The Volvo Open 70 yacht Giacomo emerged from the tent at Tauranga Bridge Marina hard stand today, where it has spent the last month being prepped for southern racing.

A new name, a coat of paint and the former round the world racer Groupama 4 is ready for the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Giacomo

Modifications to the racer include new ballast tanks and moving the mainsheet traveller to accommodate a longer boom. The ballast tanks are to fit the Coastal Classic and Sydney Hobart race rules.

Southern Ocean Marine is the main contractor with the painting applied by BOP Marine Painters.

Today, the hull is expected to be lifted onto a cradle so the canting keel can be reattached, with the yacht expected to go back into the water on Sunday to be rigged.

'It will probably motor up to Auckland Sunday night,” says boatbuilder Greg Prescott.

The winning yacht in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race is going to be campaigned by owner Jim Delegate in the Coastal Classic, and Sydney Hobart races. The Coastal Classic starts October 25.

In the Sydney-Hobart, Giacomo is expected to be up against other former Volvo Ocean race boats. The entire Volvo Ocean race fleet was made redundant with a design change declared mid-way through the last race.

The Volvo Open 70 is built to a set of design rules, similar to the design and construction rules that define a racing car. Competing teams design and build boats within the scope of this rule to try and come up with the fastest boat for the expected conditions of the race.

Launched in May 2011, Groupama 4 is designed by the Franco-Argentinean architect Juan Kouyoumdjian, Groupama 4 was built at the Multiplast yard in Vannes and equipped with a mast manufactured at Lorima, in Lorient.

French team 'Groupama” was the overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012, beating the New Zealand boat Camper and American entry Puma.

There are Volvo Open 70s still on sale for between $US640,000 and $US750,000and they aren't winning boats. Add to that the cost of the paint job, the alterations and new sails.