Hugh Welbourn and Infiniti Yachts’ Gordon Kay look at recent progress with Welbourn’s Dynamic Stability System

Infiniti 46R
With the sailing world going ‘foil-crazy’, stock prices are rising for Dynamic Stability Systems and Infiniti Yachts, one of the chief exponents of the patented DSS foil system. After all, why should multihulls and Moths have all the fun? Sticking a foil out down to leeward that generates lift and piles on righting moment when it is needed delivers one of the biggest performance enhancements you can make to your racing yacht. The point is finally sticking home, having morphed from a fringe eccentricity to a head-slapping ‘why didn’t we think of that years ago?’ And with his latest design, DSS creator Hugh Welbourn has proved it is now even possible to make a keelboat fly.

With the sailing world going ‘foil-crazy’, stock prices are rising for Dynamic Stability Systems and Infiniti Yachts, one of the chief exponents of the patented DSS foil system. After all, why should multihulls and Moths have all the fun? Sticking a foil out down to leeward that generates lift and piles on righting moment when it is needed delivers one of the biggest performance enhancements you can make to your racing yacht. The point is finally sticking home, having morphed from a fringe eccentricity to a head-slapping ‘why didn’t we think of that years ago?’ And with his latest design, DSS creator Hugh Welbourn has proved it is now even possible to make a keelboat fly.

Following on from the DSS-equipped Infiniti 36 performance daysailers, the first Infiniti 46R is currently midway through construction at Infiniti Yachts at the URSA Shipyard near Istanbul. Due for launch this September, the first 46R, designed by DSS creator Hugh Welbourn, has been developed as an offshore racing yacht for the classic 600-mile races such as the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Fastnet Race, Middle Sea Race and Newport-Bermuda. Hull no1, Maverick, will debut this November on the RORC Transatlantic race. The boat has been engineered by Gurit to withstand the rough conditions these races can deliver and is built using Gurit pre-preg carbon fibre with an M-Foam core.

In line with many owners’ wishes, the Infiniti 46R has been designed to be sailed relatively shorthanded with a crew of just six and is fitted with a canting keel to provide added power upwind to compensate. The keel is canted with a single Cariboni hydraulic ram while a single canard forward minimises leeway.

Above: the new Infiniti 53 by Farr signifies a major endorsement of DSS from one of the world’s most respected design offices. While the smaller Infiniti 46 (below) features a pair of retracting foils the larger 53 utilises a single foil that slides across the boat

Fitting DSS requires a reappraisal of where a yacht can get righting moment. If a larger proportion of this is taken by the DSS foil, then it means a smaller bulb can be fitted and there is less requirement for hull form stability through large beam and full sections. Designed correctly, this leads to improved all-round performance – the faster the DSS foil passes through the water the more stability it provides; while in light conditions, the foil retracts completely, leaving a light, easily driven hull. In the case of the Infiniti 46R, there is a chine running the length of the hull and a hull-deck chamfer to further reduce weight and windage.

Unlike the Infiniti 36, which features a single DSS foil that slides laterally through the hull in a tack, the larger boat features twin curved boards that retract into cases located in the forepeak. For practical purposes, this allows the new leeward foil to be deployed going into a tack or gybe, meaning dynamic stability is ready and waiting on the new course.

In terms of rig and deck layout, the 46R has undergone an exhaustive refinement process and is equipped with ultra-lightweight and simple solutions throughout. The mast is built in ultra-high modulus carbon fibre by Axxon Composites with composite standing rigging and topmast backstays, all lashed to the rig as per the latest Imoca 60s. Harken Grand Prix gear is fitted throughout as standard, including a single Carbon Air pedestal. A Cariboni hydraulic package drives the canting keel and other functions. All rams are in titanium, as are most fastenings as well as the propeller shaft in the tidy retractable propulsion system.

The Infiniti 46R is available with either fixed keel or a canting keel/single canard options, depending on owner preference.

Farr Yacht Design Infiniti 53
The latest naval architects to adopt DSS are Annapolis-based Farr Yacht Design, their first use of the system being in Infiniti Yachts’ new 53ft Farr-designed raceboat.

