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BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Race against time' to save Mary Rose video archive
Students at the University of Portsmouth are digitising more than 600 tapes containing video footage of Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, which sank in the Solent. Underwater footage captures the moments when historical items such as canons were discovered and filmed for the first time when the ship was salvaged in 40-year-old tapes have been deteriorating and there were fears that the video archive could be lost. Some of the footage may not have been viewed since it was recorded. Charlie Watts, works in the university's School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies, described it as "a race against time". "They have a very robust outer casing but inside the tape is very vulnerable. The oxide on the tape is dissolving as we speak," said Mr Watts. "We have to do this now, otherwise it's gone completely." Student Oliver Wibew, who is also working on the project, said: "I'm only 18 so I've never used this kind of technology before. "You have to put them into a player then it goes into the computer then you've got special software that can capture it and put it onto a drive."Another student, James Watts, has been watching the footage. "Seeing the Mary Rose from a diver's perspective, possibly for the first time in 40 years, that's something that not a lot of people get to experience," said Mr Watts. The digitised footage will help to tell the the salvage story at the Mary Rose Museum. "We have the incredible Tudor story of all the artefacts that were found underwater," said collections manager Alastair Miles. "But then there's this modern story of the salvage, recovery and excavation and all of the people that were involved in that process."These tapes will allow us to add to that story with extra layers of information that we just didn't have access to before."The Mary Rose Museum's chief executive, Dominic Jones, said more than 500 divers were involved in the salvage. "What's fantastic is that we've now got 18-year-old students who are bringing that story to life," he said."It's not lost on us that they're the same age as the crew of the Mary Rose when the ship sank." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Chasing catamarans at 40mph (and feeling queasy) at SailGP's Portsmouth Grand Prix
It was impossible to miss the dejected French team sitting on a wall — still in their wetsuits and life jackets — just before boarding a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) ahead of the third and fourth races of Saturday's Portsmouth SailGP Grand Prix. The France SailGP team, whose investors include Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe and had secured back-to-back podiums in the previous two grands prix in San Francisco and New York, did not even make it to the starting line due to damage to their 24-metre wing sail. Advertisement SailGP, a close-to-shore sailing championship, is a new sport in its fifth season, and with that comes teething problems. There are no spare catamarans, so there have been several occasions this season in which a team has been unable to compete because of various issues — France had to sit out the first two events of the season in Dubai and Auckland while their new F50 racing boat was still being built. But at the start of the day, who could have anticipated The Athletic would have a more successful afternoon on the English Channel than the French in chase of the 11 other teams which had made it to the start line? After completing a safety briefing, the French team (and dry land) were soon in the rearview mirror, with the RIB leaving Camber Quay for the Solent, a narrow straight between mainland Britain and the Isle of Wight. It is a stretch of water with history, as this was where Queen Victoria would often watch yachting races and regattas. The Portsmouth Grand Prix is the seventh of 12 events on this season's calendar, which will culminate in November in Abu Dhabi, and is the start of the European leg of the championship. Though F50s can reach speeds of over 50 knots (57.5mph; 92.6 kilometres an hour), our journey began at a relatively low speed; ferries taking passengers to the island just off the south coast needed to be avoided, as did dozens of privately owned boats that had lined the edge of the course. But then we entered the exclusion zone, a mass of water encompassing the course, and even in light wind conditions, the next 20 minutes were not for the faint of heart. The third race of the day — a grand prix that consists of two days of racing of multiple heats before a winner-takes-all showdown on a Sunday between the three top-ranked teams — was won by New Zealand and was already under way by the time The Athletic made it into the exclusion zone. Immediately, it was clear how quickly the foiling catamarans were travelling once they were above the water. Advertisement A whistling noise, generated by the vibrating foils, pierced the wind as the Brazil team made a turn and headed back downwind to finish the race. Providing expert analysis throughout on this sport — which has been likened to Formula One on water — was Hattie Rogers, a 25-year-old who is one of the world's best foiling sailors and hopes to one day compete in SailGP. After the third race had ended — each race lasts a maximum of 16 minutes — The Athletic's boat made its way to where most of the F50s had gathered. Each team was quickly joined by their support boat ahead of the fourth and final race of the afternoon. Circling above were two helicopters, capturing the action for the TV coverage. A boat that was able to keep pace with the F50s was filming the race, too. It was at this moment that Rogers informed everyone on board that we were going to chase the boats from the start to the first mark on the course — a message that could be translated to 'Hold on!'