SF-based Internet company Quokka Sports' digital
coverage of the Around Alone '98-99 solo yacht race will
begin Saturday with the start of the event in Charleston,
SC. The 200-day, 27,000-mile around-the-world race can be
followed at www.aroundalone.com, which will feature first-
hand reports from the sailors and a Virtual Race area.
Quokka Sports' coverage, which provides its Total Sports
Immersion, also includes streaming text, daily e-mail
messages from competitors, video and still images. Sponsors
of the site are Compaq (Digital Technology Performance Team
Partner), COMSAT Mobile Communications (Communications Power
Team Partner), KVH (Communications Hardware Provider) and
Patagonia (Official Weather Sponsor) (Quokka Sports).
UP-AND-COMER: Quokka and its President & CEO Al Ramadan
are profiled by Kendall Hamilton in MEN'S JOURNAL, who
writes that Quokka's idea "is two-fold: (1) to cover sports
that would otherwise go largely uncovered; and (2) to do so
using what Quokka calls Total Sports Immersion, a blend of
traditional media (still photography, video, text) and real-
time raw data." Hamilton: "Quokka's approach could be to
the armchair adventurer what C-Span is to politics junkies."
After Around Alone, Quokka's upcoming events include Formula
One racing and Everest (MEN'S JOURNAL, 10/98 issue).
