Online spectators of this year’s Sail for Gold Regatta, the third stage of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, will be able to follow the action like never before.

The Olympic and Paralympic classes regatta is teaming up with SailRacer and Danish company SportsXstream to provide an enhanced online experience when the event is held from 9-13 June.
 
Combining their respective experiences in online media and live streaming for sailing events, SailRacer and SportsXstream will be delivering live video from the racecourses and GPS tracking solutions across the Sail for Gold fleets as they race on the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic waters of Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour.

With multiple cameras positioned on the courses, including on the Committee Boat and on ribs following the fleets, for sailors, coaches and fans alike will be able to control which camera views to watch via the SailRacer-driven Sail for Gold Regatta website at www.sailforgold.co.uk
 
Meanwhile, all boats will be fitted with GPS trackers which will allow spectators to follow the racing in 2D through the event website, via mobile devices or on big screens within the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), the south Dorset regatta venue.

The GPS mark rounding data will drive SailRacer’s predictive scoring system, and show in real time how place changes during racing could affect the overall standings.
 
The data will also show top speeds, VMG, bearings and times across each leg, with competing sailors and their coaches also having the ability to replay races, and be provided with a log in to download their own personal data for further race analysis.

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA), as co-organiser of the Sail for Gold Regatta along with WPNSA, has signed a five-year deal with SailRacer and SportsXstream to provide these sports presentation services at the Sail for Gold Regatta.
 
Sail for Gold Event Director Tim Hall said: ‘We have learnt that our online audience is very important and this partnership will offer comprehensive tracking and video for spectators both on site and online all over the world.

‘It certainly brings another dimension to our sport and as well as interest in results, will provide data analysis for sailors and their coaches.’

Owner of SportsXstream David Fleischer adds: ‘A 25-year-old dream of making sailing audience friendly is starting to materialise.
 
‘We just started the journey but we can already bring more content to sailing than ever before and thus we have an almost endless roadmap of interesting features designed for entertainment on Smart TV and internet based devices.’

SailRacer owner Simon Lovesey said: ‘Over the next five years we are aiming at an Olympic level of content and interactive entertainment.’
 
SailRacer compiles and registers sailing events, sailing results and sailing profiles in its database, delivering event management solutions and live reporting on websites. Visit www.sailracer.co.uk
 
SportsXstream is a company specialised in live streaming and tracking of sports events with an international audience and creation of interactive access to video and data and in exploiting such video and data commercially potentially through sponsors. Visit www.sportsxstream.com

(Picture: An example of SailRacer’s event dashboard, incorporating GPS tracking feed and live streaming of the racing)