This week Volvo Ocean Race opened its new Race Control, a high-tech hub inspired by the NASA control centre, which will be the nerve-centre of the race when it starts next year. It is the most advanced race control room ever built for a yacht race.

Guests tour the new Race Control Room at Volvo Ocean Race Headquarters in Alicante Photo Credit Volvo Ocean Race

“It will be the main tool for Race Director, Jack Lloyd and his team to manage the racing 24 hours a day from the start of leg one, to the finish of the last boat in the last port,” said Knut Frostad, Volvo Ocean Race CEO, in his address to guests and media at the opening event.

“Inside Race Control will be a team of up to four duty officers who will work in shifts throughout the day and night during the entire racing period, exchanging information between the fleet and Race Headquarters.”

Volvo Ocean Race Headquarters in Alicante, celebrating the completion of the new facility and Race Control Room. Photo Credit Volvo Ocean Race

With an 18-screen video wall, eight control positions and the centre platform of a traditional and electronic chart table, this highly sophisticated hub will provide constant monitoring of all boats and the weather conditions they experience.

The hi-tech Race Control will also connect us with the actual race, the sailors and Media Crew Members racing around the world. Sophisticated satellite systems will transmit stories from the fleet thousands of miles from land, back to Race Headquarters to be shared by fans through our online channels and the media.

“The Volvo Ocean Race is different from other sports because, apart from the arrivals, leg starts and in-port races, it is not possible for the media to cover the race first hand,” explained Frostad. “Therefore, we have to take the race to the media and we have to do that with a minimum of lead time and sufficient capacity to handle a global audience on many different media platforms.

Volvo Ocean Race Headquarters opening in Alicante,Spain. Photo Credit Volvo Ocean Race

“We work with media all over the world and one of our main objectives for the next race is to improve and grow our global audience.”

At the unveiling of the new Race Headquarters, many of Alicante’s dignitaries and members of the Spanish media were invited to celebrate the completion of the complex built by the Generalitat Valenciana in the Port of Alicante,  Spain where the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 Race Village and racing fleet will be based for the start in October next year.

Guests at Volvo Ocean Race Headquarters in Alicante celebrate the completion of the new facility and Race Control Room. Photo Credit Volvo Ocean Race

Frostad concluded, “Our thinking has been to develop this location as an experience for sponsors, for the city, for the media, for the teams and even for local or foreign visitors looking for entertainment. It is a place where it is possible to learn more about ocean racing and the Volvo Ocean Race.”