OUR NEW VIDEO SERVER HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED THE WAY PEOPLE ARE COVERINGTHEVENDÉEGLOBE
Production is the official host broadcaster for the 2020-21 event. “I know this race,” Borde says. He was executive producer in 2004, 2012, 2016 and, before that, he helped individual skippers with their coverage, starting with the second Vendée Globe in 1992. The Vendée Globe’s departure is a major celebration. Usually, Les Sables-d’Olonne is overrun with fans and the Vendée Globe village is a hub of excitement. This time, Covid-19 has forced the village to close a week before the race. Only authorised individuals were able to wave off the skippers in person. Other fans sent personal messages to the fleet that appeared on giant screens. Nevertheless, it was still a visual spectacular and included a dramatic flight over the boats by the Patrouille de France aerobatic team, streaming the Tricolour through the sky. Shooting the complicated race start was split into two live segments: one with the boats leaving the
pontoons and one with the boats heading out to sea. Using ten cameras and one helicopter with a Cineflex, Borde’s team captured the event in 4K UHD and produced a worldwide feed in HD. Directed by Anthony Forestier, director of the Tour de France coverage, the start went out to French TV channels and 28 international TV channels and digital platforms to a total of 190 territories. Borde says the production of the start hasn’t changed too much over the years the Vendée Globe has taken place. The technology, number of cameras and number of affiliates have all grown, but the shoot has more or less remained the same. But the possibilities in terms of covering the race itself, from the individual boats, has changed greatly over the years. “We developed new tech that allows the sailors to easily send footage from their boats,” says Borde. “We have developed software in partnership with Ektacom that allows the sailors to have live video links
with the race organisation and with broadcasters around the world.” Broadcasters can download the Ektacom Nomade Access solution for free, which permits them live access to book slots with the skippers for live interviews at sea for the duration of the race. The cost for the installation is absorbed by the teams who pay an additional fee for the Ektacom tool. All boats are required to install some kind of high-performance live video interview solution and also are required to have a Skype-like solution as a back-up. Every day, the Vendée Globe produces a live lunchtime show, Vendée Live , hosted by international sailing journalist Andi Robertson. It features live interviews with skippers as well as up-to-the-minute weather reports and discussions with sailing experts and members of each boat’s support crew. The live content is transported by Inmarsat satellite technology and files are exchanged using the Iridium Certus platform.
A UNIQUE CHALLENGE
Sailing solo is hard enough, but the skippers also have live video interview solutions to keep in constant contact with the outside world
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