The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2008 is being used as a test bed event for a new way to follow the racing live on the internet. Sportcasting 2.0 introduced by TracTrac and ActiveInstitute is piloting the system at the championships which allows viewers to watch in real time all seven fleets race around the track. It is the first time the TracTrac system has been used on so many boats at one time, over three courses.

Jakob Oedum, from TracTrac is very pleased with the results so far. “The tracking is working very well here with the help of all the volunteers and my team. We have never tried to do this with such a large number of competitors over such a large area, so it has taught us a lot about the system. We are proud to be associated with an event like this, which brings together so many nations and great sailors and lets them compete at such a high standard.”

There are GPS units on every competitor’s boat which link to the site where visitors can comment on an online chat as the races progress. The races can then be replayed, allowing friends and family to keep up to date with the action from anywhere in the world. It is also a useful tool for the sailors and coaches, as they can analysis their performances at the end of the each day, ready for the next on the water.

You can see the live races on:
http://sportcasting.org/home/
Ensure you follow instructions on how to view the sailing on the website.
The tracking has been kindly sponsored by Codan.

The first day’s video podcast is now available to download via iTunes, featuring the defending champions from last year’s event in the Laser and Laser Radial class. Cypriot sailor, Pavlos Kontides, tells us about his next challenge, the Olympic Games in China and Gabrielle King (AUS) gives us her favourites for the week ahead.

To watch the video podcast follow the below instructions:

In iTunes go to the Advanced > Subscribe to podcast
Enter in the following url:
www.appftp.com/podcasts/volvoisafyouthworlds2008.xml

To download iTunes for free click the following link:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

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