春雨直播app

Bringing a favorable wind to the Japanese sailing team
Through analysis of tidal current data accumulated since the Beijing Olympics

Takuji Waseda Professor,

In the Olympics, almost all types of wind-and-sails-driven boats short of large cruisers with cabins compete in the sailing events, previously known as yachting. The boats compete in races over a course marked out by buoys in the sea. Apart from the skill of the competitors, the most important factor determining the outcome is the wind. Almost as important, however, are the sea currents in the race area. Professor Takuji Waseda is a researcher in the Department of Ocean Technology, Policy, and Environment who constructs oceanographic data through his interdisciplinary studies linking ocean science and engineering. He has supported the Japanese sailing team since the Beijing Olympics by providing analyses and simulations of ocean currents.

“Professor Kiyoshi Uzawa, who was at the Department of Environmental and Ocean Engineering in the Graduate School of Engineering, once competed in the Sailing World Championships and was a certified athlete for the Los Angeles Olympics. Around fall 2007, because of that connection, a coach from the Japanese national team approached my department with a request for support. The coach asked us if we could analyze in detail the currents in the seas around Qingdao, where the Beijing Games’ sailing events will be held. At that time, leading overseas teams were already conducting scientific analysis on the currents, but Japan had yet to work on it.”

Waseda was close to the America’s Cup project during his time at the Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering department in the Faculty of Engineering. He played a central role in the new project to support the Japanese sailing team in the run-up to Beijing, with additional support from Uzawa. After running software-based simulations with students, they accompanied the team to their training camp for pre-Olympic events in July 2008, and collected marine data in the local seas for a week.

“The area off Qingdao is known for having generally weak winds, and there was a lot of talk about the importance of understanding local currents. For example, when the boats go around the buoys, the crew is free to choose whether to take it from the right or left, and boats that choose a route that enables them to use the currents will have an advantage. This is particularly true when winds are weak.”

The currents in the seas around Qingdao are strongly influenced by the tides of the nearby Yellow Sea. To make use of the scientific understanding gained from the analysis of the currents, Waseda’s team drew up an easy-to-understand current chart on the course area having 2km in radius and being divided into four quadrants. The chart was put in waterproof pouches and become an indispensable part of the kit the crew carried with them in training. At the next Olympics in London in 2012, the team started collecting data at Weymouth, the venue for the sailing events, as early as summer 2009. This decision was taken after a review of the performance in Beijing, where the team felt they had waited too late to start collecting data and had missed the opportunity to measure currents at the time of year when the actual races would be held. Despite starting earlier, however, the team failed to bring home a medal from Beijing or London.

“Of course, the tides are not the only factor affecting the outcome; even so, it was disappointing. My experiences at those two Games taught me that there is a difference between scientific accuracy and the kind of information that the competitors want. As researchers, we are always looking for more accurate data, but the boat crews want to know what they should do in a race situation. It’s important to have coaches who can process the information in a way that suits the needs of the crew and translate it into terms they can use.”

In the lead-up to the 2020 Olympics in Japan, Waseda has been working with the Japan Sailing Federation (JSF) as a member of the technical support staff. He has spent two years collecting observation data at the Enoshima Yacht Harbor where the events will be held, building up data and factoring in the local stormy currents that can occur suddenly in the area under the influence of the topography of Sagami Bay and the Kuroshio warm ocean currents. After many years of collaboration with the coaching staff, their teamwork is closer than ever. Perhaps the 2020 Olympics will prove the “third time’s the charm” for Waseda and the Japanese sailing team. Please keep an eye on how the sailing competitors perform in the 2020 Olympics.

* This article was originally printed in Tansei 40 (Japanese language only). All information in this article is as of March 2020.