At the far tip of the of the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport sat seven magnificent racing yachts. Well actually when we arrived only five of them were docked; the other two were perhaps off somewhere in Victoria Harbour doing tests and getting repairs after their long journey from Melbourne.
The Hong Kong Race Festival for the Volvo Ocean Race around-the-world sailing race provided many opportunities for children to interact with and get to know the different sponsors and technologies associated with the yacht race – from sustainable wind power generating turbines to a state of the art Chinese motor company, as well as learning all about the problems associated with the ever-growing plastic pollution in tour seas and oceans. Volvo Ocean Race Sustainability Education Programme
Children wandered about the Race Village trying virtual reality headsets, checking out a cross-section of one of the yachts, as well as watching a massive, eye-popping video in a huge dome called the Globe. The children were excited to climb inside the model of the race boat. It gave them a ‘real glimpse into the race conditions’. We learned a lot about the race itself; how difficult life is on the boat, and how you need to work as a team to succeed.
It was a wonderful morning for everybody involved.
The Volvo Ocean Race mascot was Wisdom the Albatross. He gave us free hugs. We had so many activities to do and we even got to go on one of the boats. It was awesome!
There were many areas like The Dome, docks, drawing, virtual reality, games centre, arcade. They even had movies. Everyone liked the virtual reality. There were lots of children from year 3 up to year 5. The names of the boats were Mapfre, Dongfeng, Scallywag, Turn The Tide on Plastic, Vestas, Akzonobel and Brunel. Good luck everyone!
Constantin and Ian Yr 5
I thought the virtual reality part was amazing. It made you feel like you were on board the boats and sailing the in race. Max Yr4
It was great seeing all the boats in the dock. The best part was going on the demonstration boat, you really got to feel what it was like. Ava Yr4
I thought it was really cool. I found out that the crew had to do shifts. They slept for 8 hours and then worked 8 hours – that’s unfair! Jack Yr4