In a coup for Cape Town , South Africa's Mother City was announced the first port of call for the b2010 Volvo Ocean Race/b yesterday.

This will be the 8th time the beautiful city at the tip of Africa has been host to the renowned race, beating out stiff competition from over 80 cities that bid for the privilege.

 

CEO of the sailing race (known as the Everest of Sailing) Knut Frostad, said at the announcement:

 

 "We have taken our time to evaluate carefully over 80 bids from ports around the world who wanted to host the event, before making our decisions. As we continue to improve and lift the bar for our stopovers, it is great to have Cape Town onboard sharing the same vision and ambitions."

Bruce Parker-Forsyth, CEO of The Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town Stopover and Worldsport told the press:

“We are delighted that after a year of negotiations, Cape Town has once again been selected as the first port of call in this prestigious ocean race. As the past few stopovers have proved, the race is a superb platform to achieve business tourism and sporting objectives for Cape Town and the Western Cape.”

 

The full itinerary will be revealed before the end of next month (March 2010)

 

Check out http://www.volvooceanrace.com/ for all information and news on the race.