Rolex Big Boat Series, St. Francis Yacht Club September 16-19

by Barby MacGowan on 2 Sep 2010 Rolex Big Boat Series, St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, 16-19th September 2010.

The St. Francis Yacht Club sits perched along the San Francisco Bay, one of the world’s most spectacular venues for sailboat racing and the location of the club’s annual Rolex Big Boat Series.

It’s perhaps the only yacht club in the world where spectators can watch boats chase to the finish line set between a special mark and the yardarm atop the club’s second-floor Race Deck.

Whether on-the-water or onshore from September 16-19, spectators will be able to follow the regatta through the event website rolexbigboatseries.com. With streaming blogs and race results direct from the race course, GPS-based boat tracking, live video, sailors interviews and daily highlights videos, all of the site’s information will stream to the website courtesy of the StFYC’s recently launched WiMax network.

'Even folks who haven’t been to San Francisco have undoubtedly heard of the Bay’s challenging currents and reliably strong wind that make the annual Rolex Big Boat Series a ‘must do’ for sailors around the world,' said Regatta Chair Norman Davant. 'We are using our signature regatta as an opportunity to experiment with a number of technologies to bring the regatta to a worldwide audience. Central to that goal is connecting all of the digital media outlets together to provide real-time viewing for web audiences and club visitors through a private WiMax network that covers the Bay from the Berkeley Circle to the St. Francis.'

In 2009, the club embarked on a program to provide dedicated event sites for regattas so that viewers could experience all aspects of racing from a single source. Last year, the Rolex Big Boat Series website saw nearly 1.5M hits, and during the regatta itself, the site experienced over 50,000 page views per day.

Competitors, along with members and guests, will experience the regatta with the club’s in-house TV network consisting of five 58' HD plasma TVs, run on a wireless closed circuit, featuring daily programming packages running from 8:30am to 7pm. Live racing video by Sailgroove.com and up-to-the minute results will be interspersed with real-time scoring – accessed through yachtscoring.com’s race portal – and blogging from the race committee boats. Between races, throughout the day and into the evening, Rolex’s television series 'The Spirit of Yachting' will be shown.

Even the protest procedure has gone digital, with online hearing scheduling posted on the in-house TV network and signaled to competitors through 'restaurant style' buzzers to alert participants of their time slot. SMS alerts will provide competitors with key race office notices and results. Kattack trackers will be used on all boats racing in the Rolex Big Boat Series. In a first-of-its-kind agreement, the St. Francis Yacht Club has contracted with Kattack to provide real-time boat tracking for all of its regattas.

Davant said that the key to making the technology side of the regatta work flawlessly was driven by a vision to provide the best racing experience possible for competitors and viewers. 'St. Francis has always prided itself on being progressive when it comes to yacht racing,' said Davant. 'We are fortunate to have a number of very smart, capable members and staff who work together to make this happen.'

The 46th annual regatta, hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club, takes place September 16-19 and includes two races per day, with one long, Bay tour on Sunday. Over 100 boats competing in one-design classes– 1D35, Beneteau 36.7, Express 37, J/105, J/120, Melges 32 – along with divisions in IRC including one for light displacement sport boat – will vie for one of six Perpetual Trophies.

In addition to results, photos, videos and live tracking, the Notice of Race, the preliminary entry list, schedule of events and the online apparel store are available at rolexbigboatseries.com.

At the end of each race day, the St. Francis Yacht Club, along with title sponsor Rolex, will host a variety of social events including the Rolex Crew Reception on Wednesday and the Rolex Party on Thursday. On Friday, the popular Mount Gay Crew Party is scheduled. The regatta ends with Sunday’s final Rolex Trophy Ceremony.

Rolex Big Boat Series is part of the Rolex Yachting Portfolio that includes over 20 world-class sailing events that take place around the world including the Rolex Miami OCR, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Fastnet Race, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. For more information visit regattanews.com, the online press portal for Rolex yachting events.

About St. Francis Yacht Club

Founded in 1927, St. Francis Yacht Club, within view of the Golden Gate Bridge, is a year-round host of over 40 regattas on San Francisco Bay. The club is renowned for its expertise in running world and national championships.

Event website: www.rolexbigboatseries.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bigboatseries
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Francis-Yacht-Club-Racing/
RSS: www.regattanews.com/RSS_new.asp
YouTube: www.youtube.com/SaintFrancisYCRacing