According to Farr vice-president Britton Ward, Farr Yacht Design are considering DSS for the latest generation of Imoca 60s as a means of improving stability now that keels and rigs are onedesign, adding that, ‘It was abundantly clear to me that Dynamic Stability Systems could play a really big part in that arena.

‘For a long time we have been using inclined keel pins and anhedral daggerboard incline angles in our designs to give a big performance boost. The logical extension is DSS and we certainly saw some large performance potential there, so it seemed sensible to work with the guys who have been doing it for 12 years.’

Ward believes that DSS will be a key component of future monohull design. ‘Gordon [Kay of Infiniti Yachts] and Hugh [Welbourn] have done an awful lot of homework. We want to be on the cutting edge with what we offer our clients as design solutions so it makes a great deal of sense for us to partner with them. Five years ago DSS was considered pretty revolutionary and on the fringe. Now it seems quite logical.’

The Infiniti 53 came about because the Farr office had been looking at a replacement for the canting-keel Cookson 50. ‘That’s been winning everything under IRC, particularly if the conditions are right. As we started looking into that, DSS was coming along. We started evaluating that and it became clear that it could be a really good thing,’ Ward said.

In terms of the performance benefits of a DSS-equipped yacht of this size over one without DSS, Ward says it amounts to knots at reaching angles. ‘It can be a 15-20 per cent boat speed increase and at reduced heel angles too. It makes the boat substantially more forgiving. The primary benefit is that the boat just gets faster and faster as wind speed goes up. Upwind it has some significant advantages in terms of motion while keeping the boat more stable, so you get an improvement there too.’

Ward observes that many boats are now being fitted with DSS foils or similar, but few to date other than the Welbourn designs and now Farr’s Infiniti 53 have been designed with the DSS foil as a starting point.

In terms of how he sees the DSS foil affecting hull shape, Ward says: ‘I think because you’re sailing at a substantially lower heel angle, it significantly alters the shape of the boat and how it dynamically trims. You don’t want it to trip over itself as it rises up on the foil. It has to be well behaved, so there are lots of things to be understood there. Then it gets coupled with canting keels and centreline daggerboards. There is a lot of optimisation to be done to see how all those things work together, but that’s exciting from a design perspective.’

The Infiniti 53 will differ from the 46R in that it will be designed for a ‘full’ crew. As with the 46R, the appendage configuration is likely to remain flexible, so it can be tailored to the owner’s requirements. But the base set-up is likely to include a single rudder and a gybing canard (like the Cookson 50). Instead of twin DSS foils, the 53 will revert to the single foil set-up, similar to the Infiniti 36. ‘If you are trying to keep costs down, this is probably the right solution,’ says Ward, who adds that the boat will cost significantly less than a new TP52.

As with the 46R, the strength of the 53 will be more coastal and offshore racing rather than windward-leewards. Her length has been deliberately chosen to get away from the glut of 52-footers, such as the prolific TP52s. The hull will carry a full chine, like the 46R, and is also likely to feature the modern-day Farr trademark of a slightly reverse sheer to the bow. Construction will start this autumn.

Quant 23
The latest development with DSS is the Quant 23, believed to be the world’s first fully foiling keelboat. It is another Hugh Welbourn design, built by Paul Jennings’ company Projects by Design in Cowes. The 23 follows on from the DSS-equipped Quant 28 prototype and Quant 30 production boats, both developed and marketed by Swiss company Quant Boats.

To enable it to fly, the Quant 23 features key modifications over its non-flying predecessors. Most significant are its foil developments: it features an inverted T-foil rudder and what at first glance appears to be a significantly different main lifting foil, with a giant bend in it. Unlike other DSS foils to date that exit through the topsides close to the waterline while at rest, the new foil is top-loaded like a conventional daggerboard. The 23 foil drops down rather than flipping out, but thanks to the ‘bend’ in it, as the board is lowered its tip is forced into a horizontal orientation similar to a conventional DSS board.

At this point in the board’s lowering, the Quant 23 can be used as a regular non-flying DSS design. However, if the boards are dropped a further foot or so, the 23 can get fully airborne as she demonstrated most satisfyingly on her maiden voyage in Cowes.

