Day in the life: Volvo Ocean Race technology chief Jordi Neves
The technology chief for the Volvo Ocean Race, which finishes this week, describes how he overcomes the challenges the sailing event throws up.
The Volvo Ocean Race is the longest, toughest sailing event in the world and, with 85 per cent of the 45,000-nautical mile race taking place in the middle of nowhere, there are plenty of difficulties.
My job is to tell the race’s many stories, pinpoint the highs and the lows and keep communications open in an extreme environment.
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I have to work with everyone. We have people working with satellites and operating drones, as well as new media channels and broadcasters.
There are cameras on each boat, two drones following them and an onboard reporter acting as a fly on the wall and sending back information to race control.
My day is 24/7 for nine months. We are operating in vast oceans, so anything can happen any time.
Even when the boats have stopped I’m still busy. I travel to each of the 12 stop-overs on six different continents, but I always go back to race control in Alicante, where every single phone call, email and picture goes.
During the stop-overs I may not get calls at 3am, but because of the different time zones it doesn’t relent much.
The boats cross four oceans and are often very far away from any shipping lines and human contact. I have to deal with any issues that might crop up day-to-day onboard.
The race takes place in extreme environments all over the globe (Source: Getty)
If something happens we have Plan A, B, C and D but it’s a very extreme environment so you never know what will come up.
There’s always something that goes wrong; 99 per cent of the time it’s something simple, like a cable becoming disconnected, but one per cent of the time it could be an accident.
Usually we can fix it easily, but sometimes I’ll need to call in a favour and increase the signal on a satellite for example. But it’s not a football match: this happens all the time and is ever-developing.
I’m always communicating, often in different languages. Whether it’s with crew, different partners or local broadcasters in different countries around the world.
I talk to people on board who have to cope with poor food, no showers and confined space. They’re going through hell, but I have to convince them to allocate a bit of their day to keep the outside world informed.
A lot has changed since the first race in 1973. We’ve come a long way from using an answering machine and VHS tapes.
Technology and satellites now allow us to use real-time connectivity around the clock. But I’m always thinking about what we can do next.