Auckland Stopover: Preview for Thursday 15 March

Five of the six yachts have now been lowered back in the water. Only Team Sanya remains on the hard, due back in the water tomorrow morning.

Action resumes on the water tomorrow (Thursday) with the Practice Race scheduled for 2.00pm.

There's also the official Leg 4 Prize Giving on the PUMA stage at 4.00pm

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE RACE VILLAGE ON THURSDAY

GLOBAL PARTY
It's BRAZIL day at the Global Party! Acts on the PUMA stage include:

11.00am Malecho Band
12.15pm Malecho Band with dancers
1.30pm Malecho Band with dancers
4.45pm Brazilian drummers + Latin Fever floor show + Latin dance class for audience + Zumba for children
6.15pm Samba Maracana and Bobby Brazuka (DJ)

KING NEPTUNE'S TRAIL PARADE
The Auckland Stopover Parade with magical marine creatures singing and dancing to the Stopover Song plays once toda. Meet Pablo the Prawn (Spain), Louis the Crab (France), Marmo the Octopus (USA), Amal the Turtle (UAE), Harry the Hapuka (NZ) and the three mermaids (China) plus sea anemones, blue bottles and sea lice. Performance at 6pm.

SKELETON SEA ART WORKSHOPS
Material gathered from the beach clean-up is being used to create the Auckland Stopover Skeleton Sea art sculpture of a whale's tail over the next few days at the Voyager Museum. Workshops 10am - 12 noon and 2pm - 4pm.

SCHOOL VISITS
Hundreds of Auckland schoolchildren are visiting the Race Village from Monday 12 - Thursday 15 March as part of the Auckland Stopover's Schools Programme.

FREE PADDLEBOARDING
Try standup paddleboarding with PUMA - free 30 minute lesson with instructor and equipment. 12 - 6pm from the tidal steps on Karanga Plaza. Must be able to swim!

The Volvo Experience, including the Ride simulator, the Grinding Challenge and Air Balls on water will open at 9am. There will be movies running all day in the 3D Cinema and the Dome and there's lots for the little ones, including a bouncy castle and miniature pedal trucks and cars. Check out the Volvo Pavilion for an incredible array of interactive screens, games and vehicles or pop into the DHL NZ Marine Export Showcase and look at the very best of NZ marine products and services.

And it's all free!

Visit isitbusy.co.nz to plan your visit to, from and around the Auckland Stopover Race Village.

Ends

NOTES FOR EDITORS
• The 2011/12 Volvo Ocean Race started in Alicante (Spain) on 29 October and features nine Legs with Stopovers in Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajai (Brazil), Miami (USA), Lisbon (Portugal) and Lorient (France) with the finish in Galway (Ireland) in July 2012.
• The Auckland Stopover runs from 8 – 18 March 2012
15 March: Practice Race
16 March: Pro-Am Race
17 March: In-Port Race
18 March: Start of Leg 5 to Itajai (Brazil)
• The last Auckland Stopover was a decade ago, during the 2001/2002 Race. There was a brief 48 hour pitstop in Wellington in 2005/6.
• The 2012 Stopover will be the eighth time the Race has come to Auckland. This is the eleventh edition of the Race which was first held back in 1973/74.
• Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) owns the rights to stage the Volvo Ocean Race Auckland Stopover (VORAS), and is the primary funder of the event.
• Government support for the event has been confirmed, including a grant from the Major Events Development Fund.
• ATEED has appointed Auckland major events company Mayo& to deliver the Stopover on its behalf.
• For more information on the Volvo Ocean Race Auckland Stopover, please visit www.volvooceanraceauckland.com

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