Richard Slater, Chief Umpire for the America’s Cup, explains how the rules are enforced at high speed. Report by Jan Pehrson for Scuttlebutt Sailing News:
The steering wheels for the AC40s and AC75s look like Formula One steering wheels, with buttons to press when ‘haling’ protest. With boat speeds upwards of 50 knots, accurate and instantaneous decisions are critical not only for fairness, but for safety. This can only occur in the world of digital umpiring.
Sitting in buildings on the shore in front of their computer screens, remote umpires using digital umpiring tools make instant calls, with their decisions transmitted back to the boats. When the umpires themselves see on their screens an infraction of the rules, the umpires penalize the offending boat, whether there is a protest signaled or not from the boats on the water.
Originally, America’s Cup protests among competitors were settled after the races, in protest meetings, where sailors did their best to explain what had happened on the water. Iain Murray, America’s Cup Regatta Director, recounts how at the 1987 America’s Cup, protests could last all night, and they could still be going by the next morning.
But at today’s speeds, the boats are too fast to judge an incident, or even for umpires to keep up with the action. Curious about the digital tools the umpires are using, I asked Chief Umpire Richard Slater to explain what his team is using.
“We have two tools. We have the Umpire Tool, which I am providing some screenshots from, and then we have video, the VAR, or a video replay tool that we can use as well. Like a normal match race, we have two umpires sitting next to each other, each having access to a computer with these tools, and each umpire will then adopt a boat in a match race and call that boat.
“We follow the boats on a screen with two-centimeter and a thousandth of a degree accuracy, so where the computer says the boat is, it is. The GPS units measured on the back of the boat in the aerial frame are combined with a very high-powered and accurate electronic compass. So, we know where that point is, the GPS unit, and we have a very accurate compass, so can then basically build a boat around that point and compass heading.”
First, Slater and his team name the boats. They know the precise dimensions of each boat, and program this into the Umpire Tool’s software, creating their boat shapes in their perfect locations on the screens. Then they build everything else around the boat shapes.
“That gives us the baseline, and then the software tracks where they’re going at least 10 to 20 times a second, and we get a position report. So that’s giving us that ability to know exactly where they are at any time.”
Available to the Umpire Tool’s calculations, and displayed on their screens, is data collected from the boats – for example, boat speed, apparent wind angle, wind speed.
Slater gave an example below of a port/starboard situation between USA and Italy, a close downwind cross. USA protested, causing the button on the left side of the screen to go ORANGE and attract the umpire’s attention. The orange button is like an inbox, showing the umpires they have work to do.
USA is on starboard (green, top right). USA has a boat speed of 43 knots in 17 knots of wind, with an apparent wind angle of 160. ITA is on port (red).
Slater explains the ruling of the umpires, which was to disallow the protest:
“43 knots in 17 knots of wind is not calm on those boats. So, we have basically a line that sits out the front of each boat that says, ‘based on the course the boat is on and the speed the boat is traveling at, where will that boat be in three seconds?’ In the umpire world, we call those grey boats, the ghost boats. We have a close downwind cross here.
“We know because of their two apparent speeds that in this case, USA would not ever have been on a collision course with Italy. Italy was clear ahead of them. So, when USA protested, we gave them the answer of that there was no foul. It was a green flag or no penalty.”
Slater gave another example below, of Italy ducking USA in a race where they penalized Italy. But in this instance, there was no ORANGE button on the left side of the screen so there had not been a protest made from the boats, but the screen was flashing RED to signal the boats are too close.
USA is on starboard (green, top right). ITA is on port (red).
Slater explains the ruling of the umpires, which was to penalize Italy for rule 10, which is port boat not keeping clear:
“We build these two boundaries around the boats. First, a white line on the screen drawn around the boat shape, is the ‘inner border.’ This touches the transom aerial frame, then the furthest part when the foils can go, and then at the front going to the bowsprit.
“Then on all those points on the side of the boat, we go out two meters and build the second boundary, the ‘keep clear border.’
“That creates the buffer zone. When the two keep clear borders touch, as you see in the picture, the software does a little red flash to go ‘hey, they touched!’ At which point we treat it as too close. Even though they’re still four meters apart from their platform borders, we just have that as the rule. It’s a hard and fast rule. You touch your keep clear borders, you’re too close. We penalized Italy for rule 10, which is port boat not keeping clear.”
Jan Pehrson is a sailing photojournalist who spends summers in San Francisco, California and winters in St. Pete Beach, Florida. As a racing and cruising sailor and Coast Guard licensed skipper, Jan’s familiarity with sailing and the sailing community lends an in-depth element to her prolific array of photographs and articles. Contact her at www.janpehrson.com.
Viewing details – Race information – Results – Weather forecast
Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period was from December 1, 2021 until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup could be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the reveal, finally confirming Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.
Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)
2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain
2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series*
August 29-September 9: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)
*Team New Zealand competes in the round robin stage only, but the results of their races were not included in the challenger leaderboard.
2024 America’s Cup
October 12-27: 37th Match (Best of 13)
For competition details, click here.
Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the Youth America’s Cup and Women’s America’s Cup.
Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Event details: www.americascup.com/en/home
Source: https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2024/10/09/americas-cup-digital-umpiring-explained/
