AMERICA’S CUP HISTORY 1983 - 2013
07 - 21 September, 2013 San Francisco, USA
Best of 17 / 2 Races per day
The America’s Cup 2013
Since the defender Oracle
Team USA had not
participated in any races until
then, it was hard to judge the
team.
Due to the estimated high
budget of approximately
U.S.$ 200 million the
syndicate was classified as
the superior opponent in his
technology and performance.
With ETNZ, which was partly
sponsored by the
government, one conjectured
a finacial frame of about 60
million U.S. $
For the AC 2007 the budgets with the top teams were estimated between 100-150 millionU.S.$
Due to the high development costs of an entirely new type of boat, and because Oracle Teamk USA co-financed a
large proportion of the excellent LiveLine * broadcasting and media support, the budgets are likely to be higher.
What began as a relatively harmless, ended in a shocking verdict of the International Jury for Oracle Team USA.
(See my comment in the AC 45 World Series).
For a rule violation 12 months ago, in another type of boat, by few crew members, without the knowledge of the
top management the team has been docked in addition to a fine of $ 250,000, with the exclusion of the wing
trimmer Dirk de Ridder and a minus 2 points penalty (therefore 11 wins necessary instead of 9).
The Dutchman, (sailing six years together with the skipper Jimmy Spithill, as in 2010 on the BOR 17 trimaran) was
the expert on the wing to control its sophisticated moving by winches and hydraulic pressure.
He is called the "gas pedal" of Spithill.
* Live Line is a technology developed
for the AC 34, which inserts graphic
elements in video broadcasts following
the race. Several GPS and computer
controlled helicopter record on gyro
stabilized cameras with ultra-fast
lenses, (able to focus within two
centimetres of the centre of their
moving subjects).
A sophisticated software embeds in
these recordings numerous data such
as current, wind, distance between the
boats, their speeds, mark rounding
zones around the buoys, etc
For example, an Automatic tracking
systems on each yacht will constantly
feed position datas to high-performance
PCs on shore.
Custom reality software converts in real time the position data in informative graphics on the
screen. These graphics look then as if they were painted on the water.
Specially developed data packages from this system support the umpires and the racing
management in their decisions
In addition, there are spectacular close-ups of on-board cameras or of accompanying boats
and of the crews communication with each other.
This technology was developed by a team of Stan Honey. He received for LiveLine his
second Emmy Award.
