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Botin Carkeek of Santander, Spain has been named as the principal design team for PUMA Racing. Marcelino BOTIN and Shaun CARKEEK are internationally known for their outstanding reputation, designing some of the fastest racing yachts in the world. They are recognized as industry leaders and plan to test the boundaries of modern yacht design when it comes to PUMA's new race boat. BOTIN is currently the lead designer for Emirates Team New Zealand in the Louis Vuitton Cup. The designers have had resounding success in the highly competitive IMS and TP 52 classes.

Goetz Custom Boats of Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, has set the standard for building state of the art composite racing yachts. Goetz has a stellar reputation for building boats for offshore endurance races that are built for speed, strength and reliability. Goetz boats has proven itself in the most competitive arenas, having built boats that have won the America's Cup, Admiral's Cup and Maxi Worlds. Goetz boats have also competed successfully in three Volvo Ocean Races.

'Our sailing team has been through an arduous process choosing the two primary businesses that we believe will create the fastest Volvo Open 70 in 2008 and 2009. I am thoroughly confident that Botin Carkeek and Goetz Custom Boats are the right companies to give our sailing team the fastest ride around the planet,' says skipper Ken READ (USA).

PUMA Racing Team's new Volvo Open 70, which will compete in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, will be ready to set sail in early 2008. Currently, the PUMA Racing Team is training locally in New England with their home base in Newport, Rhode Island.

About The Race

The 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race will be the 10th running of this iconic ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, it will for the first time, take in ports in the Middle East and Asia. Spanning some 39,000 nautical miles, stopping at around 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.

For a complete list of all the news about the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 CLICK HERE.