Competitive racing yachts are looking more and more like floating advertisements and showrooms as communications technology and the practice of business sponsorship advances.
The 12 entrants in the British Telecommunications PLC (BT) Global Challenge -- a round-the-world yacht race against prevailing winds and currents -- each carry at the stern a prominent silver sphere enclosing an array of satellite and GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to provide voice, text and Internet communication with the land. The skin of the sphere is, of course, emblazoned with the names of the sponsors and technology vendors.
The combination of GPS and BT's C-Sat Service enables the yacht's position to be tracked and transmitted from ship to shore. This information can be relayed on demand, but is also sent at preprogrammed times of day. This low-speed link -- 300 bps (bits per second) "actual delivered speed", says BT -- also allows basic two-way text messaging and the transmission of small data files -- typically between the boat and race headquarters.
The wider-band B-Sat service provides 64K bps, allowing voice calls and transmission of bulkier data over the Internet. This is expected to include communications with media -- for whom a special Web site has been set up -- and to members of the public, particularly schools wishing to follow the race and communicate with the sailors by e-mail and through the Web site. Personal phone time for crews on each boat is restricted to 30 minutes a day and e-mail volumes are likely to be similarly restricted.
Video will naturally be taken, and each yacht includes a video-editing suite. The technology in that department resembles what a land-based TV studio might have had as little as two years ago, says a spokesperson for local BT subsidiary Clear.
The race began at Southampton, England last week and is expected to last a year. The yachts will arrive in Wellington, New Zealand in mid-January.