check out Sailing Anarchy's OTW coverage of the Melges 24 going in Annapolis.

This is the way to do it right!

SA on the water coverage

The only bad thing is, it's SA (and you have to be careful about opening that at work because of all the garbage that people post)...

It looks a lot like what the HCA does for NAs and Worlds. More video than we typically get, but we do post live updates, including mark roundings, finishes, etc. as well as photos from the water.

Mike

brucat: do what I do and disable the avatars and the images in the user control panel.

As for otw coverage. A laptop with aircard and a digital video camcorder would be nice wouldn't it?

That would help with the images, but holy F-bombs, Batman...

Anyway, I just thought it was funny how full of himself this guy was, calling out other sites as being inadequate, etc. It's great that he has the time to do this.

One of the major problems with OAs is lack of staff/volunteers, and adding a media person is just one more task (albiet, very, very important).

I am taking absolutely no credit for this, but the HCA (and IHCA) has been doing live updates for many, many years. Mostly started with the Worlds events, and the Mexico event was probably one of the better ones (although the practice goes back before that event).

Wireless on-the-water is extremely helpful, but this has also been done effectively with plug-in systems and a person ashore via cell phone and /or VHF from someone on the water. We also did it once or twice with a wireless system in an RV (when the volunteers were not willing to take the laptop onto the water).

Point is, yes, this is critical, and the sites tend to get tons of hits when this is done well, so people are definitely watching, which makes the efforts totally worthwhile.

Mike

I agree wholeheartedly that it takes a dedicated media person to pull this type of thing off successfully. Often when RC's are trying to pluck enough people to run chase/mark boats, its difficult to find someone whose only job it is to "play on the computer".

I found this out firsthand during this years T500. I tried to play Team Manager AND media man at the same time. I'd like to think that I performed my duties adequately as the team manager, but I indeed dropped the ball when it came to media --most of it due to the fact that I couldn't tether my treo at the most inopportune time (like trying to get a googlemap to where Trey and Alan had beached when their rudder fell off)

I can tell you that Clean is being funded by several sponsors to make this happen. He is totally independent from the regatta organizers. It would be really hard to provide the same coverage for the Tybee. Lots of down time between the start and finish each day. Maybe we could get a helicopter to follow us up the coast ...

Us, you doin' it this year???

Should I bring my helicopter this year?

Filming an event is easy, getting quality images that are suitable for broadcast through news outlets and other television markets is what event sponsors expect to see, this is more difficult and should be done by a hired professional.
Making rubbish images is a pointless waste of time & money, also it will scare away potential event sponsors for the future.

Of course I am plugging myself it that instance, shamelessly.

Jeff www.sailing-tv.tv

Plug plug