The Quant 23 differs from most fully foiling boats in that she has been designed to fly without demanding any great skill or exertion on the part of the crew. As Quant Boats’ Michi Aeppli said, ‘The aim was not to create the world’s fastest foiler, but one of the easiest crafts to fly steadily, providing fun and fast rides in a range of conditions. For us this means that the boat will do 90 per cent of the work and not the crew, which seems the converse to many other modern foilers with complicated systems to manage and maintain.’

Hugh Welbourn agrees that the ‘gentleman’s foiler’ is an apt description of the Quant 23, as it requires no active rake control on its foils (though this can be altered on the main foil and rudder by up to 5°) and no fore and aft trimming of the boat via crew weight. This is possible through a combination of many factors, such as the changing section of the DSS foil, its curve, length and positioning in the boat. Ride height, for example, auto-corrects due to the foil gradually emerging from the water the faster the boat goes, shedding lift in the process. But the point of sail and heel of the boat determine whether this lift is shed from the inboard or outboard end of the foil.

Only after you’ve recovered from seeing the 23 fly do you also notice the radical boat that the foils are attached to. This is best described as a 21st-century scow – futuristic looking with an ultra-low freeboard, a full-length chine and hull-deck chamfer.

Hugh Welbourn explains why he has taken this path: ‘If you’re trying to get a quick base hull out of something that requires a certain amount of righting moment, with the scow hull as your starting point you’ve immediately got a stable platform that you can push along nicely with just a couple of people on the rail, because you’ve got this nice wide beam. Then, when you want to stick the foil out, you’ve got a wide base span from which to increase your righting moment for when you want to get flying.’

The first Quant 23 is currently undergoing sailing trials in Switzerland prior to going into production. The 23 is already demonstrating impressive performance, getting up on its foils in 8kt of wind and managing 16-18kt in 10kt. It will even foil upwind in around 8-10kt of breeze. And it is still early days…

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EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour is proving increasingly attractive as a well-packaged winter warm-up for the northern hemisphere season

When EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour (SATT) was launched in 2011 it was hoped that in time it would turn into a yacht racing classic for the Middle East with the bonus of offering European and American sailors first-class conditions for extended winter training. Five years on, and after a few changes stemming from sailor and sponsor feedback, SATT has climbed the priority list in the global sailing calendar, the annual title becoming more prized with each edition and an increasing number of professional and amateur teams coming from further afield to compete.

The event was conceived along the lines of the famous Tour de France à la Voile, with a tempting mix of inshore and offshore legs that challenge the full range of sailing skills, tactical knowledge, physical preparation and endurance. With a course extending more than 760 miles around the Arabian Sea, visiting six different cities, it also offers valuable opportunities for the various tourist boards representing the hosting ports to showcase their attractions on an international stage.

With the Tour de France à la Voile having now switched to coastal adventure and stadium racing, SATT is now the only race of its type to offer similarly intense one-design competition over long-distance legs combined with short-haul sprints – the reason why the 2015 edition attracted a record 11 entries with 21 different nationalities represented. Six of the teams this year were local to the Middle East, while Team Averda featured mainly young British sailors from the University of Plymouth and was skippered by top German sailor Marcel Herrera. Bienne Voile flew the flag for Switzerland, Team Delft for The Netherlands and GAC Powered by Dongfeng Race Team for China.

The 2015 edition also saw a dramatic change in route with the fleet having their stamina and patience tested with tough new upwind legs. Previously the event started in Bahrain and finished in Oman, but this time the 760nm route was reversed and the Farr 30 crews were battered by headwinds for much of the course after they started at Muscat’s famous waterfront development The Wave.

‘It was a bigger challenge than we anticipated,’ said Mike Miller, campaigning for the first time on the Kuwait-sponsored Zain alongside experienced French skipper and navigator Cedric Pouligny and Gerald Veniard, who headed up a crew of Zain employees of Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Egyptian, Moroccan, Turkish and British descent. ‘It was physically demanding but, boy, what an experience. We did amazingly well, learned a huge amount about racing and about the Middle East in general and came away with huge smiles.

