Local scientists help sailing team cruise to Olympic gold

Local scientists designed the real-time wind and current tracking system that helped China's national sailing team, including Shanghai native Xu Lijia, win the country's first Olympic gold medal in the sport last week in London.

The system was instrumental in helping the team prepare for the event, said Zhu Qian, a professor from Fudan University's School of Information Science and Technology who was in charge of developing the system.

"The speed and direction of the wind and water currents determine the winner in competitive sailing," Zhu told the Global Times Wednesday. "Sailors have to know that information precisely so they can respond quickly to any changes."

The system works by collecting the information from sensors installed on the boat, which can be transmitted wirelessly to smart phones or tablet computers, Zhu said. During training, the information allowed the sailing team's coach to give more timely and accurate instructions to the sailors.

"It did help me a lot," Xu told the Global Times Wednesday, though she declined to comment further.

The national team spent the summer in the town of Weymouth on the southern coast of England, where they could use the system to design the best route to sail. Zhu also went there to gather data for the system. "We could easily detect the dead zones where no wind blows, which are deadly to sailors when competing on the sea, but it is very hard for sailors and coaches to find them on their own," Zhu said.

The sailing team will continue to use the technology, which is currently only employed by the Chinese and UK national teams, said Zhou Zhiyong, director of the Shanghai Water Sports Managing Center. The technology might also be expanded to other water sports in Shanghai, including rowing and canoeing, to help give local athletes an edge.

Although the system's accuracy and ability to analyze still have a lot of room for improvement, it might still be used for other sports, Zhu said.