The Victoria Race Team is a non-profit venture which aims
to bring together a unique combination of people with skills, dedication and determination
to produce a world class challenge from Victoria. The specific objectives of the
Victorian Race Team include:
To enter an all Australian Crew in the Whitbread
Race. With the experience for the challenge being drawn from people with ocean racing
experience in international yachting events such as America's Cup, Admiral's Cup,
Whitbread and BOC.
To involve people from all over Victoria
and Australia in business to aid in the construction and assembling of the yacht.
The construction of the yacht is to be undertaken at Shed 15 South Wharf, which is
part of the Victorian Governments Docklands Development program. Shed 15 is just
down the road from Melbourne's new Exhibition Centre.
To involve primary and secondary students in the Whitbread Educational program, which will allow students to study a diverse range of subjects. Some of the topics in the Educational Program that can be studied will be weather, nutrition, technology, physics, science and geography.
To involve tertiary students in the marketing of the Victoria Race Team's campaign. The Victoria Race Team is also looking to involve tertiary students in the production of the official Victoria Race Team documentary.
- To promote the main sponsors of the Victoria Race Team globally in 177 countries.
- To promote all the sponsors of the Victoria Race Team locally and abroad in 177 countries.
- To promote the City of Melbourne, Melbourne Docklands and the state of Victoria, locally and abroad in 177 countries.
To involve as many people as possible in the Victoria Race Team's campaign so that all Australians alike benefit socially and financially.
To act as a catalyst in the business development aspects of yachting.
The Whitbread Around the World Race is the longest
race of its kind, both in duration and distanc ( nine months and 32,000 miles). The
first Whitbread race was held on September 8th, 1973, and since this first race 117
yachts from 23 countries have taken place, but still to this day there has not been
an Australian entry. The Whitbread Around the World Race is run every four years,
and since its inception, there has only been minor alterations to the original course
that was sailed.
The most recent Whitbread was sailed in 1993/94. It was in this race that the W/60 class of yacht was created and it is the last time that Maxi-class yachts will be able to compete in the Whitbread Around the World Race. With the recent availability of satellite television coverage, the Whitbread is the seventh most watched sporting event on television. It has a larger audience than Wimbledon and with live transmissions daily from each of the boats there is coverage on most news services each day.
The last Whitbread Around the World Race, which was held in 1993/94, ranked as the 7th most watched television event in the world. The television coverage alone reached an audience of over 2.6 billion.
Campaign Sponsors to date:
Individual Change Engineering
KPMG Melbourne
Directorate
of School Education Victoria
VicNet
Business Victoria
Southern
Hydro