All Aboard for the Worst Job in the World of Sports Media – Jon Bramley

We’re pitching it as probably the worst job in the media world – and certainly one of the toughest – but that hasn’t stopped wannabe on-board reporters for the next Volvo Ocean Race applying to us in their droves.

At the time of writing, about a week after we first tentatively launched our advert appealing to talented film-makers and story-tellers with a taste for the high seas and life at the ridiculously extreme, we have 650+ applications and counting.

Here at our Race HQ in Alicante, Spain I’m thinking of asking some of the team to start doing double-time simply to work through the letters from the potentially great, the good, the bad and the dreamers who have written in.

The job of on-board reporter, or Media Crew Member as we used to call it, has always been one of our most sought-after postings since we introduced it five years ago.

Personally, I think you have to have more than the odd screw loose to take on 39,000-nautical miles plus at sea with a bunch of stinking sailors for nine months in the black hole of Calcutta that is a modern race sailing yacht’s cabin.

Still, it takes all sorts and here we are more than knee-deep in applications once again.

The problem in the past has been that the race rules have not been specific enough about the calibre of candidate we’re looking for and a couple of our Media Crew Members have arguably been more frustrated sailors looking for a round-the-world ticket than potential Pulitzer Prize winners.

Not that the standard has been bad, far from it. Our last Race Report for media showed huge strides forward in terms of media pick-up for a sport and event which has long been regarded as niche.

But we’re attempting to make further strides in crossing that great divide between the sailing geeks and those landlubbers who don’t know their bows from their sterns and that means telling the story in a way they can understand.

And that means telling the human story.

We’ve certainly got plenty of material to work with. These guys and with the arrival of an all-female team from Sweden – gals – are very special sportsmen and women indeed.

Our event lasts for eight and a bit months and our race track is 39,000-plus nautical miles of some of the most treacherous seas on earth.

With five deaths over the 40 years we’ve staged the event since it was first launched as the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973, it’s no exaggeration to say that the sailors leave their bunks in the morning not knowing if they’ll safely flop down back in them after their shifts are over at the end of the day.

So, as I say, not a job for the faint-hearted – you’ll have to be tough to land one of these sought-after berths but also diplomatic.

Whatever my thoughts may be of capturing Emmy-winning moments of stand-up rows, punch-ups and other raw emotion at sea, the fact is that the skippers of these boats still have the ultimate say on board their boats. They’re no different from any ocean-going craft in that respect.

Our media men and women will need to use all their wiles, patience and tact to grab the sailors for interviews when they’re at their most open while not missing a second of on-board action such as equipment breakages – we had four broken masts in the last Race – which can go viral on YouTube and Facebook.

It’s rather like being a war correspondent – you need to remember you’re an observer of history unfolding but alienate the unit you’re embedded in and your hopes of capturing compelling content will be an uphill battle.

In the past, we have fought on occasions to persuade our teams that it is in their interests for the rough as well as the smooth be recorded for posterity from the boat so that their triumphs are seen from the perspective of the downsides they have inevitably overcome.

This Race cycle we are working from the off pushing that message to our teams and so far it seems they understand the strategy fully. To be fair to them, these campaigns cost many millions so portrayal of their brands counts absolutely.

Meanwhile, our applications for a job which takes you thousands of miles for weeks on end away from your loved ones – not to mention a hot shower – continue to flood in. And not one of them has asked how much the position pays.

Who says the spirit of adventure is dead in the pampered world of media?

Jon Bramley is the Director of Communications for the Volvo Ocean Race, off-shore sailing’s leading professional event and the longest in pro sport. It is held once every three years and covers nearly nine months, 39,270 nautical miles and five continents. Jon took over the role in May last year after a 29-year career in sports journalism. He worked for 10 years in senior roles at the Press Association, was Assistant Sports Editor at the Sunday Mirror and then worked for 11 years at Reuters. His roles there included running the sports news desk, covering five Olympics and three soccer World Cups. He also headed the Reuters United Kingdom and Ireland general news bureau for a year.

Jon Bramley’s 

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