276 replies to this topic

[johnmoon]

My God!!! Listening to Jobson ramble on is nauseating. I can't belive he is the only guy they can find.

"the boats are playing chess with the wind"
"that jib looks too small"
"that swordfish on the bow looks MEAN!
"onece again, stronger wind trumps stronger current" (it's multihull sailing, you idiot)

Are you kidding me?

He is the biggest bore on TV. No wonder no has watched the AC over the years. He make a boring sport painful to watch.

This guy is way past his sell by date. I think he may have gotten the gig because his contacts at NBC. Maybe that was part of the deal.

Now we're suffering.

[~Stingray~]

That guy John Rawling (sp?) should replace GJ, who is just a dinosaur. JR has caught on very fast, he is Far More fun to listen to.

[Bitpitch]

+1

[Goose84]

The production crew needs to get their heads out of their asses on the fleet racing too. Did they even play a replay of TK's cross again LR? It looked like LR had to fly a hull to avoid a collision, but I couldn't tell because they never showed a replay. They also talk about about action happening in the gates or a big overtaking (like TK's over NZ at the end of fleet race 2), but they stay glued on the leader way ahead. Awesome action, but very frustrating production.

[Goose84]

Also, did anyone get the impression that Mitch was getting a little tired of Jobson's questions and comments too?

[Blackman]

I agree with all... and today was better to look on liveline uncut than the bad choices of images from prod....much more things to look at except the close views

[~Stingray~]

Also, did anyone get the impression that Mitch was getting a little tired of Jobson's questions and comments too?

All the time, it goes a ways back too!

[nav]

Also, did anyone get the impression that Mitch was getting a little tired of Jobson's questions and comments too?

All the time, it goes a ways back too!

GJ out/Irish guy in - easy

[~Stingray~]

There is a sequence in I think the second FR where Mitch says that JS could have made a good move out to the left (looking downwind) and the TV followed the comment, showed the boat from the helicam, with those gridlines, laylines and all, then quickly faded onto the JS boat cam, then remotely-controlled the on-board cam into a tight shot of the crew, then back-faded to the wider LL as the commenters moved on, all in uner ten seconds, live. It was pretty damn good coverage.

I did expereience a few hiccups in the feed, but was not at home with the glassfiber-band so hard to tell where the latency happened.

[Foghorn77]

Also, did anyone get the impression that Mitch was getting a little tired of Jobson's questions and comments too?

How could he NOT be sick of it. He must have the patience of a saint.

[kitemare]

The production crew needs to get their heads out of their asses on the fleet racing too. Did they even play a replay of TK's cross again LR? It looked like LR had to fly a hull to avoid a collision, but I couldn't tell because they never showed a replay. They also talk about about action happening in the gates or a big overtaking (like TK's over NZ at the end of fleet race 2), but they stay glued on the leader way ahead. Awesome action, but very frustrating production.

Honestly... the entitlement by some of the people here is just out of control. You are getting free live streaming coverage with mics and cameras on every boat helicopter shots, graphical overlays AND NO COMMERCIALS. I was watching the racing live on the jetty yesterday with my phone out live the youtube coverage, it was truly amazing.

Could the commentary be a little better, yes. Do i wish they kept the "expert commentary" feed, yes. But seriously get your head out of your ass, maybe reduce your expectations a bit and enjoy the spectacle

[Goose84]

Kitmare, i appreciate where you are coming from, and if the whole media crew was working for free, I would be less critical, but this is their job, and we should expect top quality results. And before you bring up the fact that Larry is basically paying for this whole deal out of his back pocket, I will point out that he more than anyone deserves to know that his production team is doing the best job possible.

It's frustrating mostly because the boat designers, sailors, and race organizers are living up to their task well in my opinion, so the production team should too.

[tawgley]

The production crew needs to get their heads out of their asses on the fleet racing too. Did they even play a replay of TK's cross again LR? It looked like LR had to fly a hull to avoid a collision, but I couldn't tell because they never showed a replay. They also talk about about action happening in the gates or a big overtaking (like TK's over NZ at the end of fleet race 2), but they stay glued on the leader way ahead. Awesome action, but very frustrating production.

Honestly... the entitlement by some of the people here is just out of control. You are getting free live streaming coverage with mics and cameras on every boat helicopter shots, graphical overlays AND NO COMMERCIALS. I was watching the racing live on the jetty yesterday with my phone out live the youtube coverage, it was truly amazing.

Could the commentary be a little better, yes. Do i wish they kept the "expert commentary" feed, yes. But seriously get your head out of your ass, maybe reduce your expectations a bit and enjoy the spectacle

You may be missing the point(s) made by these and other posters .... it's probable that most of us would like to not only enjoy the video of the event, but perhaps more importantly have the video act as an 'attractant' for those not so familiar with our sport (i.e. non sailors) ... done well something like the ACWS could provide a BIG boost in interest for sailing.

The posters and myself are objecting to GJ's commentary because either he's forgotten all he knew about sailing, is too arrogant to share the fine points with an 'uneducated' viewing group, is hoping if he provides commentary like sportscasters in other sports he'll get a gig in another sport (we should be so lucky).

I've watched all the video so far and have sailed the Cityfront for a long time ... shouldn't a commentator tell you what the wind speeds are ... didn't hear it; shouldn't a commentator talk about the persistent shift at the top of the upwind leg in the first fleet race ... didn't hear it; shouldn't a commentator talk about the call JK made on OR-S to go out on the upwind leg in Fleet race 2 ... didn't hear it ... and on and on ... GJ is just not good for sailing commentary now (if he ever was) and that's what folks are talking about ....

rant over, back to sailing

[Enzedel 92]

Where is PJ these days?

[RMK]

I'm w/kitemare you guys are whiners. The coverage is terrific. Could it be better? Sure but it is a huge gift from someone w/a vision who's putting his money where his mouth is.

It's GJ's job to ask the basic questions he already knows the answers to and MB's job to provide the details/tech/tatics as a way to explain things to the audience which hopefully includes a lot of non sailors.