. Launching out of a timed start, the fleet can accelerate at speeds close to 100kmh as they converge on Mark 1; getting there first gives a team a huge advantage before they head downwind for two laps of the course. As the 10,000-strong crowd counted down from 10, we quickly found ourselves trying to keep pace with the F50s — but even reaching speeds of 35 knots (40mph) wasn't enough to stay with the 11 teams. The wind pounded against my face as I attempted to look straight ahead, turning me temporarily into a Wallace and Gromit character. To shield myself, I moved my head to the left and right for split seconds at a time. One person on board was left feeling somewhat queasy as the RIB ripped through the water. To watch the athletes on board dart from one side of the F50 to the other at speed brought home the physicality of this sport. They had already completed three 12-minute races in relatively quick succession, but still had the energy to sprint nearly 10 metres across a moving boat. The Australian team, now owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and led by Tom Slingsby, an Olympic and America's Cup champion, had built up a solid lead. But there was an incredibly close call with the Great Britain team, which even caused Rogers to wince. Rogers was quick to explain that any penalty would have to be taken on the water and that Britain would be asked to slow down if one was given. Advertisement Britain weren't penalised and managed to hold off the Italian team to finish second, capping off a good day's work on home waters. They won the first race in front of a roaring crowd, and followed that up with two second-place finishes and a third-place finish. As the Flying Roos celebrated their win, the RIB made its way back to Camber Quay, where we, along with several other boats, were instructed by the harbourmaster to wait until a ferry had docked before proceeding forward. After the thrill of chasing the F50s, it was a reminder that the Isle of Wight ferry waits for no one.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Japan Times
New Zealand spoils Great Britain's party in SailGP showdown
Peter Burling's New Zealand team crashed what should have been a triumphant home celebration, pipping Dylan Fletcher's British crew to victory in a nail-biting final at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix on Sunday. The Kiwis spoiled the party on the Solent, claiming their second event win of the season and third race victory of the weekend in a dramatic winner-take-all showdown that left the packed Portsmouth shoreline deflated. Perfect sailing conditions greeted the fleet, with a nice, steady breeze providing ideal racing weather that allowed the high-speed F50 foiling catamarans to showcase their full potential as they approached speeds of 100 kph across the water. Fletcher's Emirates GBR team looked destined for glory after commanding the leaderboard following a dominant opening day, but was edged out at the line when it mattered most. The Olympic gold medalist was left to rue what might have been. Switzerland added its own slice of history by reaching its first-ever SailGP final, though its fairytale run was cruelly cut short by technical gremlins that left the team out of contention in the decider. The day's drama wasn't confined to the final, with France bouncing back from its own technical woes to seize victory in Race 6 — but only after a farcical interruption when a rogue spectator boat invaded the course and forced a restart. Twelve national teams had battled across seven fleet races for the coveted spots in the three-boat final, with Emirates GBR, New Zealand and Switzerland emerging from the pack as fans buzzed with anticipation along the shoreline. The victory propelled New Zealand to the summit of the overall SailGP championship leaderboard with 54 points, nudging ahead of Australia (BONDS Flying Roos) which has 52 points and Spain with 51. Britain's wait for a home event victory continues, despite accumulating a long list of SailGP podiums around the world.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Great Britain Sail Grand Prix: New Zealand victorious, Australia's penalty, and spectators invade
After dominating the first day of the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth, the British team couldn't quite seal victory in front of the home crowds as Pete Burling and the Black Foils from New Zealand stole their thunder in the three-boat final on Sunday. But Dylan Fletcher's boat came a close second across the finish line for a solid British result. Advertisement Sebastian Schneiter might have been disappointed to have lost the early advantage out of the start, but it was the first time the Swiss team had fought their way to a SailGP three-boat final, and Schneiter was upbeat about the team's clear improvements. It was a windier day on the Solent, a narrow strait between the English south coast and the Isle of Wight, and the French were back up and running on day two of the close-to-shore competition after their wing sail snapped on Saturday. There was controversy, too, as the sixth fleet race was suspended because a spectator boat had invaded the course. All 12 teams blasting around an incredibly tight course for the day's three fleet races meant there was hardly time for anyone to catch their breath. The spectator fleet was behaving itself on the western boundary of the course, with close to a hundred cruising yachts and other craft all in a neat, orderly line behind the marshal boats. All except one that, just before the start of Race 6, drifted into the course area just as the F50 catamarans were jostling for position in the final two minutes before the start, and forced a restart. Hannah Mills, Britain's double Olympic Champion and strategist — the sailor who plots a weaving path through the high-speed traffic for the driver steering the F50 — wasn't entirely sure what had happened in all the confusion. 'Something to do with a boat in the start box,' Mills said. 