HARKEN NAMED AN OFFICIAL SUPPLIER TO VOLVO OCEAN RACE

Harken will supply winches, pedestals, gearboxes, TTR2 blocks, traveler and Battcar systems to the Volvo Ocean 65 one-design fleet in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race. Harken has also been named an official supplier of the Boatyard, the race's traveling maintenance facility that meets the fleet at every service stop. Here Harken technical experts will service and maintain the supplied winch, pedestal, and hardware systems to ensure equipment aboard these identical race boats is in peak condition for the next leg.

Nick Bice, Chief Technical Development Officer at Volvo Ocean Race said, "The Harken Tech Team has played a critical role getting the Volvo Ocean 65s prepared for their next lap around the planet. The Boatyard was fortunate to have Harken as a teammate during the last race, and we're pleased to know they'll be with us at every service stop this time, too."

"Harken has supplied deck hardware to the boats in this iconic race since the 90s when it was known as the Whitbread Round the World Race," said Mark Wiss, Director of Global Grand Prix & Custom Yacht Sales. "We also supplied deck hardware and winch packages to the fleet in the 2014-15 circumnavigation which was the first race to embrace the new one-design concept. We are delighted to continue our relationship with the Volvo Ocean Race in an official capacity for the 2017-18 iteration, and to service these competitive racing machines for what is acknowledged by sailors as the 'toughest yacht race on the planet.' "

The fleet will start from Alicante, Spain on October 22, cross four oceans and stop at 12 cities on six continents before crossing the finish line 45,000 nautical miles later at The Hague, Netherlands in June of 2018.

By Ocean Navigator