News Releases

Technology will Aid Channel Swimmers

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Phone: 401-789-6224
February 16, 2010

Perth, Australia - Competitors of the 2010 WAToday Rottnest Channel Swim, an annual open-water swimming race from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island, located 20 km off the coast of Western Australia, can now take advantage of new technology to plan and manage their course. The Perth office of Applied-Science Associates, a global marine and environmental modeling company, will provide animated forecasts of the wind, current, and wave patterns at regular stages throughout the day as a service to the Channel swimmers. The real-time and forecast information will be published as detailed maps over the internet to allow competitors to strategize and adapt their best swim route.

Wind, wave and current patterns play a big part in an ocean swimming race. Both swimmers and their support crew have to battle currents and waves that sap energy and push competitors off-course, greatly increasing the swim distance. The challenge is increased as conditions constantly evolve throughout the course and over the day.

Presently, the only forecasts available for the day are very general and based on single or distant locations. This year, Perth-based Asia-Pacific Applied Science Associates (APASA) will provide forecasts of the variations in current and wave patterns across the course as animated maps generated by their latest computer modeling software and data feeds developed for the Western Australian sea-search rescue model, which was set up by APASA and operated by the Western Australian Water Police over all coastal waters in the state. The forecasts will map variations in conditions from location to location at regular intervals up to 7-days forward and animations will be constantly updated as new forecasts are generated.

According to Nuala Fitzpatrick, Senior Coastal Engineer for APASA and a regular competitor in the race, "Fighting against the waves and currents can be very exhausting. By studying these detailed maps of the current and wave patterns, competitors can plan their course based on how long they expect to take and avoid being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time".

"Asia-Pacific ASA specializes in prediction of ocean conditions for a wide range of practical purposes", according to Scott Langtry, co-Director of APASA. "In addition to sea-rescue efforts, we use ocean forecasting to predict consequences of coastal developments or the movement of oil and chemical spills and discharges from industry, to better understand the environmental effects or direct the clean-up efforts". The company was recently commissioned to guide clean-up crews responding to the biggest and longest running oil spill in Western Australian history, after oil leaked from the West Atlas drilling rig into the Timor Sea.

“We have made the information simple for competitors to access and interpret and hope this will result in a safer, more comfortable and competitive race day for many teams. We are pleased to provide our help in this way to an event with such history,” added co-Director Murray Burling. "The information will be publicly available at www.apasa.com.au/fc/rsforecast.shtml, using any web browser”.

For more details about ocean forecasts and environmental modeling, please contact Scott Langtry, slangtry@apasa.com.au or +61 (0)8 9226 2911.