Cowes Week is one of the UK's longest running and most successful sporting events. Since 1826, this sailing event has played a key part in the British sporting summer calendar. 40 races daily and more than 1,000 boats -there is no larger sailing regatta of this kind worldwide.

For team BMW Oracle, winner of the 33rd America's Cup in February, the preparation for defending their title in 2013 or 2014 has already begun.

America's Cup is the Formula One of water sports. Huge budgets for high tech boats, sailed by experienced and well balanced teams. Physical fitness is a main issue for the crew - especially the grinders who have to work very hard tuning every little detail to be perfect for the America's Cup. Sophisticated training methods are provided to each crew member individually. SRM handwheel ergometers are used for lab testing.
The next step in performance testing was implementing the SRM technology on the boat - combined with telemetry to provide inside information also about the crew members to the media.

For SRM it was very important to see if our new telemetry device, which has done an excellent job at this year's Tour de France, would be able to work under different circumstances.

You were at the Tour de France this year - the biggest sport event held every year and now you worked at Cowes week - a very important sailing event. What were your key impressions and what were the main differences?

Amy: Experiencing two high level sporting events back-to-back was tremendous. After following the biggest sporting event in the world and testing telemetry at one of the most established sailing events in the world, one thing was quite clear to me - technological innovation is moving sport forward and creating a more engaging experience for the viewer.

Telemetry is able to bring the intangible efforts of the athletes to the viewer in a new and exciting way. It now allows the viewer to really see what the stresses of the event are, whether it is climbing the Col du Tourmalet, grinding the main sail of a race boat, or time trialing on Alii Highway in Kona. With telemetry the viewer's experience of the event is much richer.

For most people sailing is a very calm activity. Sailing as a sport is different. Tell us a little about your experience on board?

Simone: It was the first time for me on board of a boat like this. Very impressive! At first view it looks hectic - but soon you recognize that it is very organized. Every crew member knows exactly what to do. Communication is very „to the point". And it is physically very demanding. A max power of 1,827 watts on the handwheel is phenomenal. Grinders are already very fit and I think maybe specific interval training with the SRM combining power and heart rate can help them to get even better.

Are there special technical problems compared to cycling?

Simone: The powermeter works really well on the handwheel pedestal. We fixed the PowerControls also on the pedestal, so the grinders could see their power and heart rate while working. The crisp display of the PC7 is perfect because the numbers are easy to read.
Our telemetry depends on network coverage. Close to the coast this was no issue. There were no problems with water and the data transfer was great.

What do you think are the future plans for telemetry in sailing. Will BMW Oracle for example show data on their webpage?

Amy: I think both sports, cycling and sailing, are trying to tackle the same challenge of how to engage more people in each sport. SRM's telemetry gives the platform for people to have a deeper understanding and richer experience of each sport. Sailing seems to be more on the forefront of telemetry as it is a sport where the performance of the sailors and the boat can be monitored and broadcasted to audiences through telemetry. So I think you will see more data on your screen in the future of each sport.

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The residents of Nevada City and Northern California cycling enthusiasts are thrilled to have been chosen to host the opening-stage of the Amgen Tour of California in their historic city.