Powering an Ocean Race Dream - Austrian Ocean Racing

The epic Ocean Race is renowned as the ultimate ocean marathon – a relentless, awe-inspiring test of human endeavour, skill and adventure which pits the world’s best sailors against each other across tens of thousands of miles in some of the toughest, most remote, conditions imaginable. Only the bravest competitors and most determined teams with access to the best yachts, equipment and technology even make it to the start line. But the prize of The Ocean Race survival and success at the end of months of extreme exertion and danger can make these special sailors legends of their sport.

The teams which earn their place amongst the fleet in The Ocean Race 2022-23 start from Alicante, Spain in January 2023, visiting nine international cities over a five-month period, including the start port and the Grand Finale finish in Genoa, Italy in the summer of 2023. For the first time, the 32,000nm race around the world will include a record-breaking leg of 12,750nm from Cape Town to Itajaí, Brazil, seeing the fleets head down to the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties of the South Ocean, passing all three great southern Capes without stopping. The Ocean Race 2022-23 also features the VO65 Sprint Cup, a new trophy awarded to the team which accumulates the best score across three different legs of the race: Alicante, Spain to Cabo Verde; Aarhus, Denmark to The Hague, the Netherlands; and The Hague to Genova, Italy.

For the participants, fans and organisers, the current and future race editions are a hugely different prospect to the first event, then the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-74, with advances in yacht design and equipment enabling dramatic changes. However, it is the ground-breaking satellite communication technology now available in this new era of global yachting connectivity that has truly transformed ocean racing, from enhanced performance, safety and onboard communications to fascinating story telling and insight for the people following at home.

Connectivity is key for the next generation of yachts racing around the planet in their endless quest for performance advantages and audience reach, in their build-up races, training and funding campaigns, as well as in the midst of the main event.

To take their place amongst The Ocean Race fleet and ultimately fulfil their potential for themselves as individuals and their country, Austrian Ocean Racing’s pivotal objectives in the final months leading up to the 2022-23 event extended beyond refining their performance ability and building their reputation in offshore races. It was also critical to their overall campaign that they effectively showcase their results and success, proving they are professional campaigners and communicators to sell their ambition. In early 2021, with at least two more major refits planned before the race and a range of new equipment required, significant funding still needed to be secured.  

It was essential for the young team to harness the most advanced tools and capitalise on the contribution of experienced and reliable equipment partners. Austrian Ocean Racing needed to maintain an important competitive edge, keeping them one step ahead of their rivals in speed, tactics and visibility to the outside world. 

Xaver Kettele, CMO, said: “Getting information from the boat to shore to tell the story is essential. It’s hard to understand what it means to race for two weeks, 24 hours a day. There is no place for retreat, no privacy, no break. To get this story out and to share it with the people around the world is essential for the sport. 

“For us to compete in The Ocean Race is a big thing for the Austrian sailing community. Everyone feels how hard we are working to bring the boat to the race. To do the race and be competitive you need around 10-15 million Euros. We are a small team, with a small budget, but when you see what we have achieved in such a short time, you will know that we all put our heart and soul into our work. We are a young and new team, not only aiming to win the race, but to do things a little differently and make a splash.” 

Austrian Ocean Racing impressed in the European Tour, but The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Transatlantic Race in 2022 was a high-profile event which would prove vital to their final push for budget. The pressure was on to produce their best performance and demonstrate they were at the forefront of sailing’s latest technological advancements in their push to build momentum during the final countdown to the big race. 

Inmarsat has a long history as a successful partner with The Ocean Race, beginning with the 2001 Volvo Ocean Race. As Official Satellite Communications Partner for the sixth consecutive time in 2022-23, we will play a significant role once again and will power ground-breaking advancements in onboard communications. Using our connectivity accessed via the world’s most reliable global mobile satellite L-band network, the 14th edition is set to be one of the most connected sporting events in history.

