Now the Sailing fans all over the world can follow the most dramatic moments of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race live and directly online.



There are many ways viewers can follow the action, via their mobile phone, the web by using Virtual Spectator Raceviewer, or via IPTV in Ericsson’s customer pavilion at each port stop. The race starts on 4 October in Alicante, Spain, and ends in late June next year in St Petersburg, Russia. There are 10 legs in the race which takes sailors to 11 ports around the world.

All boats are equipped with five fixed cameras and two radio microphones. With advanced multimedia solutions from Ericsson and dedicated media crew member on each boats with 2 handheld camera, the onboard experience will reach the viewer in the form of Photos, videos, podcasts and feature stories. The audiences will have an open window into the most remote and dangerous parts of the ocean. Each channel experience has been tailored to maximize its unique value to the production mix.

The latest version of Virtual Spectator now run on web browser without the need of installation. In case of any problem, just download and install Virtual Spectator.

The minimum system requirements to run the race viewer are:
– Pentium III processor (or equivalent).
– Windows 98 with DirectX 9.0c installed.
– A DirectX 9 compatible graphics card with at least 64 Mb of RAM.
– 256 Mb of System RAM.
– A broadband internet connection (dial-up should work in most cases).

Note that the raceviewer covers the offshore legs only!