SatNews has learned that Thrane & Thrane is going to play a vital role in delivering the close-up, onboard action from the next Volvo Ocean Race — the world's premier ocean race — to the millions of fans worldwide. The Copenhagen-based company has signed up to become Official Sponsor of Satellite and Radio Communications Equipment for the third consecutive race.



The agreement means that Thrane & Thrane's latest generations of SAILOR® FleetBroadband and VHF equipment will be onboard every cutting-edge Volvo Open 70 as they line up in Alicante for the start of the race in October 2011. The scope of supply for the 2011-2012 race includes new generation products. With the world's first 2nd generation FleetBroadband antenna, the in-house developed SAILOR 500 FleetBroadband will be the central communication hub for each race team. From upload of race footage, reports and interviews for television and web, to download of weather data vital for competitive navigation performance, all of the teams will benefit from true broadband communication along the entire course around the globe.

Every Volvo Open 70 race boat, as well as Volvo Ocean Race's own crew and umpire fleet, will be fully equipped with variants of the newly introduced and advanced SAILOR 6200 VHF series. This series is highly regarded by users thanks to its famous replay function and robust waterproof design, which makes it suitable for even the toughest marine environments. The teams will also benefit from the compact SAILOR 150 FleetBroadband for crew voice calling and IP data while two SAILOR mini-C systems will be onboard for constant positioning data and global safety communication.

The race will visit eight stopover ports on five continents and race through four oceans, in under nine months. The Volvo Open 70s will cover over 39,270 nautical miles racing around the globe. The race course has already been revealed with the start in October 2011 in Alicante (Spain), followed by stopovers in Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajai (Brazil), Miami (USA), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France) and finally the race finish in Galway (Ireland) in July 2012.