2017-10-23: The Volvo fleet exits GibralterThey didn’t post it…
2017-10-23: The Volvo fleet exits Gibralter
They didn’t post it on YouTube until now, but the Volvo Ocean Race media team did an amazing job of broadcasting live on That Other Platform (mumble mumble Facebook mumble) when the Volvo racers were running through the Strait of Gibralter on the second afternoon of Leg 1. The winds were being funneled into the Strait, and the boats had only a narrow channel they were allowed to sail in due to commercial shipping, so there was a lot of gybing in pretty intense conditions.
The most-compelling footage for me was watching eventual leg-winner Vestas at the front of the fleet, hanging onto their Masthead 0 rather than shortening sail, keeping everything just barely on the right side of catastrophe. The media people were able to combine live helicopter footage with on-board video and audio, and hearing the sailors talking through the maneuvers was some of the best competitive-sailing television I’ve ever seen. I mean, these teams do this a lot; they’ll be doing it all the way around the world over the next nine months, at times in gnarlier conditions and circumstances than they were dealing with here. But this felt like being there on that boat as it happened.
I’ve tried to link to the part where they join Vestas, around 36:30, but it’s all great.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/2z7Wmxt.
Tags: vor, volvo ocean race, vestas 11th hour racing.
