The Volvo Ocean Race,

September 23, 2001 6:27 AM

The Volvo Ocean Race, formerly known as Whitbread Round the World, starts today. After years of preparation for the crews, boat builders and designers, 1500 BST this afternoon will see the eight participating boats cross the Cowes start line on the first leg to Cape Town. The website is more advanced than ever, with virtual racing available, as well as WAP/SMS services and brand new virtual spectator software. Will you be following the teams as they sail round the world, or is sailing simply no spectator sport?
posted by dagny (3 comments total)

Funny, I just spotted this at National Geographic the other day. I don't follow sailing much, but I think I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks for the links.
posted by brism at 4:42 PM on September 23, 2001

Thanks for the links, dagny. I'll be following this, especially in the Southern Ocean.
posted by msacheson at 9:10 AM on September 24, 2001

Back in '94 I started following the BOC challenge 'Around Alone' a solo round the world sailing race. Two competitors were particularly inspiring to me, Isabelle Autissier and Harry Mitchell. Isabelle was the only female entrant in the race and Harry was 70 years old. I tracked the updates daily via compuserve and then via the internet as the race progressed into 1995.

Isabelle's yacht was damaged badly in a rollover somewhere southwest of Australia (IIRC) and she had to abandon it and drop out of the race. Sadly, Harry was lost somewhere in the South Pacific and never heard from again, only a few faint signals from an automated distress beacon.

The guts, determination and drive to attempt this is amazing.
posted by mutagen at 10:08 AM on September 24, 2001