Next weekend, 16 and 17 August, the big SailGP sailing show will take place off Sassnitz. Thousands of fans will fill the pier and the grandstands (click here for the complete programme). Even more fans will follow the action on screen. Thanks to the sophisticated transmission technology, sailing will become a thriller. But a lot of work and expertise goes into it. Annika Möslein, 28, is Head of Technology at Oxford. In addition to her doctorate in engineering, she was responsible for the internal 3D graphics solutions for the live broadcast of SailGP in London. She is a regatta sailor herself and was the first German to take part in the Ocean Race Europe 2021. She also campaigns for marine conservation on cruises in the Arctic. She reports on a "completely normal" day behind the scenes of the SailGP:
What the viewers see
Three seconds to go until the start. Live commentator Stevie Morrison, who has been explaining the teams' struggle for the best position for some time now, now really turns up the heat: "What's New Zealand's timing? The line is turning white, go-time! We're in the race! What a start by the Spaniards, so close and yet perfectly done! The Germans on the inside, the Canadians with great speed, right on the foils, they find the gap and pass Spain!" While Morrison barely catches his breath while talking, the sailors' adrenalin is pumping through their veins. Their F50 catamarans accelerate to 40 knots and set course for the first mark.
What the viewers don't see
Thousands of kilometres away, equipped with headsets and sitting spellbound in front of a wall of screens, our pulses are also racing. After a quick look at the racing action, I give instructions into the microphone: "Heli for LiveLine - stay on the outside, slightly higher angle for the skyline in the background. Now accelerate, we have water reflection. And 15 metres higher for the sponsor logo at the first barrel!"
Now a datastream check: Is the wind data in the vectors correct? Is the compass rose clearly visible? The logo on the virtual track boundary is quickly changed after ten seconds of transmission time. Then show the speed of the boats under their flags. "Heli for LiveLine - Attention, exciting cross between Great Britain and Spain!"
We are in the broadcast studio in London, from where the live images from the SailGP are transmitted in real time to 212 regions around the world. The referees and commentators are also based here and not on location in New Zealand, Saint-Tropez, New York, Dubai, Sassnitz or wherever else the SailGP is being held. At their side are software teams, producers and directors. Despite the sometimes enormous distances to the respective venues, we are here, behind the scenes, in the centre of the action. Depending on the time difference, often deep into the night. Almost 300,000 pieces of data per second reach us from the regatta course. This data is processed in real time to enable tracking, analysis and visualisation.
300,000 data per second
In front of my colleagues and me, the screens are lined up next to and on top of each other. On them are the tracking data from the F50s and helicopters, sensor data from athletes, boats and buoys, camera settings and live images, calibration data and, at the centre, the control unit for LiveLine. This in-house solution projects 3D graphics directly onto the regatta field.
Course boundaries, changing sponsor logos, start, mooring and ladder lines as well as animated wind fields are displayed on the blue-grey water. In the middle of it all are the "real" F50 cats, labelled with virtual country flags and specific boat data above the mast stops.
The centrepiece: LiveLineFX
LiveLine gives spectators watching the races on TV or computer, on a tablet or smartphone or on site on a large screen a comprehensive overview of the action on the water. Without all the graphical guides and data on the screen, it would hardly be possible to estimate the positions, distances and speeds of the boats or their courses to the wind. The graphics now make it clear at all times who is currently in the lead or who has the best chance of capitalising on an approaching wind shift.
The centrepiece of the technology is the precisely coordinated mathematical calibration of all incoming data. Because if all objects are moving, there are no fixed reference points. The sailors move on their boats. At their peak, the boats race across the course at over 50 knots. Many of the buoys, which are equipped with measuring and communication devices, are not anchored either, but are moved to their positions by remote control. And the arena itself moves up and down to the rhythm of the waves. The live images, in turn, are provided by swaying camera boats and helicopters circling above the action. In short, everything moves in all dimensions.
Even the slightest calibration deviation or time delay can lead to serious errors. The neat arrangement of the lines, arrows and vectors projected onto the water would become completely disorganised and the viewers in front of the screens would become dizzy.
Days of preparation
The SailGP Technology Team therefore spends days before each event installing, calibrating and testing countless sensors that record and analyse every movement. I still remember the first races, for example in Cowes in 2019. Back then, we travelled to the venues with our transmission equipment, not only setting up sensors and networks, but also rebuilding our entire IT infrastructure each time. Between cable connections, sensor installation, calibration and servers that sometimes melted from the heat, we worked tirelessly on visualisation and data analysis, sometimes with hours of troubleshooting.
A lot has changed since then: the LiveLine team has its permanent base in London and has become a pioneer in remote live productions. In an unassuming office building in the West London borough of Ealing, a good 100 people ensure that sailing fans all over the world can follow the SailGP races. Football and cricket broadcasts are also produced in the modern studios. Or interviews with the British Prime Minister.
