Thursday, October 29, 2015

Danish Sailing League (Sejlsportsligaen) Report

J/70 sailors- Denmark Sailing League (Copenhagen, Denmark)- The Danish Sailing League concluded with Skovshoved Sejlklub as the overall winner after the final event in Copenhagen (25th to 27th September). Silver went to the defending champions from Hellerup Sejlklub, while Aarhus Sejlklub finished third.

The fleet sailed in front of the famous Little Mermaid in Copenhagen Harbour. The summery weather lured spectators from far and wide to watch the weekend’s thrilling racing. Among the spectators was a small delegation from Hadsund, as some of the first arrived Sunday morning with folding chairs and took their front-row seats to follow the fortunes of their local club throughout the day. Together with all the other spectators, they were able to experience the league sailing more closely than ever. Most of Sunday’s racing saw the races finish just a few metres from the quayside and brought cheering and hollering every bit as passionate as you’d witness at a football match.

The Danish Sailing League starts again in May 2016.  Here’s their Facebook sailing league page- https://www.facebook.com/sejlsportsligaen.  And, more Sejlsportlgaen sailing information can be found here- http://sejlsportsligaen.dk/

What the sailing league organizers have done better than any other sailing event in the world is to produce a combination of compelling “real-time” graphics showing how each team is doing mark-by-mark each race.  Even better yet, the giant jumbotron LED screens also show “live” standings for the entire fleet! Thanks to SAP SAILING SPORT, you can now enjoy the type of “live” leaderboards you see at a NASCAR or Formula One race. You get the complete picture of all the action on the water- it’s fascinating and it’s constantly changing, much to the delight (or anxiety) of those watching the race on the waterfront.  Here are some good examples of Sejlsportsligaen YouTube sailing videos that incorporate that real-time information: