Volvo Ocean Race to Return to Newport as Lone North American Stopover in 2018

The Volvo Ocean Race is coming back to Rhode Island in 2018.

Governor Gina Raimondo announced that the race, which brought more than 130,000 visitors to Newport this past May to watch races and partake in festivities in a bustling race village, has agreed to make Fort Adams the lone North American stopover in 2018.

“Rhode Island and Newport is a world class sailing destination, we have a robust shipbuilding industry, beautiful bays and waterways and we agree with you -- this is the best place in America for you to be,” the governor said to Tom Touber, chief operating officer of Volvo Ocean Race.

Touber, in his remarks, said he was ”thrilled to be back here in Rhode Island” to make the announcement. He said that if anyone came to the race village this past May, or watched the races “would agree that it’s not a surprise we are coming back.”

Newport, he said, “is a place where where we came as guests and left as friends.”

Fort Adams State Park was a “stunning” venue for the race and the sailors who participated remarked afterwards that “you could feel the passion of the people,” Touber said. And the warm welcome extended to the shopkeepers, restaurant employees and everyone else involved in the event in the surrounding community.

Last year, more than 130,000 fans attended and more than half were from around the country and the world.

“This put a global spotlight on Rhode Island,” Raimondo said.

The economic impact on RI is estimated to be $50 million. It also helps solidify Newport’s place as a world class sailing destination, if not the premiere destination in America. The city beat out some stiff competition in 2015, including port the port cities of New York, Boston, Halifax and Miami, said Sen. Teresa Paiva Weed of Newport, who was part of the team of elected officials and the teams at Sail Newport and Discover Newport.

An instrumental player is Brad Read of Sail Newport, whose introduction by state Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit was followed by thunderous applause. Read said that the 2015 stopover “created a new legacy building upon Rhode Island’s rich history of marine trades” and was an opportunity to showcase the state’s engaging and winning tourism, budding green industry, sustainable event management practices and more.

“These accomplishments were shown in the brightest light on the biggest stage our sport has to offer,” Read said.

Newport has proven to be a compelling place for Volvo Ocean Race to do business. Economically, Read said that Rhode Island proved to deliver the highest return on investment for Volvo than any other North American port in the history of the race, which begins its 13th edition in 2017.

The work to bring the race back to Newport began second after the final moments of the departure ceremony when racers began their journey to Lisbon.

Read said that he was tapped on the shoulder by Raimondo at the race club near the concession stand.

“Don’t screw it up. Let’s get this thing back,” she said.

“Governor,” Read said in the packed room at the State House on Friday. “We didn’t screw it up. We got it back.”

This story has been and is being updated since it was first posted at 10:20 a.m.