The Volvo Ocean Race, formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race, is said to have been conceived in the smoke-filled bar of a yachtsman's pub, becoming the world's greatest ocean race.

While the race may generally skip the attention of the masses, especially in the West of Ireland, this time around it will be of special interest here, with Galway announced as the stopover for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race.

The race gets its official Galway launch today at the Meyrick Hotel Eyre Square in Galway and is sure to attract the attention of the media masses. However, in advance of this, the Galway Independent has put together this special supplement, giving the history of the biggest race on the planet, an overview of the event itself and an introduction to the Irish team.

35 year of race history

The first Whitbread Round the World Race, which took place from 1973 to 1974, was conceived and organised by the Royal Naval Sailing Association with sponsorship from the London-based brewery company. It was the first ever attempt at a global, crewed yacht race.

According to the Volvo Ocean Race website, there was a feeling of apprehension and nervous exhilaration as 17 race yachts, carrying 167 crew from seven different nations, hoisted their spinnakers on the way out from Portsmouth into the English Channel on the first leg of a brand new sporting contest, the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.

The yachts, ranging from the 1936-built Peter Von Danzig of Germany, to the UK's Burton Cutter, which was still being finished during the race, were no different from many of the 3,000 spectator boats that set out to witness the historic start. Crews, it says, were mostly adventure-driven novices, with limited experience of offshore sailing and absolutely no idea what lay ahead over the coming 27,500 nms.

Most of the skippers, by contrast, it says, had thousands of sea miles under their belts. 'Skippers like Chay Blyth, a pugnacious sergeant of the British Army who had first achieved notoriety in 1966 when he rowed the Atlantic with Captain John Ridgeway in a six-meter dory.

'Two years before the start of the Whitbread, he had also become the first person to sail non-stop westwards around the world aboard the 21-meter ketch British Steel, a feat which had made him a household name. On board Great Britain II, funded by Bahamian philanthropist 'Union' Jack Hayward, Blyth had a crew of 'Red Berets' from the parachute regiment – all of them supremely fit beefcake types known for withstanding the toughest challenges, but not known for their sailing skills.'

As the idea for the race had grown out of discussions at the RNSA, the British Armed Forces were well represented with three entries, but there were two others from Britain. Ex-naval yachtsman Les Williams, who with Robin Knox-Johnston had won the 1970 Round Britain Race, headed up one of these crews on Burton Cutter, at 24 meters the biggest yacht in the fleet and Roddy Ainslie, a keen sailor from Macclesfield had put together the Second Life syndicate with his brother-in-law Ian Butterworth and found 12 paying passengers to take their Ocean 71 around the course.

Everyone paid £3,000 each and the entire project cost £40,000.

The French navy entry was headed up by Eric Tabarly, who was already a national sporting hero. He had bought and restored an old Fife Cutter in the 1960s, naming her Pen Duick, and was now on his sixth upgrade, a powerful 22-meter ketch.

However, his qualification was uncertain as, according to the Volvo Ocean Race website, her controversial depleted uranium ballast keel had been outlawed by the race authorities. Four other French boats lined up at the start along with three from Italy, two from Poland and one each from Germany and South Africa.