By Greg Pearson
The new high tech catamarans might be the new face of the America's Cup, but it's not just the boats that have been transformed.
“We've written out own set of rules, and they are intended to allow to do what we want to do which is bring this to a wider audience,” says principal race officer John Craig.
The race management team have spent the last two weeks trialling those new set of rules, and the way the races will be viewed - thanks to more cameras and more data coming off the boats.
That data can track the boats to within two centimetres of their position on the water, and will be matched with live pictures to help the viewer follow the action, care of the man who put the magic yellow line onto American football fields.
“I think it's new for the whole sport of sailing and the original objective was for enhancing the TV coverage, to enable them to explain what's going on better, but we're also using that data for umpiring and race management,” says director of technology Stan Honey.
Instead of watching from the water, the umpires will now watch the screens as well, making use of the data from dry land.
“It's pretty amazing technology, and at the end of the day I really do think it's going to revolutionise the way the sport is umpired,” says Craig.
And while the technology has adapted for the TV audience, so too will the racing itself.
“Our goal is that we'll be able to package this to a certain time, and whatever that package becomes we'll fit the racing, whatever the race is,” he says.
The viewers will be able to see all the new look of the America’s Cup in action with the first World Series regatta in Portugal in August.
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