Some Sailing Bits and Pieces from the Web.

• Detailed look at the pros and cons of the America’s Cup in San Francisco by Kimball Livingston : http://bit.ly/aQxumq #AC34 #
• I’ve favourited a YouTube video – Syz Moth Euro Championship Day 5 http://youtu.be/huQcUHq5ZsQ?a #
• Follow the fleet in the Round Britain and Ireland Race: http://sevenstar.rorc.org/2010-fleet-tracking.html
• Update your details on SAILBASE: http://www.darkbluebook.com/sailbase/index.php?title=Main_Page

OC Technology and Yellowbrick Partner Up in Tracking Deal.

The ability to track boats in real time has been one of the key enablers of making the sport of sailing more accessible to a wider audience. The technology also has increasing importance for training, race management and safty. For inshore racing, the ability to send your GPS position via your mobile phone to the internet is challenging companies who have developed more proprietary solutions, but for offshore racing, the barriers to entry are more substantial.

OC Technology, part of OC Group, has signed a new strategic partnership with Yellowbrick Tracking. This is a significant consolidation in the tracking business which establishes Yellowbrick as the leading company in the offshore yacht tracking market with the largest fleet of Iridium-based tracking units available.

Clémentine d’Oiron, OC Technology Manager said:

“Our products have made a significant contribution since 2006 to making tracking a normal part of every offshore race, and we have held a large market share. The partnership with Yellowbrick will provide race organisers and sailing teams all over the world the best possible service and allow for continued investment in product development”

The new partnership will see all operational delivery of tracking services carried out by Yellowbrick, including the provision of the hardware and the online management system, whilst OC Technology will continue to market their integrated communication systems that have been developed over the last decade to such great effect for professional sailing projects, such as, Dame Ellen MacArthur’s solo round the world record and the inaugural Barcelona World Race.

The standard OCTracker unit will be renamed YellowbrickMAX and Yellowbrick will now manage all the tracking operations of the combined business. The Yellowbrick units are self-contained, battery-powered, lightweight, tracking devices capable of reporting a boat’s position, speed and course at pre-determined intervals, and are programmable remotely. In addition, Yellowbrick will also manage the OCTracker+ units, to be renamed YellowbrickMAX+, which allow for a hard-wired installation and extended data transfer capabilities, such as, true wind speed and other data.

Yellowbrick Managing Director, Nick Farrell, commented:

“We are very excited to see this new partnership go through. Yellowbrick now has the largest Iridium-based tracker hire stock in the world, and the most comprehensive back-office system. The experience and depth of knowledge of our combined teams means that we will be able to deliver our first-class service to many more race organisers who wish to track their events. Using Iridium-based trackers means that our units work anywhere on earth, without areas of marginal or no coverage, unlike other operators. Both the Yellowbrick and YellowbrickMAX units and web viewing solutions are tried and tested products.”

The OCTracker unit was launched in July 2006 and in 2007 the entire fleet in the bi-annual Rolex Fastnet Race were fitted with the units in association with the RORC. Since then the tracking units have been used by many race organisers and race campaigns including Thomas Coville’s S’Odebo record programme, the double-handed non-stop Barcelona World Race and the solo transatlantic The Artemis Transat. The units will also be used again in the next edition of the 2011 Barcelona World Race and other prestigious round the world races.

Since 2006, Yellowbrick have provided tracking and information display solutions for events including the double-handed Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers and other events in Australia, Italy, Belgium, the Caribbean. Their technology has been selected for the VELUX 5 OCEANS Race starting in 2010. In addition, the lightweight, self-contained trackers have proved popular in a diverse range of applications including expedition tracking and airsports such the World Gliding Championships and Grand Prix gliding events.

‘SailStream’ Will Allow Spectators to Be the Producer of Sailing Coverage.

Sailing continues to push the boundaries of the way the sport is delivered to its audience. While Russell Coutts and the folk behind the next America’s Cup think about TV, the RS:X World Windsurfing Championships are planning to present a new integrated media platform combining tracking with live video images that can be controlled by the watcher.

The City of Kerteminde in Denmark will stage the 2010 RS:X World Windsurfing Championships from 27 August – 5 September and the event will feature a new platform created by Zenitel and TracTrac.

‘Sailstream – You are the producer’ will allow spectators in Kerteminde to watch the racing on giant screens ashore and give a global audience the opportunity to watch live action on their computer screens. The idea behind the concept is a combination of GPS-tracking, live streaming and course commentary, which should make the spectator experience exceptionally exciting.

Jacob Møhl from Sail Event Kerteminde says:

“This game changing technology lets the spectator choose which video stream he or she wishes to watch, hence the tag line ‘You Are The Producer’. Both the tracking technology and live video images will be seen on the same web page.”

