Team Russia was the name of the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

backed entry in the 2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race. Team Russia was founded by

Oleg Zherebtsov Oleg Zherebtsov (born 21 May 1968) is a Russian businessman, founder of hypermarkets "Lenta" and "Norma", the world sailing champion in 2011 at 12 meters class, the founder of the Association SB20 in Russia, and General Director of the Pharmaceu ...

, the founder of the

Lenta Lenta can refer to: * Lenta (retail), a Russian hyper- and supermarket chain * Lenta, Piedmont, a municipality in Italy * Lenta.ru, a Russian online newspaper * ''Lenta'' (лента), ribbon or tape in the Russian language ** Especially the ri ...

hypermarket chain in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. Zherebstov met former Olympic sailor and professional skipper,

Andreas Hanakamp Andreas Hanakamp (born 1 July 1966) is an Austrian sailor who has competed in two Olympic Games as well many other sailing events including the 1996 Hong-Kong-Challenge,

, by chance during a sailing holiday in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. The

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Team Russia is Michael Woods, who was director of Race Operations for the 2001-02 race. Their yacht, a second generation

Volvo Open 70 The Volvo Open 70 (sometimes referred to as a Volvo Ocean 70) is the former class of racing yachts designed for the Volvo Ocean Race. It was first used in the 2005–06 race (replacing the Volvo Ocean 60 yachts which were first used in 1993). ...

, was designed by British designer Rob Humphreys and built by Green Marine in

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

, UK she was christened ''Kosatka'' (which is Russian for

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

or killer whale) at a ceremony at

Gunwharf Quays Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilit ...

Marina,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

, UK on Monday June 16, 2008, by the boats godmother Birgitta Westerberg, co-founder (with

), of the Solntse (Sun) Foundation charity for sick and underprivileged children in St Petersburg,

. Team Russia had to suspend racing upon arrival in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

at the end of Leg 3 due to "insufficient funds". They officially withdrew from legs 4, 5, and 6 of the race, and whilst the team hoped to rejoin for the last legs of the race, this was not possible, however the team did sail Leg 10 beside the rest of the fleet to their hometown of

St Petersberg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Race team

The race team consisted of some previous

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

sailors, as well as some newcomers to the event.

WDCS Partnership

The

WDCS Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), formerly Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the UK, is a wildlife charity that is dedicated solely to the worldwide conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans). It has ...

were announced as the official partner for Team Russia. Kosatka sailed under the log
'We Sail For The Whale’
which calls for the creation of twelve new

marine protected areas Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuary, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for ...

for

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins a ...

and

dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

by 2012.WDCS International - Volvo Ocean Race - We sail for the Whale
/ref> :For more information see: WDCS#2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race

References

External links

Team RussiaVolvo Ocean Race
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226131645/http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ , date=2009-12-26
WDCS: We Sail For The WhaleWDCS Homepage
Volvo Ocean Race teams