The Barcelona World Race Ocean Campus
No sport demands so much scientific and technological knowledge from athletes as ocean sailing competition. At the Barcelona World Race we were pioneers in designing and implementing educational courses to transmit this knowledge to fans, students and the general public. It is a project of social responsibility and branding education, whose MOOC (in Spanish, Catalan and English) can still be followed on the online platforms of the University of Barcelona.
In 2014, the Barcelona World Race was facing its third edition. Latitud42 been responsible for the Editorial Direction of the regatta from the very beginning, creating the communication content.
After the commitment of the Oceànica Barcelona Foundation (FNOB), organizer of the regatta, to the development of science (see the Oceanographic Observatory ) and education (see Educational program ), we were asked to develop a platform to bring extensive scientific and technical knowledge to the followers of the regatta and to society as a whole.
The result was the Barcelona World Race Ocean Campus (currently Ocean Campus FNOB ), a pioneering initiative in the world of sailing. Its goal is to rigorously disseminate the wide range of scientific, humanistic and technological disciplines that are applied and developed in ocean sailing and whose knowledge and use are essential both for survival at sea and for sporting success in an ocean regatta.
The BARCELONA WORLD RACE OCEAN CAMPUS courses
METEOROLOGY - STRATEGIES TO WIN. METEOROLOGY AROUND THE WORLD
Weather is essential for sailing safety and is the very essence of tactics and strategy for winning a regatta. It is the science most directly related to ocean sailing.
This course explains the main drivers of weather on Earth and what navigators need to know about them. What are the foundations of oceanic meteorology, how are digital files generated from prediction models and how do sailors receive them on board, via satellite, to integrate them into high-competition software. They are also taught to analyze the meteorological characteristics of the Barcelona World Race route that crosses up to 12 different climatic zones in which the most extreme phenomena take place.
The followers of the regatta were able to analyze the weather conditions day by day from the website tracker and obtain explanatory content of the course in the same way as THE GAME players, with daily weather analyses.
Teacher and Coordinator: Marcel Van Triest
Associate professors: Jordi Barinaga and Santi Serrat
Teacher and Coordinator: Tomàs Molina
OCEANOGRAPHY - A KEY TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR WORLD
In the Barcelona World Race skippers also become scientific agents who will collaborate in oceanographic research projects with the IOC-UNESCO.
In this course, oceanographic bases are explained. How the seabed is classified and formed, how current satellite sea analysis systems work, ocean chemistry and the processes that have led to its formation.
Teacher and coordinator: Jordi Serra.
Teachers: Jordi Flos, Jordi Font, Jordi Salat, Antoni Cruzado and Isabel Cacho.
FOOD AND NUTRITION - GASTRONOMY AND HIGH PERFORMANCE FOOD FOR A ROUND THE WORLD RACE
Eating properly when sailing around the world is not easy. The food and nutritional requirements are very high. Food must weigh the minimum, withstand a humid environment and high temperature variations, and be stored safely and in an organized manner. Its nutritional value has to be high and be able to meet the needs of a very hard physical and mental activity subjected to the most extreme climatic conditions.
This course explains what type of food is embarked on the Barcelona World Race, how freeze-dried products are designed and manufactured, how menus of high organoleptic value (good taste and texture) are created, which is an extremely important characteristic in the psychological performance of long-distance sailors. The course presents the method of calculating nutritional needs and how a diet is planned for sailors to perform at their best during the preparation and sailing periods around the world.
Associated projects in the Barcelona World Race 2014/15: Development of food with high nutritional and organoleptic value in conjunction with Unitat, Bullipèdia Campus Torribera, the Celler de Can Roca, Sosa Ingredients and Telstar.
The course team with Joan Roca, at Celler Can Roca.
Teachers and coordinators: Pere Castells and Vicky Pons.
CHRONOBIOLOGY - THE BRAIN ON A NON-STOP RACE AROUND THE WORLD.
CHRONOBIOLOGY AND SLEEP MANAGEMENT.
This course deals with the foundations of the biological patterns that govern sleep and performance in general, and their application to solo and two-man ocean sailing. It also focuses on how the circadian rhythms are altered while navigating around the world after months of environmental changes and the fractionation of the activity-rest rhythm and what are the strategies to follow to be able to sleep and adapt to the harshness of the journey.
Associated projects in the Barcelona World Race 2014/15: The course team carried out the research project Cognitive changes associated with ocean navigation in extreme conditions with Aleix Gelabert and Dídac Costa, skippers of One Planet One Ocean. Measurements were taken before and immediately after navigation, which included functional neuroimaging, polysomnography, sleep-wake patterns and cognitive performance, as well as daily measurements during the entire navigation period of sleep-wake patterns, cognitive performance and environmental factors. There was very little previous scientific work and none with the recording techniques that were used, not even during a regatta as long as the Barcelona World Race.
Teachers: Sandra Giménez Badia, Anna Adan.
MEDICINE
INJURIES, ILLNESSES AND TELEMEDICINE IN EXTREME SAILING
During a round the world race, sailors are subjected to the harshest physical, mental and environmental conditions, and their health is seriously compromised. The Barcelona World Race lasts three months and the sailors sail for many weeks through the most inhospitable seas on the planet, always far from land. For this reason, they have to possess a high degree of medical and hygienic knowledge to survive on their own and overcome possible diseases, trauma and physiological alterations that may occur in the ocean. On the other hand, the organization of the regatta establishes a remote medical assistance system based on the most advanced telecommunication technologies.
This course teaches the basic medical techniques for the prevention of medical problems on board, how to prepare and the techniques to solve the main medical problems that can arise in a round the world tour. The remote medical care protocols and associated technology will also be described.
Associated projects in the Barcelona World Race 2014/ 15: Medical assistance to sailors by the Medical Directors of the race by Dr. Belén Gualis of Teknon Medical Center.
Development of improvements in the methodologies used in telemedicine.
Teacher and coordinator: Belen Gualis
BARCELONA WORLD RACE OCEAN CAMPUS TEAM
FNOB Editorial area
Direction and coordination
Santi Serrat
Direction and multimedia production
Àgata Olivella
Carles Clastre / Barcelona World Race TV
Editorial coordination, graphic editing and publication
Cristina Barredo / Latitud 42
Video production
Mireia Perelló
Translation to English
Alice McLean
Academic area UB
Direction and coordination, promotion
Jordi Renom
Assessment and certification system
Jordi Renom, Antonio Herrera / Inlea
Intellectual property legal advice
Ignasi labastida