There is no discussion of the wind because the crew are in a containor and don't have any info on wind shift or strength of wind on different parts of the course other then watching the same vid we see. In a sport that is wind driven more needs to be done here but you can't blame the announcers.

[krispy kreme]

Well for a series whose premise was the facebook generation vs. the flintstone generation, not sure why they thought a pleistocene era commentator was going to light a wick. I just shake my head every time the mike gets turned onto the Energy team and he remarks: 'Wow they speak french!" And as a local, I about jumped out of my seat when he said there was 'cloud cover' coming in from the ocean. NO DUDE it's the frikken marine layer. And no it's not "misting', it's fog... and the yammering about wind over current. Just stop. If you don't know WTF you are talking about, a good policy is to just shut the F up.

I have a feeling that with this show going on in the ultimate venue, that there will be some serious debriefs over what to do right. The GJ commentary is not 1)educating 2)enlightening 3)engaging 4) relevant. Turn the mike over to Rawlings, Mitch, and yes, get the Irish guy.

And note to ACEA - who seems to have hung their venue revenue spurs on the Giants. Check out Kuiper Krukow if you want to know how it's done.

It's simple, pensive techical guy (Krukow) which would be Booth in this case, and play by play (Kuiper) which would be perhaps Rawlings or anyone else competent.

GJ's earned enough coin, no weeping for his starving children. Time to cut the cord.

[cosmicsedso]

Jobson is terrible. Confusing for beginners and frustrating for afficionados.
He really doesn't get it, and his petty criticisms of sailors who are far, far better than he ever was, are really quite pathetic.
He misses the stuff that viewers need to be directed to and makes stupid comments about irrelevancies.
That is not going to attract anyone to sailing, nor will it engage with passionate sailors.
The vision is awesome and Mitch covers up well, but seriously, this is 2012, we can do better.

[USA 177628]

GJ is brutal and must go. What about the guys who did the VO in-shore races. I do not remember being as frustrated and forced to drink as much by that duo.

What about the dude from Best in Show? I think he's available?

[~Stingray~]

Probably the biggest problem GJ has is that he's just a dick, and so therefore sounds like one

But it could be worse, he does have okay moments.

[krispy kreme]

Probably the biggest problem GJ has is that he's just a dick, and so therefore sounds like one

But it could be worse, he does have okay moments.

Name one.

And yes, he's a dick.

[ro!]

he's not a dick, he's actually a nice guy...

it's not so long ago that spinbot said he was good and getting better...but now he has to spin with the rest of the 'insiders'...

GJ is hopeless at commentating this version or the last or the one before... but he has photos of the NBC head dude fucking a pig..just kidding...
If this deal is ever going to get to the facebookers and we already know it isn't, they need to get someone who isn't gonna piss off the rest of us who are watching because we are into sailing..

[krispy kreme]

We are stuck with the detritus of the foosball league that was originally running things. They couldn't get an American bcast contract to save their lives, but GJ showed up and said "i'll get the deal". They bought into it. So we are stuck with a localized pay for contract w/NBC Comcast, and Jobson's a guaranteed part of the deal.

Fact of the matter is, if they had any real brains in their marketing operation, they would have known that TV for this sport in the US didn't mean SQUAT. Let's see if the new wizards in power can grow a pair and put together a decent online coverage and appearance and call the shots the way they should be for this market. 310M people, 60% wired, all of whom take boxing on the online PPV model, not to mention the fact that 60% of betting revenue on margin sports is online. Oh yeah, and 37% of browser calls in THIS market come from tablets and phones.

Wake Up.

FFS sake they should be pimping Groupon daily deals. Well.. not Groupon sucks and is so..... 2011. And that's the point. Time flies now. what was hip 3 months ago is dead now, and they have a 12 metre era snot announcing.

[hoom]

Bring back PJ!



No please don't.

[Andrew S]

Please god no more GJ

[cosmicsedso]

Probably the biggest problem GJ has is that he's just a dick, and so therefore sounds like one

But it could be worse, he does have okay moments.

Name one.

And yes, he's a dick.

Ok Moments?? Lets see.... Nope I dont recall anything OK - except maybe when he signs off!
Jobson is a wanker! Espo is the dick.

[J-BIRD]

why not get the Irish guy " Viper" Higgins ........ at least it would be amusing

[The Main Man]

Richard Simmons.....? Perhaps not.

[Enzedel 92]

Wait a minute. GJ is doing the best he could. The DAMN producer keeps cutting to the wrong feed. When RC nailed the comittee boat, the producer had a chance to show the feed but did nothing. DUH!!!!

The producer is an idiot!!!!!!.

Plus GJ is not afraid to call out the mistakes of the sailing teams. He calls it like it is. That said I do miss Peter Montgomery.

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[natterjack]

They couldn't get an American bcast contract to save their lives, but GJ showed up and said "i'll get the deal". They bought into it. So we are stuck with a localized pay for contract w/NBC Comcast, and Jobson's a guaranteed part of the deal.


This is nonsense. Jobson was never going to be involved when ESPN3 couldn't nail the rights and was only brought in when some bright guy thought another dinosaur producer Geoff Mason would be the answer. Big irony that Mason should not be working with a massive rival of his ABC bosses and is trying to operate under the radar. Double irony is that Mason and Jobson are the orignal Fred and Barney of the Flintstone era, way out of their comfort zone when it comes to contemporary production and hopelessy inept. But Jobson will survive because the clowns who brought him and Mason in can't admit they made a huge mistake. Prepare for much more of the Jobson incompetence on air.

[bluelaser]

They need to focus on the middle of the pack when the leader gets shot out the front. Really need to take a page from Nascar coverage here - very similar in a lot of ways. They need Peter Montgomery and Micheal Waltrip calling alongside GJ(assuming they're stuck with GJ - if not then Ditch him!)

That being said I thought Jerry Kirby did a good job with the volvo stuff and would be perfect.

[vmg]

Having just sat through the BBC Olympics coverage - this is great coverage!

