Nice part in the latest ACU episode, can't get enough of this stuff. Can you show us more Oysterhead?
+1
Stan H showed some fun video segments last night, of what the umpires see on their screens to for example tell which boat entered the mark zone first. He also mentioned why the zone circle is made not exactly round, it having somthing to do with the shape of the boats. Would be fun to see more of that published, for us geeks. He also said that, while the system can make 'suggestions' about who committed what objective infraction, the decision to call a penalty is still left to the umpires; it is not done automatically.
On penalties, after what had been a slow start for some teams there has been an acceleration in their recognition of how important it is to clear your penalty asap, rather than wait the 20 seconds (was it?) before the computed-advance line slows to 75%, forcing you to hold up for increasingly longer to clear it. Says the teams are getting pretty good at it now.
On the graphics elements in general (boundary lines for example) he noted that since viewers and commentators can now readily and immediately tell when skippers screw up, some skippers were uncomfortable with the whole notion of it. As professionals they were afraid of being embarrassed by their mistakes. But they've gotten used to it and have also gotten increasingly used to the fact that the umpires are now far more right than they are, about who committed what infraction. It's a bit like in Baseball, where umpires calling the strike zone were intially reluctant to have that technology, until they realized how well it proved how accurately the umpires were already calling balls and strikes. Now they love it, because it proves how good they are, and so do the sailing umpires.
Something else he mentioned was that to achieve the 2cm accuracy of the boats, projected LL elements, etc, they eventually had to position the helicopter cameras GPS locators on the same mountings as what the cameras are on, the camera mount hanging front and below the 'copter. When they had the locator elsewhere on the 'copter then the torque and resulting body-warp of the copter would affect its position-accuracy.
On the live-data sets, and the stored versions, which he noted are freely available for the first time ever: he said that there was initial consternation about all that; but more-advanced teams like it because they can analyze it more, and less advanced teams like it because they can learn from the behavior of the advanced teams.
He also said that some teams have created sophisticated polars from the AC45 livestream datasets, which ACRM now has too and uses as part of their course setup calculations, to for example help create an exactly-40-minute race. ~And~ they requested and received projected polars for the AC72's... data that he laughingly suggested he does not necessarily trust but that is still ballpark-useful enough to them in planning for the LVC and AC.
Stan and Craig did the trip voluntarily, in part to help
The Sailing Foundation grow support from the sailing community for the all-volunteer work that organization does, in promoting Youth Sailing and others missions. Along with the strong attendance, that part of the show was a surprise to me - they have almost 30 Puget Sound area high schools enrolled now, it's a very good program.
Many in the audience knew them both and there was a good crowd surrounding them after the their presentations and videos. I recognized John Roussmainiere (sp?) in the audience, Bill Buchan, Dick Rose spoke, etc.
Really enjoyed it. Thanks, Stan! ps: Oh, and can we please see those 45 Polars?
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