Bronze hands

Melbourne's final celebrations for the Volvo Ocean Race stop-over

The Volvo Ocean Race will leave a lasting impression on Melbourne, and in particular on its home away from home at Waterfront City, Docklands. The hands of the seven skippers that steered the Volvo Ocean Race fleet to Melbourne are to be immortalised in bronze at Waterfront City.

The seven – New Zealander Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE), Frenchman Seb Josse (ABN AMRO TWO), Dutchman Bouwe Bekking (movistar), American Paul Cayard (Pirates of the Caribbean), Brazilian Torben Grael (Brasil 1), Briton Neal McDonald (Ericsson) and Australian Grant Wharington (Brunel) – today each placed a hand in a clay mould on the Waterfront City Piazza.

They then signed the imprint they had made, with Cayard remarking it was “just like kindergarten”.

Sanderson said the concept of being immortalised was “a bit scary”. He continued; “It’s such an amazing new development here at Waterfront City. I’ll have to come back and have a look when the plaques are all done.”

Although a late arrival, Wharington still made a mark, being the only one to leave an impression of his left hand. "I’ve never done that before, it’s a bit of fun,” Wharington said. “It was actually quite hard to leave a good print in the clay.”

Melbourne sculptural foundry Meridian Sculpture in Fitzroy, which owner Robert Sinclair believes to be the oldest such foundry in the southern hemisphere, will transform the clay mould impressions into bronze tiles to be placed on a wall of the piazza.

The Wall of Fame will commemorate the first-ever stopover in Melbourne of Volvo Ocean Race.

Since ABN AMRO ONE took the leg two victory into Melbourne on January 21, over 220,000 visitors have flocked to Waterfront City to join in the Melbourne Stopover celebrations.

A giant farewell party is planned for Saturday night, starting with Brazilian Carnivale at 7pm, followed by Rogue Traders, led by Neighbours star Natalie Bassingthwaighte from 9.30pm, and a spectacular fireworks display at 10.30pm.

The yachts are due to start leg three of the 31,250 nautical mile, around the world race on Sunday, with the crews waving farewell to Waterfront City from 10am as they head to the start line off Station Pier, Port Melbourne.