[GauchoGreg]

Well for a series whose premise was the facebook generation vs. the flintstone generation, not sure why they thought a pleistocene era commentator was going to light a wick. I just shake my head every time the mike gets turned onto the Energy team and he remarks: 'Wow they speak french!" And as a local, I about jumped out of my seat when he said there was 'cloud cover' coming in from the ocean. NO DUDE it's the frikken marine layer. And no it's not "misting', it's fog... and the yammering about wind over current. Just stop. If you don't know WTF you are talking about, a good policy is to just shut the F up.

I have a feeling that with this show going on in the ultimate venue, that there will be some serious debriefs over what to do right. The GJ commentary is not 1)educating 2)enlightening 3)engaging 4) relevant. Turn the mike over to Rawlings, Mitch, and yes, get the Irish guy.

And note to ACEA - who seems to have hung their venue revenue spurs on the Giants. Check out Kuiper Krukow if you want to know how it's done.

It's simple, pensive techical guy (Krukow) which would be Booth in this case, and play by play (Kuiper) which would be perhaps Rawlings or anyone else competent.

GJ's earned enough coin, no weeping for his starving children. Time to cut the cord.

Ding ding ding ding

This sums it up.

As one that LOVES what they have done with AC34, including the ACWS, and can't believe how lucky I am to be able to watch what I'm watching, and how I'm watching it, I can't believe they did all that they did but can't see how piss poor GJ is. And its not as though there is no one else available, and its not as though there is no way for them to know GJ is piss poor.

[FastBottoms]

My God!!! Listening to Jobson ramble on is nauseating. I can't belive he is the only guy they can find.

"the boats are playing chess with the wind"
"that jib looks too small"
"that swordfish on the bow looks MEAN!
"onece again, stronger wind trumps stronger current" (it's multihull sailing, you idiot)

Are you kidding me?

He is the biggest bore on TV. No wonder no has watched the AC over the years. He make a boring sport painful to watch.

This guy is way past his sell by date. I think he may have gotten the gig because his contacts at NBC. Maybe that was part of the deal.

Now we're suffering.

Couldn't agree more.

[Tornado-Cat]

"that jib looks too small"

That's a good one !

[BigSquid]

What happened to Cam Lewis reporting from the RIB? Wish he was back.

[biff]

He points out the StFYC several times but I never heard GGYC mentioned.

Somebody should tell him StFYC has nothing to do with the Americas cup being here

[SF Woody Sailor]

He points out the StFYC several times but I never heard GGYC mentioned.

Somebody should tell him StFYC has nothing to do with the Americas cup being here

Really? Were you here? We were over the fire code limit of 1400 at StFYC (legal because most were outside) on a WEEKDAY while GGYC had just a few. StFYC runs many world championships every year; when was the last time GGYC ran something more prestigious than the Seaweed Soup midwinter regatta? The only reason GGYC has the Cup is that they sold the Club to LE while StFYC was unwilling to sell itself. You need to get a clue.

[biff]

Right! I am not saying StFYC is anything less than one of the premiere YC's. I am aware of the reasons why Larry bought the GGYC. Regardless of what other regattas they run the rest of the year they should still be recognized by the TV commentators as the defending YC of the Americas Cup. I just found it amusing Jobson mentioned the StFyc over the GGYC so often. Good on StFYC for cashing in on this opportunity and filling the joint to capacity. Maybe with all the bar revenue they can fund a team to represent the YC on the race course.

[Monster Mash]

Right! I am not saying StFYC is anything less than one of the premiere YC's. I am aware of the reasons why Larry bought the GGYC. Regardless of what other regattas they run the rest of the year they should still be recognized by the TV commentators as the defending YC of the Americas Cup. I just found it amusing Jobson mentioned the StFyc over the GGYC so often. Good on StFYC for cashing in on this opportunity and filling the joint to capacity. Maybe with all the bar revenue they can fund a team to represent the YC on the race course.

Stay away from the club sandwiches in the grill.

[Tony-F18]

No Jobson today?

[JSoup]

It's SO MUCH BETTER today without him. I don't mind him so much in general, and think he has done a lot for sailing, however he is just a terrible live announcer. It's not so much that he says stupid things, all live announcers are going to that periodically, it's just that his tone and pace put me to sleep - literally. Maybe someone has figured it out.

It's been fun to watch today.

No Jobson today?

[GauchoGreg]

[Goose84]

It looks like somebody at ACEA watched the replay from yesterday and made the right call. The commentary and production today was excellent... and especially when compared to yesterday.

[MER]

It looks like somebody at ACEA watched the replay from yesterday and made the right call.  The commentary and production today was excellent... and especially when compared to yesterday.

Or they read this thread...

Thank you ACEA!!!

[cosmicsedso]

It looks like somebody at ACEA watched the replay from yesterday and made the right call. The commentary and production today was excellent... and especially when compared to yesterday.

Or they read this thread...

Thank you ACEA!!!

Could it be?

[natterjack]

Jobson preparing today for his live commentary on coast to coast NBC tomorrow - he hasn't gone away

[~Stingray~]

Jobson preparing today for his live commentary on coast to coast NBC tomorrow - he hasn't gone away

What I suspected, since it's happened before.

Agreed w the above posts, today's was an outstanding arrangement w GJ asking only the probing q's to the skips after they crossed. JR and MB are great together as the color, that chemistry works.

[Foghorn77]

He did do the interviews and they were pretty pointless as you'd expect.

[~Stingray~]

He did do the interviews and they were pretty pointless as you'd expect.

The one w Yann after ENGRY won the first fleet race was brilliant.

'Got any words for your French fans?' YG spoke French for a good 30 seconds, felt like forever, good on him, but GJ was left speechless excepts for a botched pronuniaction of Merci Beacou (or WTF he really tried); it was worse than his murder of Piet Niewenhaus's name on Wednesday when he chose to get fancy and instead of just calling him 'Pete' so everyone would be happy, he called him 'Pee-Yett', wth? Lmao

The guy is a Pleistocene who thinks he's still ruling the world, but he's not ~completly~ stupid so it could be worse.

