Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

The creation of this blog coincides with the launch of the new web site for the
Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona (FNOB). It is a response to the clear support of international development in offshore sailing competition.

The past edition of the Barcelona World Race 2007-08, saw the fruition of one of the main objectives of the FNOB, and a particularly ambitious one, not only the establishment of the first ever double-handed round the world competition, but the development of a wide range of offshore sailing projects.

The new FNOB web site is one of the initiatives created with the organisation itself: encouraging the development of offshore sailing competition, a sporting activity which clearly offers huge scope and perspectives for the development of both human and socio-economic value.

My active participation in the communication of the Barcelona World Race was one of the most fascinating experiences both on a personal and professional level that I have ever had, and it is a feeling shared by the whole team that created the content and worked on the communication of the regatta.

It was clear that offshore competition was, and still is, a minority sport in Spain with very few channels and outlets for favourable communication. However the huge following of the race web site was far greater than any expectation there might have been prior to the race start; a huge satisfaction for the whole team and an efficient antidote for any weakness there might have been from inexperience.
 
The FNOB has offered me the opportunity to create and maintain this blog, which I feel is a huge honour and of particularly importance. The team that has worked in the creation of this web site believe that it is possible to create offshore sailing content that will create an interest and passion not only for sailing enthusiasts but for a wider range of the population.

It is not necessary to repeat the values of offshore sailing competition for the different communities involved, a look at our French neighbours more than justifies that, although historically it has clearly taken a great deal for Spanish institutions and companies to realise this importance.

However in the last few years there has been a great advancement and proof of this is the last four round the world races that have taken place from a Spanish port. One of the consequences of this development and particularly after the great success of the Barcelona World Race was the General Assembly of the IMOCA that was held for the very first time out of France, emphasising the increasingly important role Spain is playing in the international offshore sailing scene.

Only 483 days from the start of the next double-handed round the world race, the offshore mono-hulls will experience a few days of vital importance for their future development, the details of which will be covered in the next few pages.

The sporting and organisational experience of the Barcelona World Race was for all those who had the privilege to participate in its creation and development, an overwhelming indication of the enormous possibilities that offshore sailing has for any form of communication. The activities currently being initiated by the FNOB are a direct consequence and therefore just as ambitious; the creation of an offshore sailing team, the backing of offshore races, the creation and development of a nautical base, the launch of a number of research programmes in the industry and scientific institutions and the development of basic navigation. All the projects have been undertaken recently and will be developed over the next 16 months leading up to the second edition of the Barcelona World Race. One of the objectives of this web site is to involve all offshore sailing enthusiasts.

It has to be an open and interactive forum, since it is the only way offshore projects can be created and to continue afterwards, and that will fortunately be an interminable journey.

Regulations for publication in the blog
 
The opinions published in this blog are not necessarily those of the editorial or creative team, nor the Barcelona World Race web site.
 
The director of the blog and editorial team of the Barcelona World Race web site take no legal responsibility for the comments published in this blog.

Anyone who wishes to publish a comment in the blog takes full legal responsibility for the possible outcome of third parties against them or this blog in response to content.

For this reason, the director of the blog and his team reserve the right not to publish comments that they consider may contain legal risk or might be damaging to certain individuals, companies or institutions.
 
The following will not be published:

•    Insults and crude expressions
•    Unproven disqualifications
•    Opinions that slant the professionalism or name of individuals and institutions or that the director of the blog and his team consider unreasonable and unjust.
•    Information that the blog director and his team consider untrue or may confuse readers.

Email addresses of contributors will not be visible on the blog.

The blog director and editorial team also reserve the right not to publish any links or reference to other web sites or publications that they consider clear advertising publicity.

Similarly references to trade marks that are used in clear publicity or considered to contain advertising features will not be published