StoryLinks: America's Cup

By Susan Jennison

Yacht racing enthusiasts will be able to log on to live action during the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series with Virtual Spectator, a hybrid CD-Rom and internet package developed by Dunedin-based Animation Research and the Auckland internet developer, Terabyte. The software will enable access to data on boat positions as well as speed and weather conditions.

But if you don't have the product, there are numerous Web sites on the America's Cup - and, the weather.

The best ones to start with are those of Team New Zealand, America's Cup 2000, the NZ Cup Village, the America's Cup Challenge Association and the America's Cup Village Ltd.

Louis Vuitton, has its own multi-lingual site (French, English and Japanese) which details a calendar of events, a list of entries and plots a brief history. For a look at the current 'Revised America's Cup Protocol Issued,' return to the America's Cup Challenge Association. The Quokka site leads to the world of digital sports entertainment with "Quokka Sports Immersion." Coming soon is its section on America's Cup 2000 with an update service to subscribers.

Information sources for sailing and sailing conditions are also varied. To learn about the basic rules of water safety that were in place for the America's Cup Regatta go to America's Cup 2000. Buffs can work out sunrise and sunset times at www.sunrisesunset.com but don't forget to work out the latitude and longitude of your desired location first.

Pacific region weather charts and an HF Radio and Radiofax Schedule Service are available from the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology.

Closer to home, the Met Service site has climate observations, high seas forecasts, coastal marine forecasts and severe weather warnings.

General weather watchers can move on to more global services. Tasman Sea currents can be calculated or analysed and you can set up your own search in the Australasia region at the Marine and Coastal Data Directory of Australia.

The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, features operational weather satellites and reports on new instrument developments.

Other interesting weather sites are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website and the World Meteorological Organisation which collates data sent from National Weather Services to build the pictures of world weather patterns. It also has oceanographic information and links to other UN organisations. From here, for instance, you can visit the Fijian meteorological service and view the satellite maps and data about regional country forecasts. The South Pacific Forecasts lists information related to tropical cyclone centres such as the Cook Islands, Tokelau, and Tonga.

The Integrated Global Ocean Service System Products Bulletin shows some of the world's climate monitoring systems and highlights of climate datasets.

Government weather sites, satellite imagery and WeatherNet can be accessed at the WWW Virtual Library Meteorology site while WebWinds provides visual software where you can explore and display data sets.

These are some of the sites where you can acquire technical meteorological data but if you want to go back to just plain sailing, there is the sailing section of Sportsweb.