Just wish he would stop the game of putting MB on the spot w questions that GJ tries to answer himself before even giving MB the time to respond, it just further demonstrates GJ's dickosity! Lol

[onimod]

The contrast between Thurs/Fri and Saturday's voice work was immense - the coverage is much better off without GJ.
If he has to do the fluffy stuff before and after the racing then fine, but keep him away from the races please.

[Andrew S]

OMG so much better with JR and MB today!

[cosmicsedso]

Sensational Sunday!
I'm still shaking after watching the final fleet race.
How good was OR Spithill?
How truly sensational not to hear Fred Flinstone, except for a very short interview with RC..
Awesome for sailing!

[SailBlueH2O]

Enough with the mixed sports metaphors !....just speak in sailing terms ...folks will soon enough firgure out what is going on....or explain the sailing terms....the Volvo Ocean race commentators were quilty as well.

[ssi]

"San Francisco Harbor"

Lock it.

[Dixie]

"San Francisco Harbor"

Lock it.

^Really?

Re: GJ...I missed the NBC feed because I was actually watching the race, then watched again on YT, but didn't hear GJ.
Unfortunately it seems he's in it for the long haul, thanks to "politics" very high up.

Dear Larry, Great execution on the vision this week. Problem is, the ACWS is good, but Gary actually takes it down a notch. He's a guy who's done a lot in the sport of sailing and fought a hard fight agains Leukemia, but he's just not the right guy to raise the bar on the coverage of the event. His commentary is slow, there's no back and forth with his co-anchor, his information isn't always correct, which would be ok, but he lacks any apparent humor. There must be a way you could keep him involved, satisfy the politics of it, and get him off the air.

Otherwise the week was fantastic, the ACTV work outstanding, and I can't help but thank the weather gods for Sunday.

I hope you had a fun week, I sure did.

Dixie

[pjh]

It's easy to complain about details, but this was the best televised sailing coverage I have ever seen. By far. Let's see, two cameras and a mic on every boat; graphics for boundries and distance up the course; tags as to the identiy of all of the boats; color coding for penalties; "virtual eye"-type distance graphics, and real-time speeds. This is Very Good Stuff, and coupled with the really entertaining racing made for a winning package.

[the loose cannon]

Actually, I can't fault Gary for being Gary. I CAN fault management for leaving him on the mike. He is much better droning on in a monotone on a historical voiceover piece than being able to comment live on a game he really doesn't get. I would love to see a canned piece put together with him explaining the old rules of match racing vs the actual sailors (JK & Spitty would be good) explaining how the game is now and what the key moves to keep an eye out for are.

Gary, the new reality is that the cost of tacking is too great to play the best current side of the course. The restricted course means that you HAVE to pick or create a clear air roadmap all the way through a leg, and only change that plan in reaction to getting parked on or some other significant tactical situation.

There were GEMS in the racing this week if you knew what to look for...

[krispy kreme]

"San Francisco Harbor"

Lock it.

Yup. that was a good one. I also liked:
"Look at those waves!"

[the loose cannon]

"San Francisco Harbor"

Lock it.

Yup. that was a good one. I also liked:
"Look at those waves!"

My favorite was from Europe (england I think, when it was raining) These sails get heavy when they get wet (um no Gary, Cotton gets heavy, mylar over carbon doesn't pick up much weight...)

[SFSteve]

Spent Saturday top row in the course side bleachers and Sunday in front of my big screen at home
My boat stayed parked for the weekend, and I still had one of the best weekends of sailing I have had in a long time

Can't wait until October

[K38BOB]

Actually, I can't fault Gary for being Gary. I CAN fault management for leaving him on the mike. He is much better droning on in a monotone on a historical voiceover piece than being able to comment live on a game he really doesn't get. I would love to see a canned piece put together with him explaining the old rules of match racing vs the actual sailors (JK & Spitty would be good) explaining how the game is now and what the key moves to keep an eye out for are.

Gary, the new reality is that the cost of tacking is too great to play the best current side of the course. The restricted course means that you HAVE to pick or create a clear air roadmap all the way through a leg, and only change that plan in reaction to getting parked on or some other significant tactical situation.

There were GEMS in the racing this week if you knew what to look for...

Actually Ben A schooling GJ might be a great approach/segment/interview. Ben actually described the learning curve he's climbing- which he is even if the results aren't so obvious.

[krispy kreme]

There were GEMS in the racing this week if you knew what to look for...

Bingo.

The final fleet race was fantastic and very tactical. With such a narrow runway in a very complex environment of wind and water movement, really the only way you can follow what the competitors are doing is with the aerial view. Since it is a narrow course, the aerial view can capture a complete view of the competitors most of the time.

I watched the NBC bcast Sunday, and it was frustrating not be able to piece together for instance what OR-S was doing to claw its way back up to the front. There'd be a brief aerial view that gave a few moments to try to piece together who was doing what and then a cut away to onboard cameras with GJ predictably saying: "and we're onboard now with Terry Hutchison, two time collegiate all american..." I reckon some 60-70% of the camera angles were a combination of on board and from the water shots. A better balance of selected angles would make the race much more comprehendable (sic).

Watch a NASCAR race. Most of the shots are from overhead. The cutaways to the 'on the nose' angle, or 'in the driver's seat' angle are brief, and they balance focusing on arrivals/departures/changeouts at pit stops, to close ups of passing action.

No matter who the announcers that ACEA-TV ultimately decide upon - both the on air and onshore teams - they need to sit down for a chalkboard session with some local experts to better understand the currents and breeze patterns. It's not uni-dimensional. The currents flow in ribbons and their impact and intensity move across the race course. The most intense part of the uphill push inshore in an ebb will be in front of the breakwater at 1:32 for instance, but will migrate to Ft. Mason by 1:42. It's a dynamic environment, not static. It's not a flat decision of 'current vs. wind' it's WHERE and WHEN either of those two MIGHT overcome one another.

