On-Water Communications

Reliable on-water communication is critical in the 36^th America’s Cup. As Ben Ainslie puts succinctly, “if BRITANNIA’s comms link went down, we would not be able to race properly. That is how important it is”.

In the modern day AC75 boats, flying at speeds of over 50 knots with the crew split between two cockpits, the amount of wind noise means it is simply impossible to communicate onboard without radios. The person in charge of those radios and the on-water communication systems at INEOS TEAM UK is Electronics Technician Peter ‘Pete’ Cowell.

“The communications system is pretty complex”, explained Pete, “every day we are out on the water we have in excess of 50 radios spread across up to five chase boats and BRITANNIA.”

Onboard BRITANNIA the team has several communications loops. The most obvious one, the one everyone at home will hear on TV, is the communication between the afterguard; the Helmsman Ben Ainslie, Tactician Giles Scott, Mainsail Trimmer Bleddyn Mon and Flight Controllers Leigh McMillan and Luke Parkinson. Then, outside of racing, those on the chase boats and in the design office can listen in on how the sailors are communicating and input at any point. It is, as Pete describes, effectively “one big conference call”.

The system is designed specifically for the team’s on-water operations. To meet the team’s requirements, it is spread across Wi-Fi, 4G and VHF. It is a complicated system that requires a team of experts to ensure it runs smoothly. The cost of a breakdown is too great, if a message is missed and a decision is not made it could be race deciding.

“Several experts and engineers support me across the team”, Pete added. “That includes our IT team, headed by Peter Jones, as well as Graham Fletcher who is here in Auckland supporting us from Mercedes F1 Applied Science. On the IT side, for example, there is a lot of computer science with the mesh that links all the chase boats, the 4G route back to shore and how that is managed within the server room”.

“We are also fortunate to have the fantastic support of our supplier Riedel who are on-hand to help us with any issues. They bring a huge amount of experience as they serve all the Formula 1 races with the specialised radio and intercom systems used by race control. They took that system, adapted it for the sailing environment, and designed and manufactured bespoke headsets for us.”

Whilst the importance of onboard communication systems in racing is evident, the communication is also a key part of the development process of BRITANNIA. When out training on the water, those on the chase boats can listen in on the sailing team and input accordingly.  

The on-water test management team, led by Sailing Team Coach Rob Wilson, Will Bakewell and Andy Bryson, will be constantly communicating to the sailors from their chase boat, instructing them what their next test may be and feeding back on the data they are receiving. All that audio is logged and embedded with the onboard camera footage and sent directly back to shore via 4G. That means the design team back in the base, or working from home around the world, can log on to analyse the session live. The team in ‘Mission Control’ in the Auckland HQ can also communicate directly to BRITANNIA if required.

When back on shore after training, the sailing team will go into their debriefs. It is there where they too will listen closely to that same audio and analyse how and where they can improve their playbook. When sailing at closing speeds of up to 100MPH in 6.5 tonne boats, split second decisions need to be made. That requires as much clarity in communication as possible. Those making those calls about where to put the boat, Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott, will listen back to their onboard communication in their debriefs to continuously fine-tune their language. The more unnecessary words they can lose and the simpler they can keep their messages, the better.  

From preparing BRITANNIA for dock out, to testing on the water, to the racing itself, communication systems are fundamental to it all. Their most important role, however, is linked to safety. If something goes wrong when sailing the safety team, led by Ben Williams (Head of Human Performance) and Carl Fereday (Safety Swimmer), need to be able to establish instantly if anyone is in trouble or if everyone is safe.

To do that, each member of the 11-strong onboard sailing crew is assigned a number. Should something go wrong, the first thing that will happen is a run-down of everyone onboard on the radio systems, one to 11, ensuring quickly and efficiently whether everyone is accounted for and OK.

In short, should the communications systems fail, the sailing stops. That puts a significant amount of pressure on Pete and the team to ensure everything is working correctly. Whilst they have designed and built some redundancy and back-ups into the communications system, the best way to ensure everything goes well consistently is to test it, maintain it, check it and check it again, all whilst constantly refining it.

“Every single time we go out on the water the whole systems team is involved in rigorous checks”, Pete summarises. “We normally get into the boat shed about two hours before leaving the dock and run through a checklist, just like a pre-flight checklist, which has to be completed every time to make sure everything is running correctly before the boat rolls out of the shed. We then do the same when it returns to the dock, making sure everything is checked, shutdown, cleaned and charged so it is ready again for the next day. If we do then find anything that needs attention it can quickly turn into a late night of fixing something for the next day”.

It is a repetitive and arduous task, but one that is an indispensable piece of the giant puzzle that is sailing and developing an America’s Cup boat. Eat, sleep, test, repeat.