Scientists Give Aussie Sailors Tactical Advantage

This item was posted on CSIRO's blog on the 16 August.

CSIRO’s detailed wind forecasts have helped the Australian Olympic Sailing Team win gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

Scientists from CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Sport worked together to apply CSIRO’s expertise in fine-resolution atmospheric simulation to provide very detailed wind forecasts for the Australian Olympic Sailing Team.

Success in competitive sailing is a combination of tactics, skill, practice, best boat technology and accurate wind forecasts. The Australian Olympic sailing team possess all of these traits, but scientists at CSIRO gave them a significant tactical advantage through their application of the Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) to provide high-resolution, near time forecasts of conditions expected on the sailing course.

Dr Jack Katzfey, from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, says CCAM was originally developed to generate regional climate simulations using high-resolution space and time technology.  It can be adapted to accurately provide detailed wind forecasts anywhere in the world.

“The weather simulator is based on a projection of the world onto a cube, which through its unique formulation can be ‘stretched’ in order to provide high spatial resolution over any portion of the globe,” he says.

The Australian Olympic Sailing Team’s meteorologist, Dr Bruce Buckley, interprets these forecasts, along with other sources of meteorological information, and presents them to the sailing team and their coaches prior to a race in order to give them the best possible chance of success.

Three dimensional plot of surface topography at 220 m resolution with an example of the forecasted wind streamlines (white lines) and speeds (colour, blue lighter winds, yellow/reds stronger winds) over water. Figure demonstrates the detail in the 220 m grid and forecasts. Circle indicates a race area.

The technology had been used in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and leading wind forecast website ‘PredictWind’, as well as contributing to the success of the Swiss sailing team, Alinghi, at the America’s Cup in 2003 and 2007, as well as helping Australia win gold in London.

“Most forecasting systems enforce artificial boundaries that can make their wind forecasts less accurate,” says Dr Katzfey.

“Our forecasting model uses innovative technology that gives us the advantage of creating a ‘stretched grid’ that provides a highly detailed wind forecasts at spatial scales of 220 meters. Being able to use this technology gave Australian sailors a unique advantage in the London 2012 Olympics.”

The SCIRO also crashes dummy cows, our strategy for gold in 2016.

For the real story on the crash cow click here

CSIRO Blog

Olympic Sailors Come Home

The home of the  Australian Olympic team is the MHYC, my local yacht club at the Spit in Middle Harbour. We sail on Wednesdays, the day the team returned home. The media was also there.

Four Months, Thirty Sails And Two Misadventures

Laser 176894 and I have been sailing now for  four months and good progress has been made. Thirty practice sails have done. I have joined the local laser club and met some of the winter sailing  members. Everyone has been very friendly and helpful for this newbie laser sailor.

My old road bike and the wife’s stationary bike are now in regularly use and I have increased my weekly swim to 3km. I have lost a few kilos, but still have lots to lose to get to an ideal weight.

I sail a lot by myself and some misadventures are inevitable.  I have had two in four months.  I was caught in a storm in April, my fault for not checking the weather forecast properly, lesson learnt.

Last week the top section of my mast broke and I had to walk the boat along a long difficult and rocky shore line and then hand paddle across Middle Harbour at the Spit. My boat is10 years old so the original spars were going to break sometime, it is good that it has happened now and not during a race.  In the process of converting from radial to full rig and replacing the top section, I now have a set of new full rig spars, which should reduce the risk. When the new and more reliable carbon fibre top section is approved I will buy one just to have peace of mind on lone sails. For now I will take a paddle with me every time I sail alone.  

Sydney Harbour is a long and complex waterway and I can go a long way from home when chasing the waves down wind. One day I am going to get caught on the wrong side of the harbour too far from home, so I might also put a cab fare in my life jacket pocket.

The  weather here is starting to improve, the days are getting longer and warmer. I can't complain, by picking the good days, I have sailed a couple of times a week over autumn and winter, just in a wetsuit, boots, sailing shirt, and life jacket and yet to get cold.

A difficult walk along the shore from Castle Rock to Clontarf

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice and the shortest day have just passed and Sydney is entering the coldest part of the year. We complain a lot here about the cold, even though we get no frost or snow. It is because our houses are not built for temperatures below 20c , they are built for the sub tropics with lots of glazing and with poor insulation. The winds are now mostly westerly and unstable. Some of of our days are cold, raining and dark but we still get a fair share of wonderful mild, sunny, sailing days. The good news, we get a mini spring in early August which brings out native flowers on the headlands and sailors on the harbour.

Here is time lapse video of Sydney Harbour on Saturday 23 June a few days after the winter solstice.

Roll Tacks - eight steps plus the tiller exchange

I was recently  searching around on YouTube for tips on roll tacks. I am also interested in  the tiller exchange which is a move that I need to refresh since I last raced a dinghy in the 1970's. This video by Ian Eliot and friends does a great job of breaking down of light air roll tacks into eight steps and right at the end gives us with one extra step - the tiller exchange  They use video from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club Race Team.   The Salientian channel also has other videos including one on light wind jibing, using the tiller extension to get hold of the main sheet.

Transit of Venus and the Unknown Southern Land

On June 6 we  will have the opportunity to witness the transit of Venus when the planet passes between the Earth and the Sun.  There have been only six Transits of Venus since first predicted by the German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler in the 17th Century.

This is a bit of history for those us who sail Sydney Harbour. James Cook, crew and scientists were the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia, They made landfall at Botany Bay just south of Sydney Harbour in April 1770. Eighteen years later the British established a penal colony at Sydney Cove.

Cook sailed to the south Pacific ocean on HMS Endeavour,  to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus across the Sun and to seek evidence of the postulated Terra Australis Incognita the "unknown southern land".

Route of the first voyage of James Cook 1768 to 1771

Staring at the brilliant disk of the Sun with the unprotected eye can quickly cause serious and often permanent eye damage.The safest way to observe a transit is to project the image of the Sun through a telescope, binoculars, or pinhole.

50 km Around Sydney Harbour

Over breakfast this morning I read in the local paper (SMH) about Murray Cox who has been swimming a 50 km circuit around Sydney Harbour, taking photographs with his waterproof camera and writing a little bit about the history of coves, bays and beaches along the way.  The last leg  was today from North Head to Sound Head.

My Saturday bike ride takes me on a circuit to the forts at Middle Head, Georges Heights lookout and  Bradley's Head which all have great views of the harbour.  I usually spend more time looking at the view and studying the wind patterns than riding.

Murray Cox

First stop today on the bike, the forts at the end of Middle Head.  The views are extraordinary and way in the distance with the sun rising behind them were three support boats, some kayaks and  half a dozen  swimmers heading for South Head, the light shining through their splashes. And just to make it spooky, coming up the harbour a huge oil tanker. But they had it worked out  and were safely near South Head when the tanker steamed out to sea. The rule on Sydney Harbour is you must stay 500 metres from the bow of tankers, not easy for vessels/swimmers doing 1.5 knots.

You can read about Murray Cox's adventures on his blog.
http://www.swimsydney.com/swimsydney/Harbour_Blog/Harbour_Blog.html

My own modest quest proceeds well. I am sticking to the exercise plan most weeks, sailed three times this week to make up for last week single effort. It is harder to find the ideal practice winds with our winter patterns being either 5 knots or 20 knots West to South winds, with not many ideal days in between.  Made contact with the local Laser club to get my membership process started. Still looking for a second hand full rig sail.