Volvo Ocean Race: Overview, Marketing, History

1977-78 ‘SAFETY FIRST’
4 HISTORY IN PROGRESS
Tragedies apart, the race was a huge success, and one of the
main lessons learnt for the next race was that survival in
these most exacting conditions was just as important as speed.
Whitbread renewed their sponsorship and it was decided to
repeat the event every four years. The next race ran from August
1977 to March 1978 and again staged four legs, only this time
the port of Auckland was used instead of Sydney. The success of
the first race brought more entries looking for the glamour of the
experience, and some boats were designed especially for this
race and there was growing international interest.
Once again, Portsmouth hosted the start and finish. 15 yachts
from six countries embarked on the circumnavigation and all
completed the course. Safety regulations included the
compulsory fitting of jackstays in the hope of preventing future
deaths. By clipping their safety harnesses to the jackstay,
crewmembers would be far less likely to be separated from the
boat if swept overboard.
Three of the boats had completed in the previous race; Great
Britain II, this time skippered by Rob James with 16 fare paying
crew, 33 Export, re-rigged to a fractional sloop, and with the
youngest skipper, 23-year-old Alain Gabbay; and Adventure,
once again entered as a Ministry of Defence training yacht