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Inmarsat Communication Award is consolation for AkzoNobel

Melbourne Stopover. Ronald Spithout, President of Maritime business unit for Inmarsat. .Inmarsat Team Communication Award..Winner: team AkzoNobel. Awards Night 31 December, 2017. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race was a tough one for team AkzoNobel – but the digital content they shared of their struggles netted them the Inmarsat Communication Award.

Inmarsat Maritime President Ronald Spithout presented the prize, awarded for each leg, to the crew in Melbourne. Each of the seven competing Volvo Ocean 65 boats has an Onboard Reporter (OBR) charged with capturing and sending back compelling multimedia content from the world’s oceans – all made possible by Inmarsat.

Leg 3 saw team AkzoNobel fall behind the rest of the fleet after damaging their mast track during a gybe in heavy weather Southern Ocean conditions. In the time it took to jury-rig a repair, the team fell several hundred miles behind the leaders and into a less favourable weather pattern for the rest of the leg. They ghosted into Melbourne on 27 December, three days after overall race leaders MAPFRE.

So far the team is enjoying better fortunes in Leg 4, being currently placed second in the 5,600 nm race to Hong Kong.

As official Satellite Communications Partner to the Volvo Ocean Race for a fifth consecutive edition, Inmarsat is providing reliable FleetBroadband connectivity for high-speed voice and data, Inmarsat C safety services and IsatPhone 2 satellite phones for the boats’ liferaft grab packs.

Through our partnership the 2017-18 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, recognised as the longest and toughest professional sporting event in the world, is also set to be the most connected.