The word today is the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts in October, is to stop at Kochi in India (Cochin, as was). Tucked away beneath the headlines, however, is the decision to bin a Middle East stopover for the race.

Lengthy negotiations over the benefits in kind the race organisation could expect in Abu Dhabi apparently didn’t lead to any firm commitments and with planning time running out the VOR decided to halt all the “faffing around” and scrap the stop.

Meanwhile, no successor to Glenn Bourke has emerged as yet, though the word is that racing director Andy Hindley has presented himself for the job, Marcus Hutchinson, director of external affairs and communications for Team Origin, has been interviewed and that ex race skipper Knut Frostrad is somewhere in the frame.