Monday 9 July 2012

Groupama secures victory in Galway

Groupama skipper Franck Cammas celebrates in Galway.
Picture: IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race
Upwards of 100,000 people are believed to have turned out at Galway Harbour to welcome the Volvo Ocean Race fleet in.

A little rain, a cool wind and the wrong side of 2am did nothing to deter the crowd lining the dockside. The slightly unpleasant conditions gave the crowd a feeling of solidarity with the sailors who had borne so much adversity over the last three months.

It was Chris Nicolson’s team, Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand, who took the leg 9 win. This was their first leg victory and would put them in a good position against Puma going into the in-port race.

Overall trophy
Groupama finished shortly after Camper to take second place. That result was all they needed to clinch the overall trophy.

A disappointed and frustrated Kenny Read finished third on Puma Ocean Racing. They had been ahead of Camper at the Fastnet Rock. Losing to Camper had dropped them out of a chance of finishing second overall.

As we have seen throughout this race, the media coming off the boats brought the race to life. Leg 9 was no exception.

Live interviews
The 485-nautical mile leg 9 sprint from Lorient to Galway was covered extensively by live interviews with both skippers and navigators.

You could see the tension on board the boats as the close racing came down to the line. All of this has been made possible by Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband 500 enabling the excellent data streaming.

I will cover the future in my next blog, but as one race finishes and the next has been announced in 2014, the thirst from the race fans for interaction will not go away. The next race will be the most connected ever and it will be Inmarsat at the heart of the race again.

The Overall Final standings: 1. Groupama sailing team 253 points; 2. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand 231; 3. Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg 226; 4. Team Telefónica 213; 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 131; 6. Team Sanya 51

In-Port Series Final standings: 1. Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg 45 points; 2. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand 44; 3. Groupama sailing team 41; 4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 37; 5. Team Telefónica 27; 6. Team Sanya 16

Mark Covell

Monday 2 July 2012

So much live coverage

Puma rounding the Fastnet Rock
Ian Roman/ Volvo Ocean Race
Live, now, instantaneous, straightaway, immediate.

No, I haven't just swallowed a thesaurus or am trying to design a crossword, I'm sitting here in Galway connected to the web, being inundated by the amount of live footage and content coming from the fleet and its every move.

We are witnessing the last leg of the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. It's so short the teams are treating this as a mad dash sprint.

No sleep
Puma's Amory Ross wrote in his last blog: "Sleep has not been a component of Leg 9 thus far. So here we are... last full day of the Volvo Ocean Race with close sailing, rough weather, short duration, and high intensity.

"With the top four positions still to be determined, each point remains crucial. Consequently, this leg's 30 points are valuable enough to make all of us spend the last night sitting (or lying) on the rail.

"That would be OK if we were passing the Bahamas or Fiji, but we're close-reaching through the English Channel in 25 knots of wind, rain squalls, and shivering-cold temperatures. It's just another lovely July day on the way to the Irish Sea. Ugh! One final bashing for us and the old girl."

See the action
So that's a view from Amory's laptop, so now for the list of ways you can see the action.

As well as the usual social media networks - Twitter and Facebook etc - live streaming footage is being hosted here with interviews, still images and video conferencing, all being updated as it happens. See http://new.livestream.com/volvooceanrace

As well as the live crosses to the MCMs, Volvo has a helicopter flying over the Fastnet Rock, off the south coast of Ireland. The fleet has just gone around it in daylight.

Famous rock
I tuned in to see and hear Volvo's Rick Deppe speak to Mike Sanderson, the skipper of Team Sanya. In mid chat the camera panned round to reveal the famous rock and lighthouse that so many sailors have raced round before.

When this race is over and a "thank you" has gone out to all the teams and staff, one of the biggest must go to the team at Inmarsat for bringing this race to life!

When I set out to cover the race I truly didn't know how much Inmarsat has been at the heart of the race.

Something like 90% of all the footage has been channeled through their network and equipment. Impressive!

Puma in the lead
The fleet is due in tonight at 03:00 UTC, with Puma in the lead (at the moment…). Volvo is bringing you regular live video calls off the boats, rolling-text updates and live race tracking.

Here's the schedule for live calls, which will be broadcast at www.volvooceanrace.com and www.livestream.com/volvooceanrace:

Monday July 2:

1800 UTC - Puma
1830 UTC - Abu Dhabi
1900 UTC - Telefónica
1930 UTC - Camper
2000 UTC - Sanya
2030 UTC - Groupama


Mark Covell