Aside from memorable shoreside events (below) EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour offers a broad mix of conditions with a combination of inshore and offshore stages. Using the ageless and thoroughly rewarding Farr 30 OD (née Mumm 30) the event offers an excellent and well-organised winter warm-up for European crews – simpler to organise than Key West and with turnkey charter packages and good boats now readily available

‘But sailing upwind in such big breeze plus large seas was a real test. We were mostly a bunch of middle-aged men and you can delude yourself that you are 21 for perhaps the first few hours but after a while it comes back to bite you.’

At the other end of the spectrum was EFG Monaco, backed by the race sponsor and featuring two of the biggest names in offshore racing, skipper Sidney Gavignet of France and Damian Foxall, Ireland’s most complete ocean racer. It was no surprise that EFG Monaco were runaway winners, but despite the experience onboard they were still outclassed on the second leg by the students on TU Delft Challenge, and on the final leg by that self-professed ‘bunch of middle-aged men’ on Zain.

‘This was probably the best SATT because it was a really good challenge and everyone was up for it, fighting like mad for position,’ said Foxall. ‘SATT is now the regatta to do in February. It is pure racing with the one-design Farr 30s which are perfect for this type of event. The conditions are great and we get to go to countries that we wouldn’t otherwise visit.’

With its growing reputation, SATT is expected to attract more entries in 2016 while the announcement earlier this year of a significantly more difficult route has further increased interest from European teams looking for a winter challenge in a warm climate.

On 14 February 2016 the new-look SATT will start in Dubai with an inshore race hosted by the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club, the first opportunity to put points on the board. More points will be up for grabs in the first offshore leg to Abu Dhabi where the second inshore race will be staged. The next leg is the ‘dodge the oil rig’ challenge as the fleet heads to Doha through the oilfields, but it is the brand new longest leg from Doha to new SATT destination Khasab in Oman’s northernmost governorate that is set to be the race highlight.

The new stage comprises a 200nm leg which could take up to four days; for some crews this remoteness will be a new experience while venturing deeper into the Straits of Hormuz will surely be worthy of the most picky sailor’s CV. ‘The longer leg to Khasab will be interesting because we will get all kinds of conditions out there,’ said Britain’s Mary Rook who has completed three SATTs with women crews from Oman and has experienced thick fog, sandstorms, raging winds and no wind at all during her three events to date.

‘Khasab is a stunning venue and normally we just sail around it at night, so we are looking forward to finally going ashore! This long leg substantially raises the degree of difficulty in this race so it will be challenging and fun for everyone involved.’

The fleet then heads back out through the Straits, round the Musandam Peninsula and down the coast of Oman to Sohar, where a cultural day will be laid on in response to feedback from visiting sailors who expressed a desire to see more of the region. The last leg from Sohar to Oman Sail’s HQ at The Wave in Muscat will be a final chance to pick up points, by which time there will have been five offshore and three inshore stages and a brand new winner.

For Rook, who coaches the women on Al Thuraya as part of Oman Sail’s Women’s Programme, the race is a superb platform for encouraging more women to sail, not just in Oman but around the Arabian region. ‘Our girls learned so much this year and two of them are now racing in Europe in J80 regattas and loving it. We came sixth in 2015, which we were very happy with, but it would be great to see more women’s teams enter in 2016.

‘The organisation of the event has really improved since I first did it and the last event in 2015 was seamless and smooth. Gilles Chiorri who runs the racing knows the waters, the boats and the conditions and that helps to make it a very good race.

‘This year there were teams who had done the Tour de France à la Voile and there were also several corporate teams, a sure sign that this event has come of age. It was close on the startline and often close at the finish. It was serious racing.’

In recognition of SATT’s growing stature the Volvo Ocean Race and Oman Sail forged significantly closer bonds by announcing the VOR Rookie Awards for the top three sailors aged under 30 competing in SATT. In recent years VOR sailors Sidney Gavignet of France, England’s Dee Caffari, Damian Foxall of Ireland and Australia’s Nick Moloney have all competed in SATT, with Gavignet and Foxall twice winning the title. These new awards confirm SATT as a valuable feeder event for young offshore sailors.

‘SATT is like a very mini Volvo Ocean Race,’ commented Fahad Al Hasni, skipper of all-Omani crew Team Renaissance who finished fifth in February. ‘Watching the Volvo Ocean Race is an inspiration because you see teams who are not especially strong pushing harder and harder and it makes you want to do the same. I am excited about the longer leg in SATT in 2016 – it will be harder and we will need to be patient but we are really looking forward to it.’

‘It was always our aim to make EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour the premier offshore race in the Middle East so we have listened carefully to what our competitors, sponsors and other stakeholders have told us,’ says Salma Al Hashmi, director of marketing and events at Oman Sail. ‘Judging by the response to the changes we have made for 2016, we hope, come February, to be hosting our biggest and best edition of SATT so far. There is growing respect for this event and it is great to see so many international teams now seeking to incorporate SATT into their winter programmes.’

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Project manager MICKY COSTA talks to class manager ROB WEILAND about the detail developments that have gone into this year’s latest crop of Super Series TP52s

We are two events into the 52 Super Series with the TP52 World Championship 2015, arguably the most important title to win this year, coming up imminently.

Racing from Puerto Portals brings us close to the best racing conditions in Palma Bay (and to the ambiance, within 100m of two of the best restaurants on Majorca). It is going to be a tough week. With 12 TP52s in the event the winner is not easy to predict. Can Azzurra beat the pressure as well as the other 11, all capable of winning races? Will Quantum Racing, with Ed Baird on the helm, pull it off once more? Or Andy, Eduardo, Harm, Marco, Niklas, Tak, Tony or Vladimir, our owner-drivers? So far performing at least on a par with the pros.

Having managed the construction of so many racing boats in the past decades I look at the TP52s not just with a passionate eye. But being out of construction manage ment for over seven years has taken its toll. Often I have to look more than once to assimilate function and detail. Sometimes I just ask.

Above: some of the complexities that are going on below deck on the latest TP52s, in this case the Botín-designed Phoenix; below is the clean and largely monocoque primary structure of the latest Vrolijk-designed Provezza.

The obvious guys to ask are those behind so many successful TPs of recent years, like Micky Costa (Azzurra, Bronenosec and Phoenix), Jan Klingmüller and Tim Powell (Rán), Jeremy Smith and Jared Henderson (Quantum) and Chris Hosking (with Jared responsible for the Artemis TPs and now on Provezza with Tony Evans). I checked in on the latest toys with Micky Costa who has made construction management his core business. Which means that he now hardly ever races the boats he managed the build of, nor does he work on the shore team… Micky moves straight on to the next job.

SH: What layout developments do we see looking at this generation of TP52s?

Micky Costa: The biggest change is brought about by the removal of the rule on cockpit volume, allowing us to shape the cockpit as we wish. We try to create more cockpit space while keeping the trimmers in a comfortable position, not too far outboard so they can see the jib properly. Then we aim to lower the centre of gravity of the cockpit, which translates to a large and low as possible floor and narrow side decks aft… without losing longitudinal stiffness.

Then we pick and position the equipment matching the specific requirements of the team in question. Again, functionality, weight and centre of gravity are the key drivers. Not being restricted on volume means we can run the aft cockpit floor all the way up to the hull, with the spinnaker blocks now simply lashed to the aft stanchion. We also taper the aft side decks to save weight. Teams have different ideas on how much aft side deck is the most efficient.

Also new is that the rigs are now allowed to have backstay deflectors. This has changed trimming quite a bit, but also the systems. To minimise compression load into the boat’s structure, the deflector cylinder is mounted on the mast. And so the hydraulic system has to cater for two functions, the other one being the headstay ram. All boats have slightly different choices for how to fit the rams and connect the headstay and deflectors to them. Usually a Y-valve actuation next to the grinder’s foot selects where the oil goes, headstay or deflector.

SH: What about differences on deck between the Botín and Vrolijk boats?

MC: Botín have chosen to keep the deck slightly bulbous, with more camber than the rule minimum to get a better ratio of weight/ vcg to stiffness. Of course Vrolijk feels his solution is the best. Either way, the result is that, in combination with a few other details, like the layout of the main hatch and halyard jammer area and where the cockpit sides end, you can see immediately whether it is a Vrolijk or a Botín design.

The structure of the latest Botín boats has also changed, removing one central bulkhead and adding two large longitudinals on each side of the centreline. This really opened up the interior. I think Vrolijk has a similar concept aft but has a different solution forward and around the keel attachment.

