The island nation of Singapore was today confirmed as the Southeast Asian stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 with the signing of an agreement to bring the famous ocean marathon to the resort island of Sentosa.

The city state’s selection as the stopover on the marathon ocean race’s new route through the Middle East and Asia follows more than six months of negotiations and evaluation.

The fleet, which is scheduled to stop over in Singapore in late December 2008, will be based at the new, state-of-the-art One Degree 15 Marina Club, one of Asia’s leading marinas.

This will be the first time in the race’s 34-year history that the fleet will call in on Southeast Asia and follows the recent announcement of another first – the race finish in the historic Russian port of St. Petersburg.

The race route is nearing finalisation with the offshore start set for Alicante on 11 October, 2008, following an in-port race a week earlier. The race is currently scheduled to last nearly 10 months, covering more than 39,000 nautical miles and visiting up to 12 ports.