Austrian Ocean Racing’s VO65 was already equipped with our award-winning connectivity. The team installed FleetBroadband 500 and FleetBroadband 250, providing satellite communication capabilities in-line with all The Ocean Race yachts. This ‘always-on’ connection through our FleetBroadband service allows several applications like internet access, emails, calls, weather reporting and telemedicine. It also features streaming IP available on demand, for live applications such as high-quality video streaming. Inmarsat C enables a two-way data connection for emergency services and 24/7 tracking.

During the European tour, the Austrian team had relied on local SIM cards when sailing close to shore and tried other portable units and alternative offshore connectivity solutions that failed to work. Skipper Gerwin had utilised our satellite communications previously, but Austrian Ocean Racing as a team first experienced the game-changing difference of our FleetBroadband service during the Inmarsat-sponsored The Ocean Race Europe and began talking to Inmarsat about developing a partnership.

With the advantage of full airtime support and unlimited use of data for the RORC Transatlantic Race, the Austrian team were able to fully tap into the power of our connectivity to improve their general communication, racing tactics and overall onboard experience, with an outstanding outcome.

Beginning on 8 January, the 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race covered approximately 3000nm, starting from the Canary Island of Lanzarote and crossing the Atlantic to finish on the east coast of Grenada in the Caribbean. Austrian Ocean Racing lined up alongside 22 other teams, competing in the International Rating Certificate (IRC) Zero Class as the ‘new kids on the block’.

The ability to use our connectivity to download regular weather updates was always upmost in navigator Jolbert’s mind. And with a low-pressure system developing at the start of the race, it was an interesting and untypical weather situation that required constant monitoring from onboard the yacht – a perfect opportunity to use our reliable satellite communications to check the forecasts and make real-time, well-informed decisions about a fast, yet safe, route to take.

With the new low and its front pushing away the Azores high, a significant area of very light breeze left Austrian Ocean Racing with the option to either stay south and near the rhumb line with the risk of getting becalmed, or to go above the low, sailing more distance to find more wind.

Jolbert said: “We had a huge front building with a low-pressure system coming out of it, but as it was still developing, we were completely dependent on the forecasts we were getting on the way. In the end, we decided to go first a little bit north and monitor the progress of the weather forecast, downloading satellite images every now and again to check the actual situation. We gained a lot of confidence in the weather forecast and understanding what we were going to see, allowing us to make this decision. Normally, you don’t like to go off so close to a low-pressure core because it comes together with very high wind speeds.

“With the possibility of downloading so many weather updates – actually every six hours – and downloading satellite images to check what is happening in real life, we were able to make a decision. When we exited the low-pressure system, we were in a position next to the boats that were supposed to be a lot faster than us, so in the end this strategy really paid off.”

In addition to the weather updates, Austrian Ocean Racing was also able to use the Inmarsat connectivity to track the other boats every few hours, to check their speeds to determine the accuracy of the forecasts and see the overall standings. While they were not permitted under the rules to talk to their shore team about strategy, they could use satellite communication to provide updates on broken equipment, spare parts required. They could also send an email back home to reassure loved ones or, in Gerwin’s case, check the football scores!

The critical safety benefits of reliable connectivity for the fleet also became evident during the RORC event. With one boat lost on the tracker for an extended period, the race organisers contacted the other yachts in the vicinity to reach out to the missing team, highlighting the need for a good connection to receive messages asking for assistance or in any other emergency.

Meanwhile, the capability of the Inmarsat system to support streaming services was invaluable to helping them tell their story by capturing and sending photos and videos, or even uncrewed aerial vehicle footage, during the race.

Jolbert added: “I had absolutely no issues or problems regarding the Inmarsat communication. It was perfect. It’s reliable, it’s there. You turn it on and it’s working. It’s an amazing thing to send out video from the middle of the ocean. But for safety and performance, the differences are huge. Having experienced how easy and beneficial the connectivity is, for both racing and cruising, I now see it can be dangerous to go without good connectivity. After two days, you can throw away a weather forecast because it’s useless. Then you are out there without anything, without any information, so it can be easy to sail in the wrong direction, into areas of big winds, big waves. It was also reassuring to know that Inmarsat kept track of us all the time and knew exactly where we were.”