Digital umpiring for the America’s Cup

Richard Slater is the Chief Umpire for all the racing at the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup and he is supported by a world-class and highly experienced team of umpires who are using some of the very latest digital technology to ensure that calls are both fair and consistent.

Working shoreside, Slater and his team have a huge variety of camera angles and digital overlays to make the calls, and in this report he explains the two invisible barriers that surrounds each yacht, and how the umpires react to conflict.

Platform Border
The Platform Border is closest to the boat and is used for starts, finishes, and for a boat’s position relative to different lines on the course. The Platform Border is a shape that goes from the stern camera frame to the transom corners, the furthest foil position, and the end of the bowsprit.

Keep Clear Border
The Keep Clear Border is used for Racing Rules and boat-on-boat interactions, and the intent is to get the boats further apart. With the foils projecting so far outside the hull, any contact between boats would probably be catastrophic. So, the same points are used to create the ‘Platform Border’ and extend the lateral boundary out by two meters.

When the boats are racing, if the ‘Keep Clear Border’ touches the other boats’ ‘Keep Clear Border,’ in the umpire world it’s like if the two boats actually touched in traditional match-racing. It is treated like that’s contact, so there’s definitely a rule being broken at that point and if there’s a protest initiated by a team, a ruling is made one way or another.

When are the Umpires ‘invited’ in to rule on an incident?
Normally an umpire gets invited to adjudicate the rules by a protesting boat, though there are some situations where umpires can act without a boat protesting. A common example of that is at the boundary where the opposition doesn’t know if a boat stepped outside of the boundary – only the umpires know as they have the telemetry and digital assets to assess.

So, there are situations where the umpire will have the right to step in and give a penalty, but as a rule of thumb when dealing with a boat-on-boat incident, the umpire waits for the boats to say there’s a problem and then request intervention.

Occasionally, boats are involved in incidents and due to their uncertainty, they are not sure which boat broke a rule, and although the umpires might be ready to give one of the boats a penalty, neither boat protests. This prevents umpire involvement. The sailors are to protest at the time of the incident, up to approximately five seconds, after which the incident is closed.

Accuracy of Decisions
With safety as the number one priority, the umpire team have all the expertise and the resources to make extremely accurate decisions. The team works analyzing racing situations in real-time throughout the course of each individual race, whilst also looking ahead to potential upcoming situations so that rulings can be made accurately and almost immediately is intense.

Their processes are continually reviewed and refined, with the intention of making the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup the fairest and most consistent on-water regatta in the event’s 173-year history.

Viewing details – Race information – Results – Weather forecast

2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series
August 29-September 8: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

Team New Zealand competes in the round robin stage only, and the results of their races are not included in the challenger leaderboard. Races start at 14:00 CET (08:00 ET) and run until 16:30 or 17:00, depending on the schedule.

Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period was from December 1, 2021 until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup could be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the reveal, finally confirming Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series
August 29-September 8: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-21: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For competition details, click here.

Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the 2024 Youth & Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Event details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE