America's Cup to revolutionize live sports coverage

Source: America’s Cup Comms // May 7, 2011

Not widely considered an extreme sport, sailing is about to gain a new whole audience as the new America’s Cup reveals just how heart-pounding and dangerous the sport can be.

ORACLE Racing video: America’s Cup Television – Testing in Auckland

Connecting viewers to the racing in ways not previously possible, the America’s Cup will transform the way people see the sport. With breakthrough graphics, athlete’s view cameras and onboard microphones, viewers will see and hear the quick decisions being made, the athleticism of the sailors, the raw power of the boats – live, as the teams fly over the water as speeds of up to 35 mph.

“Extreme sport lovers will flock to this new America’s Cup because of the broadcast,” said Richard Worth, Chairman, America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA). “From heart-pounding maneuvers at breakneck speeds to capsizes that result in two-story falls for the athletes, viewers will not just see the action, they will feel like they are right in it.”

The backbone of this new experience is also a breakthrough in sports broadcasting – augmented reality from a helicopter. This will be the first time live graphic insertions have been done from a moving platform.

Read the full article: America’s Cup to revolutionize live sports coverage
Related article: Over and out
Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget

New race technology could change America’s Cup

Source: Radio New Zealand // May 6, 2011

Pre-race briefings for sailors are generally about weather conditions and other housekeeping, but for the America’s Cup teams testing their new catamarans on the Waitemata Harbor, there’s now much more.

The yellow light is a limit warning, so when a boat gets within 150 meters of the limit, you get ….

Satellite technology transmits their boat’s positions to shore, where umpires make the calls on right-of-way or out-of-bounds and send warnings to the boats. It’s part of a host of cutting-edge technologies being tried out by the organization which will run the cup in San Francisco.

Radio New Zealand report: New race technology could change America’s Cup

A match for anybody

By Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World // May 3, 2011

Having seen what Oracle's wing masted 90ft trimaran could do when it came to turning sharp corners, as well as having spoken to some of the few sailors who have used a solid wing sail, it has been clear that this configuration has the potential to produce a new style of boat on boat action and raise the bar to an entirely new level.

One of the latest videos to come out of the Oracle camp is surely proof. Take a look and try and tell me that the pre-starts aren't going to be full on and exciting.

Watch the video: Match racing pre-start between ORACLE Racing and Artemis Racing

The fact is we are about to enter a whole new world where we simply don't yet know what we don't know.

Link to full article: A match for anybody
Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget

Faster, slicker and more fun to watch

By Dana Johannsen, New Zealand Herald // May 7, 2011

When ORACLE Racing chief executive Russell Coutts unveiled his plans for the 34th America's Cup, he promised an event that would appeal to the Facebook generation rather than the Flintstone generation.

He wanted to abandon the image of sailing being the domain of stuffy rich men in blazers he said, flanked by some nervous looking men in blazers.

Watch the video: Dean Barker, Adrenaline sailing

His plans included a move from traditional monohulls to ultra-high-tech wing-sailed catamarans, aimed at producing faster, more action-packed racing to appeal to a wider audience.

Over the last two weeks his bold vision for the America's Cup has been taking shape on the waters off Auckland with organisers testing innovations that will be used during the lead-up world series and the event proper in 2013.

It's a brave new world with magic buttons, shore-based television umpires, race officials on jet-skis, super-high-tech tracking equipment and on-board cameramen.

Read the full article: Faster, slicker and more fun to watch
Related article: Boats not the only change to America’s Cup

No sacred cows: Win the day, not the race?

By Kimball Livingston, BluePlanetTimes // May 5, 2011

With history’s second prolonged, spirit-killing America’s Cup court battle still ebbing from the collective bloodstream, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen the future of America’s Cup racing more in play. And with it, the future of the sport.

Love it or leave it, and yes, you can sail happily every day and never need to think about it, the America’s Cup is our signature event, our face to the world. And the people creating AC34 would not be who and what they are if they were risk averse. So I put the question to Iain Murray about this TV-friendly 45-minute limit on races—might that be expanded when we get to the America’s Cup finals, I asked—and the CEO of America’s Cup Race Management replied:

“I’m keeping an open mind. Originally I had thought an America’s Cup race might be 60 minutes, or 90 minutes, but there’s no magic in those numbers. In our trials sailing here in Auckland we’ve settled nicely into 20-minute races. It shows us that we could take the route of tennis and push three races into whatever time period we select for the racing. That would be a different way to decide the day.

“America’s Cup 34 is a work in progress.”

Link to full article: No sacred cows: Win the day, not the race?

A first look at America’s Cup 2.0

By Stuart Streuli, Sailing World // May 6, 2011

In developing a system which will allow graphic elements to be overlaid onto live video, Stan Honey said that he and his team are not only breaking new ground for the sport of sailing, but for sports coverage in general. As the mind behind the glowing hockey puck, the National Football League’s first down line, and the pop-up info boxes for NASCAR broadcasts, Honey knows more than a little bit about forging new electronic trail.

“The thing that makes it difficult for this sport, is that unlike other sports, where those graphic insertions on cameras on tripods,” said Honey, during a May 6 media briefing on the test events being run by the America’s Cup Event Authority on New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf. “The beauty of tripods is you know where they are and they stay where you put them, and it’s relatively easy to measure the angle of the camera relative to the tripod. In this system the enormously difficult thing that we’re solving is that the camera is in the helicopter so we have to accurately measure the location of the helicopter and the attitude of the helicopter to have the graphics be in the right place. I think it’s pretty clear that we’re going to be able to make that work. We’ve had some wrinkles and it’s a work in progress, but it was very encouraging yesterday that the fundamental precision of our ability to measure the location and attitude of the helicopter and the location and attitude of the boats can support that application.”

Gary Lovejoy, the Director of America’s Cup TV, was equally pleased with the initial efforts of his team. “We plugged it in and it played,” said Lovejoy. “That goes for all of the different elements we want to bring to our coverage.

Link to full article: First look at America’s Cup 2.0

Solid wings and flying hulls

By Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World // May 5, 2011

As I stepped off Oracle White, (Jimmy Spithill's boat as opposed to Russell Coutts' Oracle Black), into the team's support RIB, the first thing to strike me was how fortunate I had been in bagging the only part of the day so far where there had been a decent breeze. Keen to quantify just how brave I'd been, I asked one of the support crew what the wind speed had been during our race.

"Much as it is now", came the reply. "Around 8 knots max."

Watch the video: Matthew Sheahan onboard the AC45

This was not the answer I was expecting and somehow I felt as if my balloon had been burst. I could have sworn it was breezier as we had blasted around the short and unconventional race course, flying a hull like a teenager pulling wheelies in a shopping centre precinct.

The hum from the daggerboards, the speed with which the water was passing below as our windward hull flew above the water's surface and the relentless apparent breeze that forced tears from my eyes as we scorched around the course at double figure speeds, suggested that there was plenty of breeze. Yet the fact was that we had been a long way from the edge with barely enough wind to start a race for the previous generation of Cup monohulls, just 8 knots of true wind.

To those more used to monohulls, sailing the new breed of wing masted, supercharged AC45 multihulls is a disorientating yet thrilling experience and one that is completely addictive. Add to this the unconventional courses that are being experimented with and it's easy to see why those involved are so excited at the prospect of what might be in store for the coming season.

Read the full article: Solid wings and flying hulls

A trove of videos

The ORACLE Racing YouTube channel saw large traffic during the America’s Cup pre-season trials in Auckland the past two weeks. Two videos in particular – Match race pre-start and Going, going, going … gone – have been viewed more than 52,000 times combined. Be sure to bookmark the page for exciting videos from the ORACLE Racing Communications team.

Go to: ORACLE Racing YouTube channel

Pre-season trials wrap in Auckland

By Sean McNeill, ORACLE Racing Comms // May 7, 2011

When the 34th America’s Cup is chronicled sometime in late 2013 the past two weeks in Auckland, New Zealand, may well be regarded as a very significant period in the history of the nearly 160-year-old event.

The America’s Cup Race Management and America’s Cup Event Authority concluded their two-week pre-season testing period with many boxes checked, such as digital (text) communications with the sailors, experimental racecourses, umpiring and penalty systems, and revolutionary television graphics.

Watch the video: America’s Cup television testing in Auckland

Of course, that means many more items have been placed on the “to do” list, but there’s no mistaking the significance of what’s been achieved in the past weeks and months.

“When I look at what’s been achieved, we’ve launched a fantastic new boat, the AC45, we’ve got a number of teams down here racing, and we’ve got some of the best technology that I’ve ever seen in the sport in terms of television now starting to work, and we’ve launched a new World Series and we’re about to go compete in that for first time in America’s Cup history,” said Russell Coutts, CEO of ORACLE Racing.

View the photo gallery: A breezy conclusion

“I think we’re going to see improvements right the way through,” said Coutts. “We’re never going to be content with this until we have a fantastic America’s Cup in 2013.”

Link to full article: Pre-season trials wrap in Auckland
Photos: Gilles Martin-Raget

Venezia Challenge goes ahead

Source: Venezia Challenge // May 5, 2011

Milan, 5 May 2011 – Venezia Challenge Srl, the proprietor company of Venezia Challenge, founded and owned in equal shares by Carlo Magna and Emanuela Pulcino, announces that payment of the 200,000 dollars performance bond has been sent to the 34th America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA). The bond is to guarantee participation in the America’s Cup.

This is the second milestone in the buildup toward the upcoming first America’s Cup World Series (ACWS), following the first payment of $25,000, fulfilled on the 28th of March. It signals the concrete intention of Venezia Challenge to begin in earnest their campaign. The process is underway to secure AC45 boat number 7, due to be delivered in Auckland on the 8th of May.

The AC45 is the one design catamaran that will be used in the first America’s Cup World Series as an equal platform for all the teams.

For the second America’s Cup World Series, beginning mid 2012, racing will be in AC72 class yachts. These catamarans will be 72 feet long, designed and built by each team. The AC72 will also be used in the Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selection Series – CSS) and the America’s Cup Match in 2013.

Once delivered, the AC45 will be rigged and immediately transported to Europe where Venezia Challenge will prepare for the first ACWS event in Cascais.

Visit the team website: Venezia Challenge

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