SH: And differences between Azzurra and other TP52s…

MC: One is the primary pedestal orientation. Most boats have it fore and aft but the Azzurra team like to grind athwartships. It is a personal choice, both can be made to work; but there is a knock-on effect on where the crew are positioned in the cockpit. I feel one of the more important differences is the larger 990ST runner winches on Azzurra; so far the team are happy with the trade-off in tacking efficiency vs weight increase. SH: And the winches and winch systems? MC: There is quite a bit of development in the detailing, but I think we are all waiting for that ‘great new idea’ in terms of the principle of how a winch functions. All boats have Harken winches, typically the 650.3ST is used for all functions except the pit winch, which is usually the 500.2ST.

The larger 990ST backstay winches on Azzurra are so far proving worthwhile. Comparison in deck layouts (above and below) – Rolf Vrolijk has pared away the aft structure on Bronenosec to the minimum, relying more on the hull shell for stiffness; Botín opts for a conventional treatment on Provezza

Some boats use specialists like Jon Williams of Stay In Phase, customising and adding to Harken components. Others keep the customising ‘in house’ with Harken. With Azzurra we have been one of those, while keeping an eye on development. Harken now have more aerodynamic pedestals, the very narrow Wing version for fore-and-aft mounting and the Air pedestal for athwartships mounting with the sculpted hole in the middle and each leg shaped like a wing to reduce drag.

Then there is the MX option, where you have two chains running down the pedestal with either the 1:1 chain or the 1:3 overdrive engaged by pushing in the top spindle. MX can also be integrated with a rotary hydraulic pump mounted directly to the pedestal below decks, eliminating additional brackets and transmission – then you have one of the chains dedicated to drive the rotary pump.

You simply push the top spindle to select hydraulics and choose headstay or deflector from a valve on the cockpit floor. Hydraulic release is controlled using thin lines connected to dump valves.

Azzurra employ the MX option with the rotary pump on the aft pedestal. To further reduce weight and keep things simple some teams now choose to connect only one mainsheet winch to the grinder system and drive the other with the top handle. Finally, to save weight, wherever possible the system parts are now made in pre-preg autoclaved carbon.

SH: I noticed on Bronenosec a system to drive the rotary pump from the side – plus most teams now use Harken hydraulics?

MC: Well spotted. Yes, they can now pump while hiking, one of the ideas we developed this year. The choice of Harken hydraulics is mainly based on facilitating easy integration within the total package and a versatile and reliable 500 bar system.

SH: What’s going on inside…?

MC: These boats are very system driven. There are so many lines and purchases through the structure that we need to think this through in advance to make it all work properly. On Azzurra with King Marine we put a big emphasis (and many hours) into limiting friction while trying to have the boat completely drilled and with systems pre-installed before the deck goes on. It is a cost and time saver and a big headache if you need to do these jobs after the boat is closed.

The main attraction for the fans and also a boost for the crew when it goes right is the spinnaker drop. If executed well the latest systems are so fast that it looks like the boat swallows the spinnaker within a few seconds without the crew doing much more than guiding it through the forehatch. The trick is a large carbon drum mounted on the gearbox under one of the primary winches, reeling in the very thin drop line that runs over a carbon roller at the forehatch and is led aft to the transom and then to the drum. Some boats have the drum on the outside of the mainsheet winch bevel box and there are also systems directly linked to the pedestal. During the drop both pedestals are engaged and worked by three or four grinders.

SH: You never use I… always we?

MC: This stuff is about teamwork, part of my work is co-ordination and I share all of this effort with the team. Especially with the shore team, King and our rigging supplier. Of course, like all sailors, I like to think about how to improve the boat. The continuity of projects like Matador/Azzurra makes that development flow naturally.

We start early with the crew input, months before construction; and in the Azzurra team the roles are well defined and respected. Then we work with the design office to streamline and explain our input. When the concept is ready then we put it to the boatyard, the shore team, rigger, VMG electronics and the external suppliers as we develop the details. That is why these boats are ready to race when launched and so well finished. Because all the partners work well together.

SH: And next up?

MC: Probably something around 20ft larger than the TP. So we both have something to look forward to – and I’ll be able to ask you the questions!

