Show Boats

The various race Web sites keep continuous track of positions and maneuvers, updated automatically every 15 minutes. Each boat is fitted with seven fixed cameras, a head-cam (that's cranial-mounted, not toilet-invading) and five microphones recording every detail for an online network, a sort of virtual black box; at least nine documentaries of the race are planned.

Welcome to the 21st-century version of the 19th century's final frontier.

Safety is no lightweight topic here. Throughout the history of competitive long-distance sailing, boats have competed at great peril.

One of the most famous long-distance sailing races is the Fastnet Challenge, which runs about 600 miles from the Isle of Wight around Fastnet Rock in Ireland and back to Plymouth, England. Seven boats entered the first Fastnet Challenge in 1926, and only four finished. In 1957, only 12 of 42 entries completed the course. Most deadly was the 1979 Fastnet, during which 303 sailboats were caught in a hurricane-level storm in the Irish Sea. Nineteen lives were lost, and 160 sailors required rescue, 25 yachts were abandoned and five went down in the 70-mph gale. (American sailing legend Gary Jobson, master of ceremonies for the Annapolis festival, served as watch captain on the winning yacht, Ted Turner's Tenacious.) And in 1985, the maxi-yacht Drum, co-owned by Duran Duran member Simon Le Bon, had its keel sheared off and overturned; Le Bon and five other crew were trapped beneath the hull for 20 minutes.

The first Golden Globe, a nonstop solo race around the world, was held in 1968-69; after 10 months, only one of the nine starters, Robin Knox-Johnston, finished the race. The first Whitbread (now the Volvo), which covered more 27,000 nautical miles -- about 31,000 land miles -- took off on Sept. 8, 1973, with 17 entries; 14 crossed the finish line nine months later, with three fatalities. Even this year, although there have been no severe accidents, there have been minor injuries, numerous breakdowns and some very close calls. (One of the reasons Brunel had to withdraw was its battered condition.)

In the first leg, both Ericsson and Pirates had to turn back to Spain for major repairs; movistar very nearly sank off Cape Horn, and it and Pirates had to return to Cape Town, South Africa. In fact, Pirates fans were beginning to mutter about "The Curse of the Black Pearl" coming true after the third time the boat had to pull up, interrupting a run that would have set a world 24-hour distance record. (It went instead to movistar.) ABN Amro Two proclaimed itself happy to make it into Baltimore after nearly watching its rigging dragged overboard. Ericsson cracked its hull, and all have had to deal with broken masts, torn sails and the like. And although it was not a hazard, leader ABN Amro One, which had a substantial lead coming in to Baltimore, was suddenly and excruciatingly becalmed, while behind it, Ericsson was nearly halted by a squall.

Although much of the course changes each time, this marks the third consecutive stopover in the Baltimore-Annapolis region, reflecting the area's huge yachting and marine audience. The last time the race came through the area, as many as 300,000 spectators visited the Inner Harbor in a single day, more than a half-million altogether.

Each of the stopover ports has prepared similar festivals, each playing up the local culture. The Baltimore Waterfront Festival, which runs through May 4 all along the Inner Harbor promenade -- rain or shine -- offers a huge array of family activities, street theater and music, maritime displays, food concessions and demonstrations, plus tours of the racing boats and visiting tall ships, all free and all fully accessible.

The Bay Cabaret/Main Stage hosts music from noon to 9 daily by local pop, reggae, jazz, ska, indie-rock, blues, zydeco, funk, soul and blues performers, surrounded by food and limited alcohol vendors. (Phillips, Baltimore's first name in seafood, gets in on the all-you-can-eat-for-cash trend with a crab cake eating contest, sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, on April 29.)

Baltimore chefs will demonstrate recipes at the Chesapeake Kitchen area, which is also where the oyster shuck off, celebrity crab-picking contests and other food-related events will take place.

For the first time in race history, the fleet will sail out into the bay for an official race, west of the Chester River, and then return for the prize ceremony at the Main Stage. And for those who like even more hand-to-hand combat, the new class of four-handed catamarans, the Extreme Volvo 40s, will race five times inside the harbor. For younger and intermediate sailing enthusiasts, there's the Rotary Club Regatta (J/22 and Sonar classes) out of Port Covington April 30.

Baltimore's festival also offers several ways to participate, at least vicariously, in the Volvo Ocean Race. The Downtown Sailing Center will offer free sailing lessons April 29 from noon to 5, first signed up, first sailed. (See the center's booth at the waterside steps of the Maryland Science Center.) In addition, the center will offer free sailboat rides throughout the festival.