'Which is not a great place for a small yacht to be when there are 12 F50s coming in, all screaming at them. So yeah, it was the right move by the race management to just postpone the start and do it again.' Australian driver Tom Slingsby thought the problem was more the number of course marshals trying to shepherd the stray boat back into the flock. 'I think more of the problem (than the yacht) was five police boats which surrounded him,' Slingsby said. 'Yeah, we had an incident, only just avoided the police boat, so that wasn't really helping out the situation.' There were a lot of breakdowns across the weekend, and a lot of technical problems besetting the fleet — some self-inflicted, some not. So it felt appropriate that DJ Pete Tong was on the decks to play the spectators out of the 10,000-seater temporary stadium at the end of an entertaining but often scrappy and confusing day. The U.S. team struggled to get up and running until the last fleet race of the afternoon, suffering from an up/down cylinder failure in the starboard daggerboard case. Unlike in Formula One, where the teams are responsible for the smooth running and maintenance of their own cars, all the equipment in SailGP is centrally managed, so Taylor Canfield's crew are bound to have questions about the reliability of their boat. Advertisement There was a similar problem for the British, as driver Dylan Fletcher explained to The Athletic: 'We had an issue with our port (left-hand side) board, which wasn't functioning or lifting up in the first race. We fixed it for the second race. 'Then we had the same issue again, but luckily they fixed it and we missed the start of the third race but still managed to get around. And it was working and all good for the final.' Germany took themselves out of the game when Erik Heil's T-foil rudder snagged an anchor line as they were foiling past the windward turning mark off course. Spain suffered a breakdown, too, after riding too high and falling off the foils. After winning back-to-back events in San Francisco and New York, Diego Botin's crew never found their rhythm on the choppy waters of the Solent. Still, it wasn't all bad news. Overnight, the SailGP tech team had managed to get France's broken wingsail fixed after it snapped before Saturday's racing had even begun. On Sunday, Quentin Delapierre's crew got back into their groove in time to win the restarted fleet Race 6 and finish second in the seventh and final fleet race. The usually high-flying and fast-starting Australians just couldn't bring their A-game to Portsmouth. However, after starting last in Sunday's first fleet race, the Aussies turned on the afterburners to scythe their way through the pack to salvage a miraculous fourth place across the finish line. Despite not quite being at their best, it looked like Slingsby might yet be able to elbow his way past the Swiss for that third spot in the final. But in fleet Race 6, he received an expensive penalty in a complicated four-boat situation which involved Canada, Denmark, Britain and Australia. Speaking more than an hour after the incident, Slingsby was perplexed at how the remote umpires — based in London — had penalized his team rather than Britain. 'I'm sort of shocked at how we got the penalty,' Slingsby said. 'The British didn't try to avoid the two starboard tackers and we've got to avoid the British boat, which we did clearly. 'It's not our fault, and we lost probably eight or nine positions because we had to get behind Canada, who were stopped at the bottom of the course. It's frustrating because obviously we would have been in the final.' SailGP moves to Sassnitz on the Baltic coast of Germany for racing on August 16 and 17.
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Sport
- Perth Now
Kiwis sink British dreams and edge ahead of Australians
Peter Burling's New Zealand team have gate-crashed what should have been a triumphant home celebration, pipping Dylan Fletcher's British crew to victory in a nail-biting final at the Great Britain Sail grand prix. The victory propelled New Zealand to the summit of the overall SailGP championship leaderboard with 54 points, nudging ahead of Tom Slingsby's Australia (BONDS Flying Roos) on 52 points and Spain on 51. Australia had missed out on the final after finishing fourth in the fleet rankings, an eighth place in fleet six proving especially damaging. There are five events left with the next in Germany on August 16-17. The Kiwis spoiled the party on the Solent, claiming their second event win of the season and third race victory of the weekend in a dramatic winner-takes-all showdown that left the packed Portsmouth shoreline deflated. "It was an awesome day's racing out there," Burling said. "There were some pretty challenging conditions, and for the group to pull off the performance they did today it just feels like we're growing and growing. Perfect sailing conditions greeted the fleet, with a nice steady breeze providing ideal racing weather that allowed the high-speed F50 foiling catamarans to showcase their full potential as they approached speeds of 100 km/h across the water. Fletcher's Emirates GBR team had looked destined for glory after commanding the leaderboard following a dominant opening day, but were edged out at the line when it mattered most. The Olympic gold medallist was left ruing what might have been. Switzerland added their own slice of history by reaching their first SailGP final, though their fairytale run was cruelly cut short by technical gremlins that left them out of contention in the decider. The day's drama wasn't confined to the final, with France bouncing back from their own technical woes to seize victory in Race 6 - but only after a farcical interruption when a rogue spectator boat invaded the course and forced a restart. Twelve national teams had battled across seven fleet races for the coveted spots in the three-boat final, with Great Britain, New Zealand and Switzerland emerging from the pack as fans buzzed with anticipation along the shoreline. But Britain's wait for a home event victory continues, despite accumulating a long list of SailGP podiums around the world.
