilometres northeast of Madeira).

The yachts will then turn and head back towards Lisbon, Portugal. One of the trickiest sections of this leg will be navigating the Straits of Gibraltar which is a mere 8 nautical miles wide with heavy traffic.The defending winning team Abu Dhabi Racing – captained by Ian Walker - will not be participating this year, meaning we will have a new champion this time round. It’s set to be a long, exhausting and thrilling competition with the first instalment taking between seven and eight days to complete. The first day will be quite a spectacle.

Honourable mentions

around the globe go to the Premier League clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, London. Both teams recorded impressive away results in Europe earlier this week with Liverpool thrashing Maribor 7-0 and Tottenham claiming a very respectable 1-1 draw against the reigning European Champions Real Madrid. It is the F1 US Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas while across the Pacific the Australian MotoGP is also taking place at Phillip Island. In cricket, Australia Women take on England Women at Allan Border Field in Brisbane. The ODI is the first instalment of the 2017 Women's Ashes. It’s the final day of the PGA Tour CJ Cup at Nine Bridges while the Detroit Red Wings host the Vancouver Canucks at Little Caesars Arena is today’s solitary NHL game. The UEC European Track Championships reach their conclusion in Berlin and the Los Angeles Lakers versus the New Orleans Pelicans is one of three NBA games. There are thirteen NFL games, including the New England Patriots versus the Atlanta Falcons at Gillette Stadium.

Whatever you’re watching, enjoy!

Fixture

Photos by Volvo Ocean Race