30 November 2017the original interview], they just decided not to put any of
that in.”
Witt accepts that he’s probably going to be painted as
the villain no matter how much he protests. But he says
he’s good with that. Which is great for us spectators,
because one of the things a race full of professionals needs
is someone who’s prepared to do some straight talking.
That is also why there have been significant changes to
the way the on board reporter programme is run. In past
editions, the ‘OBR’ has been hired by the team as a team
member. Irishman Brian Carlin was sailing with Team
Vestas Wind in the last race, and was the man responsible
for capturing that terrifying footage of the moment when
the blue boat hit a reef in the Indian Ocean, tearing the
boat asunder. The problem with the embedded team OBR
was that the really big stories sometimes never surfaced,
or not until months later.
Now Carlin is overseeing the OBR programme, which
will see the reporters rotated from leg to leg across
different teams. “Being hired by a team makes you more
like a team member. We’re bringing it back to the word
‘reporter’. You go on a boat to report on what’s happening
without having any external influence over your story,
which I think is going to bring a more authentic feel to it
this time round,” he says.
The race is also developing a new internet system which
will allow sailors to put out their own social media posts
(without accessing any outside information).
CEO Mark Turner insists that the race will be chock-full
of stories and believes the new approach will prise
open the hidden world of the Volvo Ocean Race in
ways that we haven’t seen before.Vestas is back in
the race with 11th
Hour Racing with
a new skipper and
team on board›
Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race
James Blake / Volvo Ocean Race
volvo ocean race