October 2011– Fleet gathers in Alicante for build-up and first in-port race

November– Leg 1 begins to Cape Town. Within 24 hours, two boats are knocked out of the leg with serious damage. Later, a third is dismasted. All three are shipped to South Africa.

December– With Telefonica established as the boat to beat, the fleet departs for Abu Dhabi but are halted at the secret destination of the Maldives to be shipped to the Emirates due to piracy concerns

January– Reversing the route, the fleet including Team Sanya that had pulled into Madagascar for repairs returns to Male and begins racing to China, once again avoiding potential Somali pirate attacks.

February– The race settles into a rythym as the fleet departs China, albeit with an unprecedented false start to allow a tropical storm to clear from the route ahead as the organisers feared further damage to the boats.

March– A few days behind schedule, Groupama wins Leg 4, breaking the run of leg victories by Telefonica who nevertheless appear invincible. Hours into the start of Leg 5 from Auckland to Itajai, boat breakages begin once again as high winds threaten the fleet.

April– With two boats knocked out of the leg entirely and due to be shipped to Brazil and the United States for repairs, plus a dismasting for Groupama and hull damage to Telefonica, the repair bill is adding up; plans are afoot for the next race to switch to more reliable one-design boats.

May– Ken Read on Puma wins into the United States stop-over port of Miami, the nearest to a home win for the Newport, Rhode Island, skipper but most importantly starting a comeback as a serious threat. Groupama takes second place but Telefonica takes fourth plus scores another dead last in the in-port race.

June– A win for Ian Walker on Abu Dhabi salvages some hope but a second place for Cammas plus an In-Port race win in Lisbon confirms the French boat as overall leader.

This is followed by another leg win into Cammas’s home port of Lorient while double-rudder breakages drops Telefonica from the podium.

July– The race to Galway ends with a second place for Groupama behind Chris Nicholson's Camper scoring their only leg win of the race. Telefonica narrowly place fourth in a thrilling climax that ends in bitter disappointment for the one-time race favourite.