The island nation of Singapore was today confirmed as the Southeast Asian stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 with the signing of an agreement to bring the famous ocean marathon to the resort island of Sentosa.

The city state's selection as the stopover on the marathon ocean race's new route through the Middle East and Asia follows more than six months of negotiations and evaluation.

The fleet, which is scheduled to stop over in Singapore in late December 2008, will be based at the new, state-of-the-art One Degree 15 Marina Club, one of Asia's leading marinas.

This will be the first time in the race's 34-year history that the fleet will call in on Southeast Asia and follows the recent announcement of another first - the race finish in the historic Russian port of St. Petersburg.

Singapore will stage the second in-port race of the series (the first will be in Alicante, Spain, ahead of the leg one start) and it will provide a dramatic backdrop to the inshore racing.

The race route is nearing finalisation with the offshore start set for Alicante on 11 October, 2008, following an in-port race a week earlier. The race is currently scheduled to last nearly 10 months, covering more than 39,000 nautical miles and visiting up to 12 ports.

The fleet winds up its Asian section in Qingdao, China, home to next year's Olympic sailing regatta, before heading off to South America on its longest and toughest leg, covering more than 12,000 nautical miles. The fleet then heads up the U.S. east coast to Boston and then across the North Atlantic to Galway before visiting Sweden en route to St. Petersburg in late June 2009.

Six boats from the US, Russia, Spain and Sweden have now confirmed for the 2008-09 event which will be the 10th running of the Volvo Ocean Race. -- Lizzie (Green) Ward

volvooceanrace.org