A little education would go a long way to making these guys more palatable and informative.

[pogen]

I had to chuckle at every reference to "heading out to sea", meaning 0.2 nm further out into the bay in flat water....

[Martin X Moleski SJ]

It's easy to complain about details, but this was the best televised sailing coverage I have ever seen. By far. Let's see, two cameras and a mic on every boat; graphics for boundries and distance up the course; tags as to the identiy of all of the boats; color coding for penalties; "virtual eye"-type distance graphics, and real-time speeds. This is Very Good Stuff, and coupled with the really entertaining racing made for a winning package.

I noted that the racing started on time and ended on time.

Not something that spectators care much about, but it must be a huge relief to TV execs, who are, after all, the folks who get to decide what appears within viewing distance of my couch.

I believe that this is not a trivial accomplishment. Dynamically repositioning and resizing the marks mid-race is a pretty impressive feat--to me, at least.

[pjh]

I had to chuckle at every reference to "heading out to sea", meaning 0.2 nm further out into the bay in flat water....

Me too. That was kind of silly. As (in a different way) was Artemis losing the final fleet race by getting into an altercation with an anchor rode. That wouldn't happen "at sea".

[Dixie]

No matter who the announcers that ACEA-TV ultimately decide upon - both the on air and onshore teams - they need to sit down for a chalkboard session with some local experts to better understand the currents and breeze patterns. It's not uni-dimensional. The currents flow in ribbons and their impact and intensity move across the race course. The most intense part of the uphill push inshore in an ebb will be in front of the breakwater at 1:32 for instance, but will migrate to Ft. Mason by 1:42. It's a dynamic environment, not static. It's not a flat decision of 'current vs. wind' it's WHERE and WHEN either of those two MIGHT overcome one another.

A little education would go a long way to making these guys more palatable and informative.

I agree completely with this and had a similar convo about that over the weekend. My impression was that any sort of 'coaching' would not be well received. The specific question to me was: From whom? I can't imagine he wouldn't listen to Iain Murray, I'm just not sure IM has the time.

It's easy to complain about details, but this was the best televised sailing coverage I have ever seen. By far. Let's see, two cameras and a mic on every boat; graphics for boundries and distance up the course; tags as to the identiy of all of the boats; color coding for penalties; "virtual eye"-type distance graphics, and real-time speeds. This is Very Good Stuff, and coupled with the really entertaining racing made for a winning package.

I noted that the racing started on time and ended on time.

Not something that spectators care much about, but it must be a huge relief to TV execs, who are, after all, the folks who get to decide what appears within viewing distance of my couch.

I believe that this is not a trivial accomplishment. Dynamically repositioning and resizing the marks mid-race is a pretty impressive feat--to me, at least.

It is indeed very good and a HUGE and under respected element that they are able to figure how to time the races. Amazing course work anc calculations from the RC.

[Dixie]

I had to chuckle at every reference to "heading out to sea", meaning 0.2 nm further out into the bay in flat water....

Can't he say "further north," "out into the stronger current," "out to the middle of the bay" or "away from shore?"

I don't say I'm heading out to sea unless there's a bridge behind and an ocean ahead.

[MR.CLEAN]

No matter who the announcers that ACEA-TV ultimately decide upon - both the on air and onshore teams - they need to sit down for a chalkboard session with some local experts to better understand the currents and breeze patterns. It's not uni-dimensional. The currents flow in ribbons and their impact and intensity move across the race course. The most intense part of the uphill push inshore in an ebb will be in front of the breakwater at 1:32 for instance, but will migrate to Ft. Mason by 1:42. It's a dynamic environment, not static. It's not a flat decision of 'current vs. wind' it's WHERE and WHEN either of those two MIGHT overcome one another.

A little education would go a long way to making these guys more palatable and informative.

I agree completely with this and had a similar convo about that over the weekend. My impression was that any sort of 'coaching' would not be well received. The specific question to me was: From whom? I can't imagine he wouldn't listen to Iain Murray, I'm just not sure IM has the time.

It would be the ultimate irony if the main reason for the NBC deal (Jobson) ends up being the main reason the entire goal of getting a meaningful mainstream, over-the-air audience fails. But if it stays like it was on Sunday, that's exactly what will happen. I just watched the Sunday YT feed and compared to Jobson and Jones on the NBC show, the show announced by Booth and Rawlings was about 75% more interesting with exactly the same images. There's a reason that top sports broadcasters make a lot of money, and there's a reason so many of them were charismatic stars before they came to the microphone: Because that's what it takes.

My overall scorecard for the ACWS SF broadcasts:

Racing: B+
In-Person Experience Shoreside: A- (based on firsthand reports)
In-Person Experience Private Boats: B- (based on firsthand reports)
Crowd Attraction/Retention: B+ (based on early estimates and the above reports)
Web Experience (Thursday/Friday): D-
Web Experience (Saturday/Sunday): B+
TV Experience (Sunday): D+

It's not all Jobson's fault; the production and onboard tech teams still need to get their shit together, and the Director needs to be replaced with someone with a clue. But most of their problem can be fixed with an on-air personnel change, in my humble opinion. I'd still love to see John Casey and Genny Tulloch take over with a little bit of broadcast training - I think they would knock it out of the park.

[nav]

It's easy to complain about details, but this was the best televised sailing coverage I have ever seen. By far. Let's see, two cameras and a mic on every boat; graphics for boundries and distance up the course; tags as to the identiy of all of the boats; color coding for penalties; "virtual eye"-type distance graphics, and real-time speeds. This is Very Good Stuff, and coupled with the really entertaining racing made for a winning package.

I agree with your comments - even if you are way low about the amount of gear they mount.

Check this stuff out: http://noticeboard.a...ard-media-data/

http://noticeboard.americascup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/onboardmedia/AC45-LiveLine%20-TV-System.pdf

[kadyca]

If they want to appeal to the so called FB generation, then they'd be better off with Jenny Tulloch (sp?). Knowledgeable and easy on the eyes.

