Episodes
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World-renowned yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian explains just how much work and detail goes into the design of the IMOCA 60, where The Ocean Race Europe IMOCA class was lost and won and where the future lies for foiling offshore boats.
This special edition of Off Watch was recorded during The Ocean Race Europe, and a new series of Off Watch will be coming this September.
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In this last episode of Season 2 of Off Watch we welcome back Ken Read - Ocean Racer, America's Cup commentator and President of North Sails. Ken gives Niall the inside track on The Ocean Race Europe which combines VO65 and IMOCA fleets for the first time at the end of May, starting in Lorient, France. Ken also gives us his optimistic take on how the sport of sailing is adapting to a new world ⛵️🌍
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Missing episodes?
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The Ocean Race Europe is only weeks away so in this double episode we catch up with Yoann Richomme, skipper of Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, and The Ocean Race veteran and crewmember on CORUM L'Épargne Sébastien Josse.
Yoann tells us about the formidable crew he's assembled onboard Mirpuri Foundation Racing team's VO65, and Seb shares some learnings from his illustrious sailing career and gives a preview of foiling IMOCA 60 sailing in The Ocean Race Europe.
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Behind every unforgettable story and each iconic image from our race is an Onboard Reporter and Amory Ross is one of the most experienced practitioners of this unique art form. In this episode we get a deep insight into storytelling in some of the most remote places on earth - from the impact of technology and drones, maintaining creativity at sea and capturing rare wildlife encounters.
Plus at the end after the interview Niall and Amory hang out and chat about the vibrant French sailing scene.
Amory is currently part of 11th Hour Racing Team's crew for The Ocean Race and The Ocean Race Europe.
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Bruno Dubois is one of sailing's most influential and successful team builders. In this fascinating episode Bruno gives us candid lessons from failure, analyses the success of French sailing heroes Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier and explains his formula for a winning team.
Bruno managed The Ocean Race winners Dongfeng Race Team in 2017-18 and has an extensive background in The America's Cup and SailGP. He's currently lending his knowledge and experience to the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team for their VO65 entry in The Ocean Race Europe, and the next edition of The Ocean Race.
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Tracy Edwards is one of The Ocean Race's true pioneers and rule breakers with an unbelievable and inspiring story. In this episode we hear the full story - including the bits she didn't include in the award-winning documentary 'Maiden' about her iconic 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race campaign. Tracy also explains why she never wanted to be a skipper and reveals the sexism that women have faced in the sport of sailing.
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Abby Ehler has sailed in The Ocean Race three-times and is a seasoned boat captain dealing with repairs in less than ideal circumstances. As a woman working at the top of the sport of sailing both on and off the water Abby also dedicates her energy to The Magenta Project, developing pathways and generating opportunities for women in performance sailing.
In this chat Abby and Niall get into some of her experiences keeping boats together in the Southern Ocean, the secrets of successful team building, and the challenges of women in sport.
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This week we take a wonderful journey back to the Whitbread years, and also to some extremely cold climates with legend of The Ocean Race Skip Novak. Skip competed in four editions of the Whitbread Round the World Race before deciding to follow his passion for exploration and adventure at high latitudes with his company Pelagic Expeditions.
We relive Skip's near-death experience aboard Drum with rock star Simon Le Bon, learn how sailing can bring people together across political and social divides, and hear about exploring polar environments affected by climate change.
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SEASON #2 of OFF WATCH starts today with a dramatic story of survival that captured the whole of the sporting world. 😯 Kevin Escoffier 🇫🇷 is a two-time competitor in The Ocean Race, a winner with Dongfeng Race team in 2017-18 and recently a survivor when his foiling IMOCA 60 boat PRB sank 840 nautical miles SW of Cape Town during the Vendée Globe. In this exclusive interview Kevin gives an incredible blow-by-blow account of the incident and his rescue, and explains why The Ocean Race creates the best sailors in the world.
Follow Season #2 of Off Watch on YouTube and audio Podcast platforms over the coming months for the best stories in sailing ⛵️🌍🌊
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Simon 'SiFi' Fisher is one of The Ocean Race's most accomplished navigators with five laps around the planet and plenty of stories to tell over a distinguished career. SiFi explains how he communicates with a crew, how to come back from adversity and we hear about life at the extreme onboard 11th Hour Racing Team's bone-rattling foiling IMOCA 60.
