The Volvo Ocean Race is a testament to the skill and endurance of the crews battling the sea and the elements in a trial of seamanship and boat design. It also illustrates the crucial part communications play in modern sailing. Cobham has a major role in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, supplying technology that not just keeps the boats in touch with the control centre and provides vital contact in time of emergency, but is also a key element in video coverage of the race.
The Volvo Ocean Race s history stretches back 42 years, when it was known as the Whitbread Round the World Race. Volvo took over sponsorship in 2001, since when the race s profile has risen higher, largely because of greater media awareness and coverage. Cobham TCS, together with Cobham SATCOM, are partners and sponsors of the 2014-15 event, supplying IP, wireless, satellite and other communications technology that has already proved itself indispensable on the first three legs of the competition.
In a departure from previous races, this Volvo Ocean Race features a one design boat, the Volvo Ocean 65. Each vessel is the same shape and size with identical sails, keel, below deck space and steering mechanisms. This uniformity extends to the communications set-up. The Cobham TCS NETNode Mesh IP radio provides IP connectivity for email and internet access, with COFDM modulation to integrate video, audio and GPS information. "The IP capability gives a lot of flexibility, comments Volvo Ocean Race technology director Jordi Neves.
IP connections are carried over a BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) system, supplied by another Volvo Ocean Race race partner, Inmarsat. Linking into this is Cobham s Explorer 710 BGAN terminal, which works alongside a range of the company s other products, including the Sailor SP3510 portable VHF radio and Sailor 6391 Navtex system.
Two Cobham antenna systems sit on the sterns of the boats: a Cobham SATCOM Sailor 500 Fleet Broadband, which is used intermittently for live streaming and transfer of large video files; and the compact Fleet Broadband 250, which is always on and used mainly for email, telemetry and weather information.
Each crew includes a non-sailing member, the onboard reporter (OBR), whose main role is to shoot videos, stills and write blogs detailing progress in the race and life on the boats. Working at a media desk below decks, the OBR compiles reports from footage shot on handheld and onboard cameras using Final Cut Pro. These are sent to the Volvo Ocean Race broadcast centre in Alicante, Spain using LiveWire M-Link Newscaster software linked to the Cobham Fleet Broadband antennas. Material is then distributed to international broadcasters or transmitted on a dedicated IPTV channel.
Footage of onshore events and the arrival of the boats in each port is produced by Sunset+Vine. This includes shots from chase boats and helicopters that follow the racers into harbour. Cobham TCS HD SOLO transmitters are fitted on two rigid-hulled inflatable vessels as well as the aircraft for linking back to the production centre.
"When Volvo took over the race we made the focus more about the people taking part than the boats and the water, says Jordi Neves. "There are 66 sailors spending 140 days at sea and we want to reflect that using the technology available to us - video, audio, satellite phones and email. Cobham is helping us make that happen."
The Volvo Ocean Race has now reached Auckland, New Zealand.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
The Volvo Ocean Race is a testament to the skill and endurance of the crews battling the sea and the elements in a trial of seamanship and boat design. It also illustrates the crucial part communications play in modern sailing. Cobham has a major role in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, supplying technology that not just keeps the boats in touch with the control centre and provides vital contact in time of emergency, but is also a key element in video coverage of the race.