[nav]

If they want to appeal to the so called FB generation, then they'd be better off with Jenny Tulloch (sp?). Knowledgeable and easy on the eyes.

+1

(though I'm unqualified to speak for generation fb)

[Dixie]

No matter who the announcers that ACEA-TV ultimately decide upon - both the on air and onshore teams - they need to sit down for a chalkboard session with some local experts to better understand the currents and breeze patterns. It's not uni-dimensional. The currents flow in ribbons and their impact and intensity move across the race course. The most intense part of the uphill push inshore in an ebb will be in front of the breakwater at 1:32 for instance, but will migrate to Ft. Mason by 1:42. It's a dynamic environment, not static. It's not a flat decision of 'current vs. wind' it's WHERE and WHEN either of those two MIGHT overcome one another.

A little education would go a long way to making these guys more palatable and informative.

I agree completely with this and had a similar convo about that over the weekend. My impression was that any sort of 'coaching' would not be well received. The specific question to me was: From whom? I can't imagine he wouldn't listen to Iain Murray, I'm just not sure IM has the time.

It would be the ultimate irony if the main reason for the NBC deal (Jobson) ends up being the main reason the entire goal of getting a meaningful mainstream, over-the-air audience fails. But if it stays like it was on Sunday, that's exactly what will happen. I just watched the Sunday YT feed and compared to Jobson and Jones on the NBC show, the show announced by Booth and Rawlings was about 75% more interesting with exactly the same images. There's a reason that top sports broadcasters make a lot of money, and there's a reason so many of them were charismatic stars before they came to the microphone: Because that's what it takes.

My overall scorecard for the ACWS SF broadcasts:

Racing: B+
In-Person Experience Shoreside: A- (based on firsthand reports)
In-Person Experience Private Boats: B- (based on firsthand reports)
Crowd Attraction/Retention: B+ (based on early estimates and the above reports)
Web Experience (Thursday/Friday): D-
Web Experience (Saturday/Sunday): B+
TV Experience (Sunday): D+

It's not all Jobson's fault; the production and onboard tech teams still need to get their shit together, and the Director needs to be replaced with someone with a clue. But most of their problem can be fixed with an on-air personnel change, in my humble opinion. I'd still love to see John Casey and Genny Tulloch take over with a little bit of broadcast training - I think they would knock it out of the park.

I'd be curious about a day by day rating for the racing. I'm pretty sure there's not one person out there who wouldn't give Sunday's racing a stratospheric rating. All around the bay, and North America for that matter, all I heard was WOW. GJ or not, Sunday's racing packed a punch.

I hope the NBC ratings reflect that. AC planners got so very lucky as we had "it's never like this weather" Wednesday - Saturday. I was anxious with the early starting time that the wind wouldn't fill in, but the day dawned clear and fresh and by 11:30 it was Sailing Chamber of Commerce weather.

Also while your views on the D- for Thursday Friday are yours, I've also had a lot of anecdotal chats about how great it was to watch the racing live from those who couldn't be here. Live racing with easy viewing on YouTube, miked sailors, LiveLine positioning, cameras on the boat...you can pretty much only grade it against itself in terms of sailing coverage. I think it's worth further detailing your grades, as there are folks out there who are reading this carefully for thoughts on how to fix what you think is wrong.

[kitemare]

I think a D- Rating should be reserved for the terrible coverage we got for the olympics & what passes for coverage of the extreme 40 circuit.

But, what can you say..... haters gonna hate

[nobody you know]

How about Randy Smyth? He, in spite of Jobson, managed to make the AC commentary interesting and intelligible --even to the non-multi hull folk. Please put him on the air.

[~Stingray~]

Dixie nailed it in an earlier post, what's hard to put a finger on about GJ: He's just not as ~fun~ to hear as, say, JR's attitude. Otoh, I suppose GJ brings a sense of serious/authoritative that others might not.

Clean's thing completely misses the overwhelmingly great attributes the broadcast did have, without any suggestions for how it could possibly be better, short of suggesting just a commentator replacement. He can't claim to know better unless he criticizes, but why is the best sailing production ever the focus of criticism instead of well-deserved high-five slapping?

Quite frankly, I was completely blown away by the production - both feeds.

[~HHN92~]

I've said this before and still believe it:

Until they explain what has been happening and why what is going-on is going-on, you could have anybody up there and you will not grab the audience. They have no clue.

All the items everybody has mentioned, if they were all fixed by LE today, would not cure the basic problem:

Nobody out there knows anything that will compel them to pay attention and watch what is happening.


It just leaves everybody here complaining about Jobbo.......

[TimFordi550#87]

Tell ya who would be great is Bob Killick from the 18 footers site.

Buy y'all are a bunch of whiney babies, with the "booo-hooo I don't like GJ." ....ffs, suck it up.

[K38BOB]

If they want to appeal to the so called FB generation, then they'd be better off with Jenny Tulloch (sp?). Knowledgeable and easy on the eyes.

Hard to imagine any demographic that wouldn't like Jenny- smart, knowledgeable, articulate, charismatic, down to earth, thinks fast, accomplished, humble, confident and so on....

[SW Sailor]

If they want to appeal to the so called FB generation, then they'd be better off with Jenny Tulloch (sp?). Knowledgeable and easy on the eyes.

Hard to imagine any demographic that wouldn't like Jenny- smart, knowledgeable, articulate, charismatic, down to earth, thinks fast, accomplished, humble, confident and so on....

And easy on the eyes.

[Dixie]

Yes but how often do we see the commentators? I just had dinner with a non sailor who said he watched Sunday's racing and just turned down the volume because he didn't think they knew what they were talking about. But he loved the visuals. (kudos to ACTV).
I would be thrilled with a quality American voice alongside Mitch or JR. I do like Genny, but I'm perhaps biased by knowing her.

