Volvo Ocean Race- B&G announced as Official Race supplier

by B&G Media on 26 Nov 2014 Leading sailing marine electronics manufacturer B&G has been appointed an Official Race Supplier for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/15.

Following the decision by the Volvo Ocean Race team to purchase B&G navigation systems to equip the entire fleet of one-design Volvo Ocean 65 yachts, B&G will also be providing full electronic navigation systems, tactical software and race support to the organisers of the 2014 Volvo Ocean Race, which began on the October 4th in Alicante, Spain.

Since the inception of the world-renowned Volvo Ocean Race, every competing team has relied on sailing instruments from leading manufacturers B&G to give them the knowledge to compete successfully in the race, and this is set to continue with the 2014 race.

The newly designed Volvo Ocean 65 yachts benefit from a B&G system which has been developed from the ground up to specifically meet the demanding needs of the gruelling 39,000 nautical mile race.

Each boat has a vast array of equipment including Broadband 4G Radar™, Class-B AIS systems, Zeus Multifunction displays/chartplotters with CZone control and an instrument system based on WTP3 – the extremely powerful Wave Technology Processor that monitors the yacht’s systems and eliminates the effects of boat motion from critical wind data. Integrated with wind, boatspeed, heading, GPS, loadcells, keel angle and rudder angle sensors - to name but a few – WTP3 provides the teams with highly accurate real time information.

As well as a complete line of B&G products, race participants will be supported at every stopover by a team of B&G specialists, they will also have access to 24/7 emergency technical assistance.

The Volvo Ocean Race technical, race and media teams are supplied with live data, which is transmitted from the B&G systems onboard the yachts to the race HQ in Alicante, this allows monitoring of each vessel, as well as providing an overview of current weather conditions.

Alan Davis, Product Line Director for B&G, said: 'We have worked closely with the Volvo Ocean Race team and their partners to provide technical solutions to integrate the new Volvo Ocean 65’s systems, and are jointly developing innovations for the race boats and committee boats of the future.'

Jack Lloyd, Race Director from Volvo Ocean Race said: 'In a race as high profile and challenging as the Volvo Ocean Race, it is essential that Race Control is up to date with the latest and most accurate race information, which is why we chose B&G to supply systems to both our race boats and our Race Control in Alicante.'

For more information on the B&G range of marine electronics, whether for Grand Prix racers or cruising visit www.bandg.com. To keep an eye on the progress of the Volvo Ocean Race and its teams visit www.volvooceanrace.com