The Volvo Ocean Race has marked the one-year countdown to the start of 2008-09 event in Alicante, Spain, with the launch of a new free on-line TV channel allowing enthusiasts to enjoy the drama and history of the great event on their home computers. The race's further leap into the multimedia age is in line with the race's commitment to using the latest in media technology to give a worldwide audience access to the race any time, anywhere, during its 39,000 nautical mile odyssey around the globe.
The race has contracted the British company, Premium TV/Inform Group, leading on-line specialists in TV channels, to provide the new website service ( http://www.volvooceanrace.tv ).
The new channel will be broadcasting in wide screen and over the coming months will be progressively releasing historical archive stretching back to the first Whitbread Around the World Whitbread Yacht Race in 1973.
Online viewers will not only be able follow their sailing heroes, but will also have access to an extensive back catalogue of features exclusive to the site. * The 2008-09 race will use a state-of-the-art race management tracking system to monitor the progress of the fleet on its 39,000 nautical mile voyage round the globe.
The system, known as Saffire, has been developed by Bluefinger , the maritime division of Cybit, a UK online telematics service provider. It will be used to track the position, direction and speed of each yacht.
The Saffire system uses the international maritime satellite (INMARSAT) network to give accurate position reports which will be refreshed every 15 minutes to monitor the safety of each yacht and allow accurate race scoring and leadership tables to be maintained.
Saffire will also feed data to the race's website and 3D viewing platform enabling visitors to http://www.volvooceanrace.org to follow the fleet's progress online. The Saffire solution has traditionally been used in the areas of fisheries management, economic exclusion zone monitoring and offshore oil and gas exploration.
* This week on the Volvo Sailing podcast we talk to the current leader of the World Match Racing Championships, Ian Williams, we hear from 49er star Stevie Morrison, and with one year to go to the start of the next Volvo Ocean Race, we get all the latest from race director Andy Hindley.
As ever, live Thurs eve/Fri morning at:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/podcast/