[Goose84]

Let me preface this by saying that I watched every minute of the racing this past week live and enjoyed the hell out of it. What they have done so far is incredible, and I'm glad we have something this good to discuss. That being said, I don't think the purpose of this board is to sit here and slap the AC on the ass and tell them how great a job they're doing. If that is the goal, then someone should start a new thread. I think the purpose is to review, discuss, and maybe point out some areas that could be improved on so possibly this event gets even better. If I had to pick two areas that needed some serious attention this past week (both production related, and I'm not included Jobson, as that has been covered pretty thoroughly) they would be:

1) situational awareness for the viewer; meaning they need to do a better job of keeping the overall race in focus not jumping into close ups when we have an major lead change or rounding taking place, and

2) replays; the production team didn't seem to be able to jump back to an exciting or significant moment while it was still relevant.

There are definitely some other areas to improve on, but those are two good places to start.

[the loose cannon]

How about John Madden with one of those cool pen overlays on a replay? Here comes russel from out of nowhere aiming for the gap at the committee boat and BAM!

To be honest, if ACAlphabet gave me access to the last two races of liveline coverage, I could do a voice over that would do justice. The hard part is having the people in the director's chair and on the mike who can see what is coming in time to get the cameras on it. It takes 2-3 people watching the high level feeds and focusing on a couple boats each to yell out what the developing story is and where to point the cameras. When it is good it is like jazz, when it is bad, you may as well go to the high shot and let the camera run.

The good part is that you can go back and produce some outstanding reviews from the content once the race is over - and that is what I haven'r really seen yet. Why not get Spitty and Kos to play back the race from their view and talk about the key points of what was going on. In a show like this, I would imagine that stuff should be mandatory after the awards and before the shower so it is fresh in your mind.

[MR.CLEAN]

Clean's thing completely misses the overwhelmingly great attributes the broadcast did have, without any suggestions for how it could possibly be better, short of suggesting just a commentator replacement. He can't claim to know better unless he criticizes, but why is the best sailing production ever the focus of criticism instead of well-deserved high-five slapping?

High-five slapping is for fanboys, and that's fine for you, but not for me.

We have now been watching this stuff for almost a year, and in most ways, it's gotten worse, thanks to reasons that I've written about exhaustively. You can read the vast majority of the 82 posts on this page for more detail on what is wrong with it, or you can read any of the two dozen reviews and front page stories I've written on the subject. In fact, I bet you could find them in five minutes with your magic google skills.

The reason I am focusing on Gary Jobson in this thread is BECAUSE IT IS A THREAD CALLED 'JOBSON HAS TO GO! EMERGENCY!' Duh.

[MR.CLEAN]

Also while your views on the D- for Thursday Friday are yours, I've also had a lot of anecdotal chats about how great it was to watch the racing live from those who couldn't be here. Live racing with easy viewing on YouTube, miked sailors, LiveLine positioning, cameras on the boat...you can pretty much only grade it against itself in terms of sailing coverage. I think it's worth further detailing your grades, as there are folks out there who are reading this carefully for thoughts on how to fix what you think is wrong.

The reason Thursday and Friday were crap was because the wind was crap. Both match races on both days were snorefests - very much like the old days, it was a start and then a foregone conclusion, and it ain't much better in cats than it was in IACC boats when that happens. The fleet races were pretty dull too in 12 knots of breeze - with Spittie (or "spittle" as Jobson seems intent on calling him) running away most of the time, or fighting back and passing shitloads of boats with the camera anywhere but on him. When conditions and competition aren't great, commentators have to make the show great, and there's just no way Jobson and Booth can do that. Mitch is very knowledgable but needs a real cheerleader to help bring the energy up, while the production team needs more tools when things are dull; replays, telestrators, a better handle on the back stories and rivalries, maybe even some human interest sound bites mixed in when the upwinds are uneventful. More high overheads, etc. etc. etc.

Rawlings was much better in that role of cheerleader on Saturday and Sunday, though someone with enthusiasm who knew what he was talking about would be even better. Even so, Rawlings has clearly been studying and it shows, and his voice is rich as hell. Also, he had it relatively easy - the racing was much, much more exciting, and conditions were lovely.

[MidPack]

"That jib looks too small" was awfully stupid among others, that's useless to sailors and non-sailors alike. I agree with the call for better commentators, though it's impossible to cater to avid sailors and "non sailors" at the same time. You never see commentators dumb down their comments to attact viewers with other sports except for maybe an introductory primer, but then they cater to knowledgeable watchers for running commentary/play by play (admittedly being mainstream sports have a large knowledgeable audience- Catch-22?).

And even if commentators focused their remarks on non-sailors, what's going to get them to watch in the first place? I don't know about the rest of you, but I know too many sailors who aren't watching this AC (4 of 6 of our active racing crew doesn't seem to be watching, while 2 of us watch it all).

I kind of like the suggestion for new, young blood - "I'd still love to see John Casey and Genny Tulloch take over with a little bit of broadcast training - I think they would knock it out of the park." Damn sure couldn't hurt. But sailing is still mostly a 'good old boys' network, and GJ is of that genre...

[~HHN92~]

I kind of like the suggestion for new, young blood - "I'd still love to see John Casey and Genny Tulloch take over with a little bit of broadcast training - I think they would knock it out of the park." Damn sure couldn't hurt. But sailing is still mostly a 'good old boys' network, and GJ is of that genre...

The best coverage overall to date was ESPN in '87. Jobbo was a part of that so with the corporate types that carries weight.

The programming then had almost everything that everybody says is so great today, but just not with the multiple cameras and latest technology we have now. They had replays, they had onboard shots, KIII had an articulating camera, they had microphones on S&S, they had the helo shots, they had the telestrator, they ran replays of major happenings and previous events, they had a play-by-play guy with Jobbo being the sailing commentator. And the biggest thing they did right was they brought you up to date on what the score was at that point and why that race on that day was important, right in the first few minutes of the broadcast. They reviewed the conditions, what sails the boats may fly that day, etc, etc. And all of them from then-on built upon that series. ESPN received Grammy awards for it back then.

These shows do not and that is why they will not grab the audience that is tuning-in to see what it is all about.

