(T.R.) Kosatka 2008-09

The tenth edition of the Race was also the second edition of it being known as the Volvo Ocean Race. Eight VO70s competed in the event, setting out from Alicante, Spain, on October 4, 2008 and completing ten legs before finishing in the Russian city of St. Petersburg  on June 26, 2009.

Team Russia’s entry the yacht Kosatka - in Russian the name means orca or killer whale - was a second generation VO70 skippered by Austrian ​​Andreas Hanakamp.

Forming a partnership with WDC - Whale and Dolphin Conservation -, it became one of the first teams in the history of the Race to rally behind an environmentally-friendly message. Sailing under the slogan ‘We Sail For the Whale’, their campaign called for the creation of twelve new marine protected areas – for whales and dolphins -  by 2012.