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This week we get a special insight into coaching and psychology in elite sport. Anje-Marijcke van Boxtel is a leading business and sports psychologist and has worked behind the scenes with Bouwe Bekking and Team Brunel for two editions of The Ocean Race 🌊. In this interview Anje-Marijcke takes us inside the confidential meetings and make-or-break moments of a round-the-world campaign, revealing her lessons in leadership, team dynamics and how to turn around challenging situations (and characters) under extreme pressure 💪⛵️🌍.
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Tony Rae has an incredible resume by any standards - he's competed in The Ocean Race five times, winning twice, and sailed in The America's Cup seven times. He's also carried the heavy responsibility of being one of the race's trustworthy onboard medics. In this extensive interview Tony re-lives hitting a reef aboard Team Vestas Wind in 2014, we learn the secrets to good leadership, why New Zealand produces so many top-class sailors and he tells us a little-known secret about fellow Kiwi sailing legend Grant Dalton.
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Annemieke Bes is an Olympic silver medallist for the Netherlands 🇳🇱, and competed in the last edition of The Ocean Race aboard Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. In this interview she tells us about getting a taste for ocean racing as a trialist for the all-female Team SCA, some of the key moments in Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag's dramatic journey around the world, and what her future holds as a competitor. ⛵️🌍
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For Dutchman Simeon Tienpont, sailing in The Ocean Race was a childhood dream. In this interview Simeon explains how he went on to lead AkzoNobel to a stunning 24-hour speed record in one of the race's great stories.
Simeon also talks about the technical knowledge required by top sailors, building a VO65, and shares memories of Hans Horrevoets.
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Richard Mason is uniquely qualified to give the inside track on the past, present and future of The Ocean Race. Originally from New Zealand 🇳🇿, Richard has sailed in The Ocean Race four times and been involved shore-side another two editions, as well as being one of the race's warmest characters. He's now on the management team planning the next edition, and gives us the lowdown on the upcoming The Ocean Race Europe as well as his learnings from 20 years at the pinnacle of sailing. ⛵️🌍
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This week we welcome Bianca Cook - a veteran of the 2017-18 edition of The Ocean Race with Turn the Tide on Plastic, and now setting her sights on the 2022-23 edition as skipper of her own team - NZ Ocean Racing. ⛵️🇳🇿
Bianca lets us inside the challenges and pressures of creating a new team from scratch, her leadership learnings and what she looks for in a crew member.
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Joan Vila is one of the world's top navigators, and has an incredible sailing resume having won the America's Cup three times (more than any other Spanish sailor 🇪🇸), and sailed in five editions of The Ocean Race ⛵️🌍
In this edition of Off Watch Niall digs deep into Joan's many adventures in sailing, developments in navigation over the years, and how he takes his coffee ☕️
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Ian Walker is the only British 🇬🇧 skipper to have won The Ocean Race. Today Ian is the Director of Racing at the Royal Yachting Association, and he talks Niall through his fascinating career in The Olympics, The America's Cup, and of course his famous victory in 2014-15 with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.
Ian also discusses how to get into The Ocean Race as a sailor, and his opinion on one-design sailing.
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Our guests this week need little introduction - Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. Peter and Blair are an Olympic gold medal winning pair in the 49er, America's Cup winners in 2017 with Emirates Team New Zealand, and of course they both sailed in the last edition of The Ocean Race - Peter on Team Brunel, and Blair aboard MAPFRE.
Niall grills them on the tough moments in their successful partnership, Pete's media technique, pushing the limits of foiling in the America's Cup and we learn about their ambitious new charity Live Ocean which aims to protect and restore the oceans.
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This week we have a short catch up with Emily Nagel all about sailing aboard 11th Hour Racing Team's IMOCA 60 as training crew during a recent transatlantic.
Emily gives us her expert opinion on the differences between IMOCA and VO65 sailing, foiling across the Atlantic and life onboard when there's no space for bunks!
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