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During the Olympic Games 2008 the Dutch Sailing Team will use, besides regular daily weather predictions, specific current forecasts of the Olympic sailing area. These specific current forecasts are provided by Dutch engineering consultants of Svašek Hydraulics, a specialist in coastal, harbour and river engineering.
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The Olympic sailing competition 2008 takes place in the coastal area near Qingdao, China. During the summer the wind is usually moderate in the Qingdao area. Under these circumstances good insight in current patterns may be decisive for the performance of the sailors. Due to a strongly fluctuating bathymetry and a jagged rocky coast the sea currents in the sailing competition area can be very complex. This results in the existence of large eddies during some periods of the tidal phase. Hereby, the current direction can change 180 degrees over a short period of time. It is obvious that these currents strongly affect the sailing speed, especially when there is little or no wind.
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Svašek Hydraulics has developed highly sophisticated numerical current models. With these models the tidal currents can be predicted with great accuracy. Details of these numerical models can be found on www.svasek.com.
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To provide accurate current predictions to the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team, Svašek Hydraulics has constructed a numerical model of an extensive part of the Chinese Sea. The local grid spacing of the model is reduced to 50 metres in the sailing area in order to obtain detailed current patterns in the area of interest.
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Thanks to the effort and knowledge of Svašek Hydraulics the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team has the disposal of hourly current forecasts in the Qingdao competition area.
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The reliability of the current model has been validated by current measurements provided by the Chinese Olympic Organisation. The final validation will take place during the training of the Dutch Sailing Team in June. Due to the final validation the predictions during the Olympic Games in August will be more accurate than the current information provided by the Olympic organisation.
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"Svašek Hydraulics is pleased with the good teamwork with the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team. By applying our expert knowledge on current forecasts and numerical modelling, the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team has a better starting point to achieve a record performance at the Olympic Games", according to Bram Bliek, director of Svašek Hydraulics.
National coach Jaap Zielhuis of the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team: "We pull out all the stops to give our sailors the best possible preparation for the Olympic Games and to achieve a record performance. The current patterns provided by Svašek Hydraulics are very useful. We are very impressed of the accuracy of the current forecasts. We believe that the combination of the current forecasts and the observations of the sailors during the competition will result in the best possible decisions" |
