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Team to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race on the new VO 65 has been announced

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The eighth boat of the Volvo Ocean Race monotype fleet is being built in Italy at Persico Marine. The new vessel will be used by the Dutch AkzoNobel team to compete in the 2017-2018 circumnavigation. The VO65 is scheduled to be completed in May.

The new boat is identical to those that participated in the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race. It was built using the same materials and moulds as the rest of the fleet. Soon the monotype awaits rigorous testing in Lisbon for compliance with the class rules. It should be noted that the other seven VOR boats that were in the previous round-the-world season are currently undergoing a €1m refit.

«You won't be able to distinguish the new boat from the old one, - assured the technical director of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet Nick Beiss. - All VO 65s have been built for at least two editions of the Round the World race, and the seven boats that took part in the previous race are in excellent condition».

Led by Dutch skipper Simeon Tienpont, the AkzoNobel team will begin intensive team training as soon as boat construction and testing is completed.

AkzoNobel's participation in the Volvo Ocean Race was announced by Simeon Tienpont on Wednesday at the HISWA Amsterdam Boat Show.

«Team AkzoNobel is a brand new team assembled from scratch, so it seems logical to build a new boat for it," he said. - It seems like a while ago I was planning this project at home, on my kitchen table. It is exciting to know that our boat is coming to an end».

Under Tienpont's belt, he has two America's Cup victories to his credit. The yachtsman has twice participated in the Volvo Ocean Race - aboard ABN Amro Two in 2005-06 and as part of Team Vestas Wind in 2014-15.

The Volvo Ocean Race will start from Alicante in October 2017. Participants will make stops in 11 cities around the world, covering a total of 45,000 miles, and finish in The Hague after spending more than eight months at sea.

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