Fibre optics and 5G
A fast and robust internet connection is essential to get all the data from the respective venue to the British metropolis. In some places, fibre optic cables were laid just before the race. "As data, positions and communication in real time are also crucial on the water, a 5G network is set up outside on the regatta field," explains Tom Peel, Director of LiveLine. In this way, interviews between commentators and athletes are shown in real time without delay. Or 1.15 billion data requests are transferred per hour.
The technology has now been established. A 15-strong team is now busy continuously expanding it with new features. Meanwhile, every live broadcast is highly professional - it feels like being in the NASA control centre. During the race, I talk to the helicopter pilots and camera teams via headset to get the best angle for the graphics. My colleague Tom communicates simultaneously with the software teams in London and the hardware teams on site to calibrate sensors and with the race organisers to discuss course changes.
Real-time control
But the most exciting thing is still the real-time control of the visual elements: every single graphic component needs to be precisely controlled. Because: I share my screen directly in the livestream. Any mistake would be immediately visible worldwide!
As I enter codes into the system, I follow the instructions of our Executive Producer Chris Carpenter via my headset: "Off Live-Line - to Chaseboat 1 - back to Live-Line in 5!" That means five seconds to change logos or adjust elements. For me as a sailor, the live data analysis is particularly exciting. By observing the data of the boats and buoys, we can help shape the story by showing or hiding elements such as distance lines or giving instructions to the commentators: "Commentator for LiveLine - wind shift 10 degrees, on the left side of the course, Spain has the advantage!"
The role played by the visualisation software becomes particularly apparent when it cannot be shown. Or is not allowed to. The viewers at the screens then only see colourful boats on a large blue expanse of water. In extreme cases, the view from the air is also lost. For example, when the airspace in New York is closed because the US presidential helicopter is flying in. Or when whales block the race course in San Francisco Bay until the helicopters run out of fuel and have to return to land.
What's still to come?
New visualisation techniques should also overcome such challenges in future. "We now operate with 3D graphics from three different cameras," says Tom Peel. "In total, we produce more than 20 graphic outputs and services, with different languages and sponsor options." In 2025, the so-called tabletop VR solution finally followed - the playing field was literally put on the table.
The importance of 3D graphics for other sports broadcasts has recently been recognised; the SailGP technology has not only won prizes such as the Emmy Award, but is also used for events such as the Olympic Games or adapted from other sports such as horse racing. Where there are no pitch boundaries or stadiums, an experiential pitch can be created.
In the studio, Ellen Morley, one of today's LiveLine operators, prepares for the finish: "Heli for LiveLine - round the USA and Spain, then finish New Zealand in 5." She quickly checks that the chequered flag is visible, then the final seconds of the race begin to tick away. Shortly afterwards, Chris says over the headset: "Live line off!" The live feed switches to the camera on board the cheering team. We take a deep breath. We have a few minutes left until the next start.
At the end of the day, we are delighted with a successful show. Because in addition to the sporting challenge for the athletes, the SailGP is also a great show for the spectators, which both sailors and non-sailors can understand and follow with enthusiasm.
LiveLineFX - also the foundation for auto-routing
As with many good ideas, the brilliant thought came during a night watch: it's 1983 in the Transpacific Race, somewhere between Los Angeles and Honolulu. On the "Charly", its owner Nolan Bushnell and his navigator Stan Honey are on deck in the early hours of the morning, determining the position with a sextant and the art of docking.
Stan, an engineer in Silicon Valley, brings the very first computer-based marine navigation system on board, which he developed with his colleague Ken Milnes: the boat's sensor data is used to calculate the course. It works well enough to help "Charly" to victory. But the constant ups and downs of the waves make it difficult to determine the position. It would be much easier on land!
And so the two begin to think about navigation systems for cars. Soon after, Etak is created, named after the Polynesian term for a moving reference point in navigation on the high seas. The technology was way ahead of its time. It was not until the 1990s that GPS-based systems came onto the market. The inventors of Etak also first had to digitise maps themselves for their system. Etak later became part of TomTom, and the algorithms are still part of the app that many people have in their cars or on their mobile phones today. Stan and Ken continue to bring together navigation, sensor technology and visualisation, creating a virtual "halo" around the puck in ice hockey. This is the starting signal for sports tracking on television.
Stan finally combines his passion for sailing and navigation technology and becomes Director of Technology for the America's Cup. He develops a system that tracks boats with a moving camera with an accuracy of two centimetres, five times per second. Live videos are now overlaid with graphics in real time - Live-Line is born. Since then, the technology has been further developed for SailGP.
