Reporting from the high seas during the toughest 'Round The World Race'

Life at the Extreme or La vie à l'extrémité
The Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world. Most people in the yachting community agree that this particular round the world race is the “Everest of Sailing”. For more information about the Volvo Ocean Race visit http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ The 2008/2009 edition of the race had an exciting twist, when it came to the composition of the team. Each team consisted of eleven professional crew members. One of the many requirements for the composition of the crew was that each team had to have a media specialist on board. The job of the crew member was to report, broadcast and take photographs during the whole race. The media specialist was only an observer and not a participant. This was an exciting addition to the requirements by the race organizers to connect more with the viewers at home. This enabled viewers to take a really close look at what happens during the race. As a media student and an active sailor, this gives you an idea of my interests –Sports Journalism (Sailing).I find this very interesting as I will get to do two things that are very dear to me. It’s every sailor’s dream to sail the Volvo Ocean Race. To be given an opportunity to be part of a team and to be right there in the thick of it all. Being part of the race would be an amazing experience for a sports journalist. This is one of the unique sports where the journalist will be part of a race team. This new addition has been so successful that journalists actually want to come back not as a media specialist but as a professional sailor. This sort of reporting is taking sports journalism to another level. This is not just a round the world race. It is one of the hardest challenges a person can undertake. This addition is a really great platform for Ocean racing and adds a new dimension to sports journalism.Here is a great Q&A article on GUO CHUAN, the first Chinese man to be part of the Volvo Ocean race Volvo Ocean Race - Latest News .He took part as a Media Specialist. It is my dream to become the first Indian to sail the Volvo Ocean Race as a journalist sailor.