SailGP launches second season with Oracle Cloud Technologies that elevate race performance

SailGP launches second season with Oracle Cloud Technologies © SailGP

Oracle and SailGP, sailing's premier racing league, have expanded their successful data analytics platform leading into the second season. SailGP taps Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to deliver real-time data to each of the league's eight national teams as well as to broadcast partners and fans worldwide. New features added this season will improve team performance and give fans a thrilling crews-eye view of the action.

"Our cutting-edge, global league continues to push the boundaries of what is possible, both on and off the water," said Russell Coutts, SailGP CEO. "For Season 2, we're working on a number of new cloud-based innovations with Oracle to truly enhance the viewer experience and create efficiencies in the way we operate across all aspects of our business. The results are remarkable, especially on race days which are the ultimate showcase of data, technology and invention."

SailGP will turn to Oracle Stream Analytics this season to provide real-time race metrics. Using sophisticated correlation patterns, data enrichment and machine learning, Oracle Stream Analytics makes autonomous decisions based on the 30,000 data points an F50 catamaran sends every second of a race. Oracle Stream Analytics blends and transforms disparate data into one stream, down from the 10 streams SailGP shared in its first season. This allows teams to easily customize their data dashboards with relevant tactical information, including open-source data from rival teams, and determine optimal in-race strategies in an instant.

The streamed data is also used to create unique second-screen experiences. Fans will gain a deeper understanding of the teams' actions during a race through instantaneous updates of key performance metrics and the enhanced data dashboards on the SailGP app and on sailgp.com.

OCI will deliver the expected 80 billion data requests generated over the course of the eight races to Oracle's London cloud region for analysis and worldwide distribution, all within two-tenths of a second. Live video and audio feeds taken aboard the F50s are streamed to the cloud region for immediate broadcast, and simultaneously stored in Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse. SailGP production teams at league headquarters use this information to create content for distribution across 175 broadcast territories. Season 2 marks the first time SailGP will coordinate all data and production activities for each race remotely, significantly reducing the costs and the environmental impact of traveling large crews and equipment to each event.

"SailGP is one of the most data-rich sports leagues in the world, and data is in Oracle's DNA," said Ariel Kelman, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Oracle. "The differentiator in our collaboration this season is the advancements in extracting meaningful information from massive amounts of data and the mind boggling speed at which it's done. Once other sports organizations realize what SailGP can accomplish, they'll quickly understand the advantages of having an aggressive and comprehensive strategy for delivering real-time data and insights to both teams and fans."

Oracle Cloud will also power a new SailGP simulator. With training restricted to a few days before each event, the simulator allows teammates to virtually race the F50s from any location. Based on a Dynamic Velocity Prediction Program using Season 1 data, and visualization technology hosted in an Oracle virtual graphics workstation, athletes can take the helm, grinder, wing trimmer or flight controller positions and work through different set-ups and race conditions. Sailing aficionados will be able to experience the exhilaration of the virtual F50 at future SailGP events where they can compete against a computer generated boat or compete against each other.

SailGP also enters its second season of competition with a renewed relationship with Oracle.

"After a thrilling opening season where we witnessed teams break the 50 knot barrier and set speed records using the real-time data and analytics delivered by Oracle Cloud, I am delighted that SailGP is extending its partnership with Oracle as the league's global data analytics partner for three more years," Coutts said. "Having access to Oracle's global infrastructure allows us to rapidly process incredibly large amounts of internal data and automate repeatable tasks, improve predictions, and identify issues and performance differences between teams."

"What SailGP and Oracle have accomplished in our short time working together is extraordinary, and this season is set up to surpass that," Kelman added. "I look forward to achieving new milestones as we continue on the path we started."

SailGP Season 2 commences in Bermuda on April 24-25, 2021.