Rob Weiland, TP52 class manager

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With solid investment the TV coverage of sailing is only getting better – GARY JOBSON

As the fleet of Olympic-class raceboats approaches the starting line every competitor is working hard to accelerate to full speed, at the favoured end of the line and with clear wind. Anticipation is running high. The seconds count down. A clean start can make the difference between a good race and a disappointing finish. There is a lot at stake.

At this very moment several gyro-stabilised TV cameras are being directed by a team of production experts in a truck onshore. The director wants the high camera right on the line at the gun. From the water another camera needs to capture the speed of the boats, and the determination on the faces of the competitors. Viewers want to see every vantage point to understand which teams are gaining an edge.

Unlike most sports, which use cameras plugged into the wall or on rails or cables, sailing takes place out on the water. Signals must be transmitted via radio frequencies. The waves and wind make it difficult to get a steady picture, but with the use of the latest stabilised camera systems the images are remarkably good. The top camera operators have also fine-tuned their craft over many years – though the camera systems deployed to keep the boats in focus and the picture steady remain very expensive.

Helping make sense of the action is a commentating team that interprets what we are seeing. The general routine is to explain what is going on, give a brief technical comment, and then add an emotional element to the narrative. An experienced commentary crew will not talk about the obvious picture on screen, but instead find something unique to talk about. Sailing is a difficult sport for many non-sailors to understand. Compelling graphics and the use of GPS technology give the viewer an overhead view of which boats are leading, gaining distance on the fleet or losing ground.

All these images must be shot without disturbing the wind or water for the boats that are racing. The producer, director and commentators work together during the live broadcast. The viewer does not hear the interplay on talkback microphones. While one commentator is explaining a topic, the director will position the cameras for the next topic based on an observation by the other commentator or the producer. It is essential that the commentary team only talk about the pictures that are on screen. There is a broad range of sailing ability of viewers ranging from Olympic champions to people who have never been on a boat. It is a tricky balance to keep everyone who is watching engaged.

The field of play in many sports is relatively small, but sailing is different. Turning marks can be one mile apart and sometimes even more depending on the class of boat. Knowing which boats to follow is important. Often the finish between two boats back several places can determine the winner of the regatta. The medal race adds to the interest level, because only the top 10 boats in the standings compete. Points are doubled so there is plenty of opportunity to move up the leader board.

Top: China’s Lijia Xu celebrates in front of a gyro-stabilised camera platform at the London 2012 Olympic Regatta. Operators control these cameras using joystick controls inside the vessel while staying in constant contact with the TV director onshore

Immediately before heading out onto the racecourse, or right after the race, sideline reports interview the contestants. These are unscripted moments. There is considerable emotion around the waterfront. As a viewer, we want to cheer for our favourite team, and learn what the sailors were thinking out on the course. These spontaneous interviews make great theatre.

Over the past year the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has presented four live telecasts of Sailing World Cup competitions from Santander, Spain; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Hyères, France; and Weymouth, England. ISAF is committed to providing live coverage of future events. Viewers from all time zones want to see the action as it takes place. During the combined Olympic Classes World Championships in September, 23 broadcasters from around the world took the live feed. In territories without a host broadcaster ISAF distributed the programmes on our own World Sailing Television network using the internet.

Sunset & Vine is currently the leading production group broadcasting sailing. ISAF engaged Sunset & Vine, based in Oxford, England, to produce our live feeds and assist in lining up global broadcasters. At Weymouth in June BBC Red Button, ESPN3 (USA), Canal+ (France), NEO Sports and SKY were among the live broadcasters. In addition dozens of other media outlets took daily news reports on the racing throughout the entire regatta. The medal races were broadcast live.

ISAF plans to broadcast more live sailing events leading up to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016. In the past two summer Olympic Games, in Qingdao, China in 2008 and Weymouth, England in 2012 our television broadcast received the award for best production by any sport from the International Olympic Committee. At the next Olympics onboard cameras will be added in several of the classes. At this writing, 15 days of live coverage of sailing are scheduled for worldwide broadcast. Tune in to our next programmes to watch your favourite sailors go for gold.
Gary Jobson, vice-president

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