Amer Group, the owner of the Wilson, Atomic and Suunto brands, will be participating in The Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002. The Group's target is to become the leading sporting goods equipment company in the world. To achieve this target Amer has, amongst other initiatives, decided to use The Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) as a tool to raise the profile of the company and its global sports equipment brands and to build the Group's team spirit.
The VOR is one of the most respected and toughest offshore races in the world. The VOR will be followed in all over the world. The last Race in 1997-1998 reached nearly 500 million households in almost 200 countries and received more than 700 hours TV coverage in total.
Amer is a leading partner in the team, which will be participating in The VOR with two boats. Nautor, a world class boatyard company, is building the two racing VO60 class yachts specially designed for The VOR. The company has acquired a global reputation as a builder of sailing yachts of outstanding performance. Nautor, Amer and their other partners together with the crew make a strong team, with a good chance of winning.
The crews will be selected from international and professional sailors. Grant Dalton (NZ) has been recruited as skipper of the first boat. He is an experienced round the world yachtsman with two wins and three seconds from the previous races. Paul Cayard (US), the winner of the last Race, has been chosen as advisor for the team.
The VOR will start on 23 September 2001 leaving the port of Southampton, England. The stopover ports in racing order are Cape Town, Sydney, Auckland, Rio de Janeiro, Miami, Baltimore/Annapolis, La Rochelle and Gothenburg. The Race finishes in Kiel on 9 June, 2002.
For further information, please contact:
Mr Eero Alperi, Director Corporate Planning and Business Development, tel. +358 9 7257 8219
Mr Roger Talermo, CEO, tel. +358 9 7257 8210
www.amer.fi
www.VolvoOceanRace.org