a-solitary-sea-rover:

• It involves both in-shore and offshore racing when the Olympics and America’s Cup are only inshore and the Vendée Globe is only offshore.
• Unlike the AC or the Olympics, you get to see different oceans, coasts, and cities instead of watching racing in the same harbor for several days/weeks, BUT…
• Unlike the VG, they travel around the world with stops, so people get the chance to see the boats up-close, the sailors get to rest, have fun, and see the sights, and the fans following online learn some local culture and geography.
• Stopping to visit cities and see things instead of going nonstop is probably how most people would want to travel around the world, so this is relatable
• There’s some degree of downtime during stops so you don’t fall COMPLETELY behind on your work.
• The coverage and fan base are both very multilingual and international instead of most Vendée Globe fans living in France and it having mostly French-language coverage and most America’s Cup fans living in New Zealand and it having mostly English-language coverage. 
• (…and it probably has the biggest fandom on Tumblr, just saying.)
• Sometimes ordinary people have actually vaguely heard something about it once (not as often as with the AC, we admit, but it’s still more well-known in the Anglosphere than the VG and you’d be surprised how many people don’t know sailing is an Olympic sport… like my brother.)
• There are dedicated media crewmembers on every boat and they take really good photos and video.
• There are resources in both beginner and expert degrees of detail, and the public social media accounts are written in a very fun and friendly tone, so nobody has to feel intimidated by not knowing much about sailing yet.
• There’s so much material that probably nobody with any other job can catch up on all the new content every day, so just pick and choose which channels you like.
• The teams are international and we get to see them bond despite cultural differences and become epic fire-forged friends.
• Most of the sailors do other big events in the interim, so you now have someone to follow in those events when they happen.
• There are lots of kick-awesome female sailors and there have been for decades.
• The teams and management care about sustainability and the environment.
• The boats and sails are bright, cheery colors and not just red, black, white, and gray.
• If you ever DO get up-to-date, you can jump right into learning about the past races on the official website and YouTube channel and then find books and magazine articles for more detail.
• Once the race ends, you can do that to keep busy until the next one.

However:

• Because it only happens every few years, it may NOT be the first Big Four event you follow… but at least then you can compare them and decide if you agree with me or not!

(…and it probably has the biggest fandom on Tumblr, just saying.)

Heh. Yes; hear us roar! The mighty Volvo Ocean Race Tumblr Fandom!

😜

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174447273051.