Jobbo irritates you guys, but the viewing public does not care about him to that point........................yet. If the broadcast gets better on the presentation, then Jobbo's performance might start to matter.


edit: with Jobbo not there on Saturday why weren't the viewer numbers way up on the You-Tube coverage?

[Rennmaus]

[sidenote]
It's good that you guys never have to listen to the German sailing commentator on Eurosport. You would have a field day, Jobson is gold compared to him. Really, I have never ever heard any common tree worse than the stuff from him: "Here comes Williams." "This is Richard." "Followed by Mirsky." Heaven help, I have eyes in my head! Exciting like watching paint dry while eating Valiums at 3 am.

He is the reason I do not watch sailing on Eurosport anymore, unbearable.
[/sidenote]

[SemiSalt]

There were lots of things I wanted to see again that were never shown in replay. The ability to do replay depends on the production crew. Someone has to find the start and end points, and he has to know sailing. He may have done baseball and football for years, but if he can't interpret "get that close cross on camera 2" without further explanation, he's going to miss it.

I agree there was too much watching the leader sailing alone.

Have you ever watched the Super Bowl and said the announcers really sucked. That's because they simplify the broadcast for the hoards of viewers who don't watch week-to-week and don't really know football. They may think that approach is warranted here, but really, who is sitting at their computer screen watching sailboats other than sailors. I've thought for a long time they should have a guy to ask the questions that he thinks the viewers are asking.

[SemiSalt]

The best coverage overall to date was ESPN in '87. Jobbo was a part of that so with the corporate types that carries weight.

They had time. The monos took longer to sail the course, and the courses were wider.

[~HHN92~]

The best coverage overall to date was ESPN in '87. Jobbo was a part of that so with the corporate types that carries weight.

They had time. The monos took longer to sail the course, and the courses were wider.

NASCAR plays almost all the qualifiers, using a dvr to cover when they have to go to commercial, and coming back to where they left-off. I agree that the speed of the action causes issues, just like a car doing 200 mph, or a 18 second lap at Bristol.

[us772]

Overall I enjoy the coverage. It seemed adding 11 boats made coverage a bit harder because there was so much action all over the place. Not crazy about Jobson either. Seems like a nice guy but not up to the task. I was a little frustrated when they showed the winner finishing knowing the commentators were amped out about boats behing out of screen duking it out. A split screen would be nice at all times. One showing just a top view of the race going on the other on board and water shots. Love the graphics. I wish they would cover(educate the public) more techinical stuff on the boat such as wing trim, flap angle and twist and who does what on the boat. I think it's more difficult to cover 11 multies going mach 2 on a short course than covering mono's tacking 5 times on a long drawn out beat to weather at less then half the speed.

[Dixie]

Oh gosh, I know what Clean is missing - an underwater camera at the mark rounding!

[~Stingray~]

Anyone know if the NBC show got numbers similar to Newport this time? Might suggest if people came back for more; or whatever else might be drawn from it, would be nice if we knew the numbers by region to see if the Bay was a big proportion this time.

ACEA may have bought the airtime but if they did then they may also have drawn revenue from the commercials. Lexus aired several good ones during Sunday's broadcast, I forget the others but think Schwab bought time too. LV was less prominent commercials-wise than in Newport.

[nav]

Anyone know if the NBC show got numbers similar to Newport this time? Might suggest if people came back for more; or whatever else might be drawn from it, would be nice if we knew the numbers by region to see if the Bay was a big proportion this time.

ACEA may have bought the airtime but if they did then they may also have drawn revenue from the commercials. Lexus aired several good ones during Sunday's broadcast, I forget the others but think Schwab bought time too. LV was less prominent commercials-wise than in Newport.

http://www.bizjourna...isco-races.html

http://www.bizjourna...ericas-cup.html

http://www.cupinfo.c...ction-12076.php

[natterjack]

Rawling and Mitch Booth have both been sacked as commentators for the AC, Jobson survives in tact. Clear proof the lunatics are in full control of the asylum now.

[Dixie]

Rawling and Mitch Booth have both been sacked as commentators for the AC, Jobson survives in tact. Clear proof the lunatics are in full control of the asylum now.

Why? Seriously, for what reason, unless either the ratings were worse than Newport, or they didn't get along with GJ, which seemed possible from the commentary. If this is true, it's a crying shame. This smacks of strong armed politics.

[onimod]

^^ Are you kidding me!?
Got a link yet?

[MR.CLEAN]

Oh gosh, I know what Clean is missing - an underwater camera at the mark rounding!

Absolutely right. Relatively low cost for the 'cool' factor that it creates. Can do a remote control one... the technology is certainly around. Also can do a tethered balloon over the upwind marks, a lot cheaper than helicopters which frees up resources for the helicopters to focus on the high overheads. I'm not saying anything new - they know all this, but either don't have the budget for any changes, or have enough Yes Men around them that no one cares.

[MR.CLEAN]

There were lots of things I wanted to see again that were never shown in replay. The ability to do replay depends on the production crew. Someone has to find the start and end points, and he has to know sailing. He may have done baseball and football for years, but if he can't interpret "get that close cross on camera 2" without further explanation, he's going to miss it.

I agree there was too much watching the leader sailing alone.

Have you ever watched the Super Bowl and said the announcers really sucked. That's because they simplify the broadcast for the hoards of viewers who don't watch week-to-week and don't really know football. They may think that approach is warranted here, but really, who is sitting at their computer screen watching sailboats other than sailors. I've thought for a long time they should have a guy to ask the questions that he thinks the viewers are asking.

If the AC cannot keep the SAILING FAN happy, they will never get anyone else to watch. The simplest damned concept in broadcasting. There are over a million sailors in the US alone. There are dozens of millions around the world. Almost all of them get Youtube. Produce something with enough quality to get them excited, and not only will you have some sweet numbers, but you will have millions of people doing your marketing for you.

[krispy kreme]

Rawling and Mitch Booth have both been sacked as commentators for the AC, Jobson survives in tact. Clear proof the lunatics are in full control of the asylum now.

you have absolutely got to be shitting me