A total of ten legs created the route, with seven in-port (IP) races held at various cities around the world.

Unlike previous editions, the route crossed the Strait of Malacca at the Malay Archipelago, instead of Cape Leeuwin south of Australia.

[2] On 15 June 2009, Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael, finished third on leg 9 from Marstrand to Stockholm, Sweden.

[3] Ericsson 4 covered the 42,500 miles (68,400 km) of the race in a time of 127 days, 7 hours, 46 minutes, 21 seconds.

Ericsson 4 won leg one of the 2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race from Alicante, Spain, to Cape Town in South Africa in a time of 21 days, 17 hours and 54 minutes.

Telefonica Black, Ericsson 3 and Delta Lloyd all withdrew to sail to the Philippines and Taiwan for repairs.

Leg 6 was won by Ericsson 4 at 21:05 GMT, 26 April 2009 after 15 days, 10 hours and 31 minutes of sailing Ericsson 4 won leg seven of the 2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race from Boston in the United States to Galway, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a time of seven days, 10 hours, 33 minutes and 51 seconds.

[17] Irish President Mary McAleese made a public speech before the sailors took off, noting their "extraordinary skill and resilience" which had "inspired all of us".

[19] Liu Biwei, China's ambassador to Ireland, spoke of how he favoured the Irish-Chinese pairing, and the fleet received several blessings.

[27] Telefonica Black won the last leg of the 2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race from Stockholm to Saint Petersburg, covering the 400 miles (640 km) in a time of 1 day, 12 hours and 41 minutes.

This race featured "Stealth play", a tactic that allowed a crew to hide its position from its competitors for a period of 12 hours.

During Leg 1 "Ericsson 4", skippered by Torben Grael, broke the monohull 24 hour distance record when he sailed 596.6 nmi (1,104.9 km), an average of 24.85 kn (46.02 km/h).