If you haven’t followed much around-the-world sailing since Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon was in the Whitbread race, you might want to check it out now. The race is now the Volvo Ocean Race, and the current edition has already covered two legs — Alicante (Spain) to Cape Town, Cape Town to Abu Dhabi — with six months to go.

They’ve also taken a few steps to avoid dealing with pirates, a hazard you don’t find in many other races.

Modern technology has made the race easy — and compelling — to follow. Boats have embedded reporters, and you can follow progress through the magic of GPS.

They’re also using YouTube to great effect, offering recaps and other features to capture the drama of boats in peril and trading the lead back and forth over a series of days. Around the 33-minute mark, you get to see the amusing ritual of hazing first-time Equator crossers. It involves people dressed at King Neptune and giving each other bad haircuts.

If you prefer to watch such things on TV, check Fox Sports Net, which starts coverage this month.