Mistakes galore for the Velux 5 Oceans. Out on the water the skippers on the little fleet are struggling in gale force winds. But if you want to find out more you'll have to pay £19.99 for the "ultimate coverage".This is really stupid. All the boats are sponsored by companies looking to maximise coverage and what better way to put people off than charging an up front free.
The internet over the last year has seen a great change. Sites that charged for content saw their traffic, their hit count, collapse. Sites like YouTube that allow videos to be uploaded and downloaded for free have seen their traffic increase exponentially and this site was recently valued in the billions of dollars.
Sailing is a minority sport and we should be encouraging as many as possible to follow. Putting up barriers like this puts off even enthusiastic yacht race bloggers like me.
Compare this to the Volvo - which not only a huge site with all content free, but offered for download the superb 3D viewer Virtual Spectator that makes the Velux equivalent look pretty shabby.
I hope this short sighted attitude can quickly be changed.
You are dead right. I don't what a "Velux" is and if they are not going to make it easy for me to follow their race then I may never find out.
ReplyDeleteI signed up and found out afterwards that Macs are not supported. There is nothing that states NO MACS until you buy it. Haven't got my credit back yet either! (1 week) Also agree that the site is lame. Send complaints to the yacht sponsors!
ReplyDelete--JoeB