The core of the concept is that three or more video cameras can move independently from point to point on the race track, transmitting directly from the water to the Internet. This will allow key points of the course to be moniored including the start, mark roundings and slalom sections of the course as well as the finish.

Spectators can choose the prefferred camera angle and the GPS tracking adds an extra data stream to make following the competitors more easy. Live commentary will add yet another layer of coverage to explain the images to a wider audience.

Mike Dempsey, RS:X Class President said:

“It’s fantastic for the RS:X Class to be so closely involved in this cutting edge development which will bring Olympic sailing closer to a global audience than ever before. We have been working hard to develop our online media presence for three years. Now with ‘Sailstream’, we’re moving on to cloud servers to handle the expected traffic.”

The city of Kerteminde, anxious to brand itself as the world’s most cozy Lilliputian sailing city will be dressed for the RS:X World Championships. It has officially named the week ‘World Water Week’ and will stage a lot of water related side-activities.

More Streaming and Tracking News…

Match Race Germany Offers Live Streaming for Fans.

It has been fairly well documented that one of the success factors of Amazon is its ability to satisfy the ‘long tail’. Traditional bookshops are restricted by space and couldn’t hold every title, so category managers have to make decisions about which titles might be interesting to consumers.

The same could be said for sports media. In an old world with 5 channels and only 24 hours in a day, the total amount of content that could be broadcast was 120 hours and so producers had to decide what people might want to watch. It’s little surprise that niche sports like sailing would be cut out of this mix, but in a world with infinite channels – where every page of every website can be a delivery portal – latent demand can suddenly be measured.

What’s not so clear is what the business models are.

Today, the World Match Racing Tour begins it’s second round of 2010 in Germany. The series is spending money on providing fans with content. Writer, Mark Chisnell is once again live blogging in text form and the event is also being streamed. While the series is in ‘build awareness’ mode, the strategy seems to be – get it out there. But rights holders are finding that the latent demand is there and sailing fans are demanding more and more.

In 2009, the only way to follow Match Race Germany was being there. In 2010, the live blog gives up to the second updates, but even during Flight 1, on a dreary grey Thursday, fans were asking via the comment system – where is the tracking? Where is the stream? The expectations have been set and sailing fans are expecting a lot.

Watch the ‘Live’ Stream from Germany*

* Streaming from 14:00

Audi Med Cup Announces Live Streaming.

A couple of weeks back, the SportBusiness New Media conference made a big deal about a game of football that was streamed live. People who follow football, especially the national team just expect that the game will be shown on live television, even if it’s restricted to pay channels. For more niche sporting events, like the majority of sailing, technology now allows for events to be delivered via the internet to a small but loyal audience.

In fact, the lack of live TV coverage has forced the sport of sailing to innovate. Sailing has seen the delivery of live audio commentary, live text blogging and even live 3D animated racing.

The Audi MedCup Circuit is one event that believes investment in cutting edge technology and innovation and improved access to the action delivers benefits to fans and sponsors. In 2010, www.medcup.org will stream a daily 4 hours programme with live action. The first Audi MedCup TV programme, to start on May the 12th.

The Circuit is a good example of how incremental technology has made the experience better for the remote viewer. In 2006 there were live mark by mark ticker text updates, in 2008 and 2009 there was live audio commentary and ‘Virtual Eye’ real time tracking.

The 2010 Audi MedCup Circuit will be streamed direct to internet viewers including dockside interviews, pre and post race analysis. As well as www.medcup.org, the feed will be sydicated through SailTV.

Content will be created by Sunset+Vine|APP who will be beam video from a stabilised camera on a TV catamaran which has unrivalled access to the fleet. There will be continuous commentary in two languages and expert comment. On board cameras will add to the racing action as well as aerial coverage. The action will be mixed at the venue broadcast centre, cut with supporting Virtual Eye 3-D animation.

Andrew Preece, Audi MedCup executive television producer explains:

“We are looking to really be able to drill into what is going on on the race course and highlight and explain in simple terms what is happening and why, what is interesting about each race. It will be essentially a sporting programme, but we aim to unravel the action, so that the action become more easily understood and accessible to a new sailing audience.”

Mark David, SailTV CEO says

“We are excited about the Audi MedCup TV package. There is certainly already an established audience, but a lot of how the audience develops and grows will be about people getting used to and trusting the technology. And of course as more sailing becomes available on the internet, so the audience is growing all.”

The Portugal Trophy, Cascais (May, 11-16) will be the first event running this new, ambitious and exciting feature. The first Audi MedCup TV programme will start at 1250 CET on May the 12th.

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