We’re currently working on an Equine Insurance Web-App which is due to launch in November, just finished an OS X widget for Mike Golding Yacht Racing, another 2 widgets in the pipeline and a Web App for Puma Ocean Racing just launched!

We’re very pleased with http://media.pumaoceanracing.com - our latest web-app to hit the interweb! It is simply bursting with exciting technologies such as ‘Distributed Storage’ (from the great guys at Amazon S3), Video Streaming and Live Conversion technologies from the guys over at SesameVault (http://www.sesamevault.com) and all built on a Ruby on Rails Platform.

The site is a media portal for the Puma Sponsored ‘Il Mostro’ Volvo 70 currently taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race which started last weekend. It allows registered users to log in and retrieve hi-res images as well as video in multiple formats during the race.

All processing is done behind the scenes, with the media team simply uploading single image and the system takes the image, extracts IPTC/EXIF data, creates mid-res and thumbnail images and uploads it to S3 for distributed storage.

As for video, Quicktime files are uploaded using FTP and then using the secure admin panel, videos are processed and converted into MP4, Flash, 3GP and Ogg Vorbis.

Here at OC Vision we have a legacy of excellent sailing websites, working with Ellen MacArthur, Team ABN AMRO and other solo and crewed adventures.

This winter the two big ones, The Vendée Globe (Solo, non-stop) and the Volvo Ocean Race (crewed, with stops) set off from European ports on their world tours.
And for us that means a bumper set of site launches and new projects.

First to depart, and the focus of this post, is the Volvo Ocean Race, and that means this month we have been launching new sites for the three teams we are proud to be working for.

Our full website launches are www.teamrussia.org and www.greendragonracing.com. Both sites are designed and built by OC Vision, using Expression Engine as their fully featured Content Management / Member Management Systems.

Building on the experience of working with TEAM ABN AMRO in the last race assisting in their media management and distribution, our new site launch for PUMA OCEAN RACING is a custom coded (check back to this blog for the ‘How web built’ article coming soon!) site that manages Video and Image content, allowing hi res media to be downloaded by press and employees.

The VOLVO OCEAN RACE kicks off in Alicante, Spain this weekend.

We’ll be posting about our Vendée Globe team sites in the coming weeeks….

Following our successful work on B&Q’s Olympic team sponsorship (www.teambandq.com), we were asked to put forward our proposal for the microsite to accompany their forthcoming winter PR campaign.

The resulting website (I don’t think a site this big can still be called a microsite!) features downloadable how-to style guides, interactive discussions and event a chance to submit somewhere for a free B&Q makeover.

Featured celebrity Zoe Ball adds her thoughts on brightening-up on a budget, and will soon be showing us what she did with few quid and trip to B&Q.

Check out the site at www.diy.com/brightenupbritain

Jump over to the great little Twitter app - DivVoted.com - and follow the simple instructions to vote for your favourite most loved Web Applications. Vote every day and check back here where we’ll be blogging about more YoDiv and DivVoted related FOWA greatness as the event approaches.

Well Done Ben from all at OC Vision!

Following a horse and carriage ride to the beautiful gardens of Osborne House, the ball started with a Champagne reception along with ‘The Red Devils’, the official parachute display team of both The PARAS and the British Army.  It was a sight I shall never forget!

Roger Johnson (BBC South presenter) took on the role of MC for the night, alongside Trust patron Ellen MacArthur, but the star of the show was Vicky Stokes. After undergoing treatment for bone cancer Vicky joined The Trust last year on one of the summer sailing trips, now 18 and in recovery she returned this year as a volunteer.

An auction during the evening raised over £60,000 towards The Trusts activities. Thanks to events like this, the charity has quadrupled the number of young people they take sailing since 2005.

The ball was the culmination of an exciting day for The Trust, after they announced The Skandia Round Britain Voyage of Discovery which will set sail in May 2009. To find out more visit the OC Vision designed and built website.

OC Vision: What We Do from Matt Fuller on Vimeo.

Each member of the team got to experience what it’s like to be out on the water on board these competitive boats. Of course, it wasn’t all just sit back, relax, drink champagne and watch the birds fly past, we all took part of steering and grinding and trying to not fall in the water en-route.

All in all we thorougly enjoyed the adventure, especially for those whose experience was a first.

For your enjoyment, we have included a few photos from our time out on the water. All images courtsey of our very own Graham.

Glorious sunshine was the backdrop for the Semi and Quarter Finals. It was a fast paced game, but I was soon getting the hang of it (I was lucky enough to have brought my own walking/talking cricket guide!) After a few pints of Pimms I was taken in by the excitement of it all - enthusiastically waving the` ‘4′ and ‘6′ card when needed!

With the Finals following after tea, Kent played fantastically well, but it seemed that it was Middlesex day to shine, under the lights, in the end.