It’s a Wrap!
By Michael Argyelan
From all of us to you and yours, we wish you our best. We hope you've had an amazing year thus far and continue to enjoy the rest of 2013. Have a safe, warm, happy holiday and a happy new year!
In other news, the start of the 2013 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts tomorrow. I've copied some info from the website for your pleasure. Check on this link to see some cool shots of the maxi yacht Wild Oats XI. She’s just one of the 100’ yachts sailing in the race. It should be pretty exciting. Enjoy!
On Television
Over 80 production and technical personnel are involved to putting together the race start coverage. Covering the race is tricky and relies on numerous specialty cameras that are linked back to the main production facility using digital radio links.
Three helicopters and two chase boats track alongside the fleet. Two of these helicopters supply aerial footage whilst the third acts as a link platform, relaying close-up on board footage from two of the yachts as the crew undertake pre-race maneuvers and begin their race south. On top of this, two land based cabled cameras located at vantage points on North Head and South Head are incorporated into the coverage.
ABC TV will be following the fleet down the eastern seaboard and provide all the in race news footage that is used by the various Australian and International news networks.
On The Web
For those who can't get to watch the live broadcast of the start of the Race on the Seven Network across Australia, Yahoo!7 will web cast the program. You can also watch the same web cast on the home page of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race website.
The official race website is one of the most popular Australian sporting websites during the Christmas New Year holiday period and is your information portal for everything there is to know about the 628 nautical blue water classic.
Included on the website is the complete list of yachts entered, along with a photograph and description of each boat, a rundown on the crew, and the boat's past racing record.
Yacht Tracker
By far the most visited page of the website is the Yacht Tracker page, which allows viewers to track the entire fleet or a particular boat from start to finish. Yacht Tracker uses a specifically designed tool that calculates the predicted results for each and every boat in the fleet, so you can see how each boat is performing.
Each yacht will be fitted with a Yellowbrick tracker that will obtain a position using the GPS satellite network, and then transmit that position back to Yellowbrick HQ using the Iridium satellite network.
Each yacht's position is then visualized on the race yacht tracker map or overlaid on Google Earth. In addition, the yacht tracker system also shows distance to finish line and progressive corrected time positions under the IRC, ORCi and PHS handicap divisions.
To do this, the CYCA equips each boat in the fleet with a Yellowbrick tracker that automatically updates the yacht's latitude, longitude, course over ground and speed over ground - and transmits that information via satellite to a land. From there, the data will be transferred to the website, which shows in text and graphics each yacht's position in the fleet, its place relative to other boats and known geographic features, and the speed currently being achieved through the water, as well as the direction in which the boat is sailing.
Viewers have the option of viewing the yachts on a chart through Yacht Tracker, or alternatively against satellite pictures on Google Earth. Line honors and progressive corrected times under the IRC, PHS and ORCi handicap categories are updated every 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
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