* Back in 1990 in Cowes/ Lymington, England, a very nice young gentleman from the British Midlands by the name of Rick Deppe asked if he could help Stu Johnstone captain his J/44 J-HAWK and J/35 JAILBIRD (sailed by Eddie Warden-Owen who was then at Banks Sails). Stuart at the time was starting J/Boats Europe, based in Lymington just off the High Street in Trafalgar Square. One thing led to another, Ricky married an American gal and lived in the Washington, DC area. He got a job with Discovery Channel as a videographer for that insane show called "Deadliest Catch"-- e.g. documenting Alaska King-crabbers doing their job in the Gulf of Alaska. Now, Ricky is joining the Volvo Ocean Race HQ- Rick Deppe will have a hand in production and will work with the onboard media crew both before and throughout the 9-month odyssey, helping the new on-board multimedia/ photo journalists do the best job possible in the tough conditions for which the Volvo Ocean Race is renowned. Rick's inspiring career as both professional sailor and filmmaker will stand him in good stead for his new role, and the lessons he learned as media crew for PUMA on the last race will be particularly useful.Rick knows just how hard it is being on these powerful boats and how hard it is to work on them as a cameraman. "It's a very difficult environment to be a cameraman, when you're being tipped over, bouncing, trying to film with the wind noise and water flying everywhere," he recalled. "The rules to being a cameraman normally are 'always get a steady shot', 'always keep your lenses clean', 'get great audio', and all the other basic rules. But they all have to go out the window, when you get on a Volvo Open 70."
Before getting onboard with PUMA as their on-board multimedia/journalist in 2008-09, Deppe had worked on several filming projects for Discovery Channel like "Deadliest Catch" and later for Roy Disney on his film project "Morning Light". Ricky already had years of experience as an offshore sailor including several round-the-world races, sailing as a bowman on Fortuna in the 1993-94 Whitbread and on Chessie Racing in the 1997-98 race.
At the end of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, Deppe was awarded the Inmarsat Media Prize for his excellent filmwork on ill mostro. Rick's experience will be perfect to train the MCM's before the race and to help them understand they obstacles the will encounter during their epic journey. Ultimately, you can read more about Ricky's influence on bringing the Volvo Ocean Race to your living room couch- read more here.
