Photo: Andrea Francolini
Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. The challenge Christian Beck's supermaxi, LawConnect, experienced in last year's Sydney to Hobart race was an undetected blown water valve that rendered their navigation laptop useless for the majority of the race.
The seed from that experience has now grown into a full-blown project involving a variety of computer whizzes and electricians to outfit LawConnect with the capability to live stream this year's race which begins on December 26.
Equipment for this Sydney to Hobart-first includes two new water and drop-proof laptops and five of off-the-shelf GoPro cameras; two of which are hard-wired while one connects wirelessly to a media console. Satellite-delivered high-speed internet capabilities will kick in when 5G is not possible, enabling start-to-finish and sun-to-storm coverage.
Not too many people get the opportunity to experience what it is like to sail aboard a supermaxi on the open ocean, so the guys formed an ad-hoc media team to bring all the action as it happens to the public.
The live stream will fill a huge gap in coverage that is normally limited to helicopter footage at the start and finish of the race.
In terms of fitting it all in the 100-foot supermaxi, the crew divided the navigation station into two separate areas; one for actual navigation and the other for the media guys.
With all the planning that went into the live stream, the guys still have not lost sight of the potential for Line Honours, and LawConnect's Boat Captain, Ty Oxley believes they have a fighting chance to do just that by stating, "I believe we are the fastest boat in the fleet upwind in 15 to 22 knots. So, although we are the heaviest boat, we are potentially the fastest boat on the breeze. We seem to be able to out point, and be quicker than the other boats."
Improvements to the boat over the years have transformed the supermaxi from a reaching boat into one that can sail with the best of them upwind, which is crucial in a race that large, on a 180-degree-plus, bearing over a 628 nautical mile (722 miles / 1,163 km) range.
Pneumatic hatches have been replaced with Lewmar ones, and all non-structural panels have been removed from the interior to reduce the weight of the boat by 350 kg (771 lbs), which means sails can now go below. This is huge as it lowers the CofG (center of gravity), improving the righting moment of the boat by having the heavy sails (as much as 900 kg / 1984 lbs.) 1.6 meters (5-plus feet) lower.
"We're here to win the race to Hobart. Typically it is a strong Nor'easter at the start on a beautiful sunny day, and then as you head south, it builds and you end up on the wind. What we've tried to do is to bring our boat more in line with being a windward-leeward boat, hence extending the prodder, so that we're able to sail deeper and faster. We knew we were already good upwind, so now hopefully we've improved our downwind performance, and it all brings us more in line with a windward-leeward boat."
Just maybe viewers will get to witness LawConnect's crew celebrating Line Honours in real time after a grueling transit along the southeast coast of Australia.
NOTE: 'Line Honours' is the term used for the boat that crosses the finish line first however, in a handicap racing format, that boat may not be the overall winner – but certainly the crowd favorite!
Equipment for this Sydney to Hobart-first includes two new water and drop-proof laptops and five of off-the-shelf GoPro cameras; two of which are hard-wired while one connects wirelessly to a media console. Satellite-delivered high-speed internet capabilities will kick in when 5G is not possible, enabling start-to-finish and sun-to-storm coverage.
Not too many people get the opportunity to experience what it is like to sail aboard a supermaxi on the open ocean, so the guys formed an ad-hoc media team to bring all the action as it happens to the public.
The live stream will fill a huge gap in coverage that is normally limited to helicopter footage at the start and finish of the race.
In terms of fitting it all in the 100-foot supermaxi, the crew divided the navigation station into two separate areas; one for actual navigation and the other for the media guys.
With all the planning that went into the live stream, the guys still have not lost sight of the potential for Line Honours, and LawConnect's Boat Captain, Ty Oxley believes they have a fighting chance to do just that by stating, "I believe we are the fastest boat in the fleet upwind in 15 to 22 knots. So, although we are the heaviest boat, we are potentially the fastest boat on the breeze. We seem to be able to out point, and be quicker than the other boats."
Improvements to the boat over the years have transformed the supermaxi from a reaching boat into one that can sail with the best of them upwind, which is crucial in a race that large, on a 180-degree-plus, bearing over a 628 nautical mile (722 miles / 1,163 km) range.
Pneumatic hatches have been replaced with Lewmar ones, and all non-structural panels have been removed from the interior to reduce the weight of the boat by 350 kg (771 lbs), which means sails can now go below. This is huge as it lowers the CofG (center of gravity), improving the righting moment of the boat by having the heavy sails (as much as 900 kg / 1984 lbs.) 1.6 meters (5-plus feet) lower.
"We're here to win the race to Hobart. Typically it is a strong Nor'easter at the start on a beautiful sunny day, and then as you head south, it builds and you end up on the wind. What we've tried to do is to bring our boat more in line with being a windward-leeward boat, hence extending the prodder, so that we're able to sail deeper and faster. We knew we were already good upwind, so now hopefully we've improved our downwind performance, and it all brings us more in line with a windward-leeward boat."
Just maybe viewers will get to witness LawConnect's crew celebrating Line Honours in real time after a grueling transit along the southeast coast of Australia.
NOTE: 'Line Honours' is the term used for the boat that crosses the finish line first however, in a handicap racing format, that boat may not be the overall winner – but certainly the crowd favorite!
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