“ These are extreme boats for an extreme sport. They are very tough physically and mentally and telling the story of someone going through that, day in day out, makes compelling reading and viewing.
Britain’s Guy Salter has signed on to be the media crew member on the Volvo Ocean Race with Ericsson Racing Team.
I couldn’t agree with him more!
The last Volvo Ocean Race had my entire immediate family glued to our computer screens. The drama of sailing around the world is seeped in history, and technology has made these boats faster and more exciting than ever.
The designation of a crew member devoted specifically to media is a new addition to the team. Salter will be responsible for chronicling life with video, text, audio and still images while underway aboard the Volvo Open 70.
In past years, different members of the crew (usually the captain or navigator) would write and send updates from sea. ABN AMRO, in particular, was by far the most compelling and ground breaking of all the boats in the last competition, offering sporadic videos and images from life aboard.
The intrigue with ABN AMRO also had to with with the fact that they sponsored two boats in the competition. One of the two teams was entirely comprised of young men mostly under the age of 30 known as “The Kids.” These guys experienced a tragic death of a crew member, and then (still with a dead man on board) rescued a crew from a competitors sinking (now sunk) boat.
Whew.
Looking past tragedies, I’m eagerly anticipating the race this coming year. I’m especially interested to see how technology has evolved with the boats and of course see how each program will integrate more mulitmedia storytelling onboard during the race.
The 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race (previously known as The Whitbread) will begin October 4 in Alicante, Spain and completes on June 27 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The complete port schedule can be seen here.