July 26, 2010 - MISC - SailTube

AC - TV testing

A strong sea breeze on the final day of the America’s Cup television trials concluded what has widely been regarded as a highly successful evaluation.

Over the past four days two high-performance monohulls and multihulls have been loaded with a plethora of cameras and microphones and put through match racing maneuvers to help find new camera angles and test surround sound format.

Racecourses were also modified by changing the percentages of upwind and downwind work to see if it helped keep the yachts engaged at close quarters.

'I’d have to rate the trials an unqualified success,' said BMW ORACLE Racing CEO Russell Coutts. 'We plan to do this again in the coming weeks and months, but I think we found some things that work that we’d like to explore again down the road.'

The trials were also used to test monohulls versus multihulls and the excitement they lend to television. A new yacht design is being created for the 34th America’s Cup, and concept papers have been issued to rule writers to create a monohull and multihull design.

The monohulls were the focus of the trials on Days 1 and 4, while the multihulls were featured on Days 2 and 3. Each design was sailed in light to strong winds during its time on the water.

Next month, positioning and performance data will be experimented with during the 1851 Cup in Cowes, England. The regatta features BMW ORACLE Racing and TeamOrigin of the U.K...

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