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#VOR - The Volvo Ocean Race has launched its search for a team of onboard reporters for the 2014-2015 edition of the epic round-the-world challenge.

For the third consecutive edition, each team taking part in sailing's biggest offshore race will have on board an embedded multimedia reporter, formerly known as an MCM.

For the 2014-15 edition, each onboard reporter must be approved by the Volvo Ocean Race in a step introduced to make sure all teams make best use of the enhanced media capabilities of the new one-design Volvo Ocean 65.

"We're starting the hunt for proven media professionals to tell the real story of this extraordinary race," said director of communications Jon Bramley. "We need people who can be at the top of their game despite conditions that test even the world's best professional sailors to the core."

Selected candidates will be required to spend five weeks at the Volvo Ocean Race headquarters in Alicante, Spain for training. Those approved will then be matched up with one of the teams for the pre-race period plus the event itself.

Interested candidates should send a CV and covering letter to [email protected]. More details on the job can be found at www.volvooceanrace.com.

Published in Ocean Race

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Fans of the Volvo Ocean Race should expect a "very forward thinking" design for the new 65-foot one-design planned for the next two editions of the round-the-world challenge.

"The overwhelming impression will be of a top-level grand prix racing boat," says Patrick Shaughnessy, president of Farr Yacht Design - the company responsible for the new design.

"When you come down the dock you're gonna see a boat that's really cool," he adds. "The stem shape has been styled to be emotional, forward looking and be relevant for years to come so it's a boat that's exciting and modern and it's gonna be iconic."

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the new design will also be lighter and safer, putting less on an emphasis on physical strength, and paving the way for women's teams to be competitive in the race once again.

The €4.5-million VOR 65 is currently being designed at Farr's facility in Annapolis, Maryland in the USA. The company's progress has been recorded in a series of videos posted on YouTube.

Sail World has more on the story HERE.

Published in Ocean Race

About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation 

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour

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