Founded in 1897, the Aldeburgh Yacht Club (AYC) is situated on the Suffolk coast and caters for all aspects of the sport of sailing. The Club has over 1800 members that participate in a large range of activities including active racing at weekends from April to December with both keelboat and dinghy classes.

As part of an ongoing strategy to improve the club, it was suggested to David Keates, Secretary of AYC that a video feed of the waterways surrounding the club as well as weather conditions would be a useful service for members planning a visit. The installation of a high-resolution video system could also provide additional security and help with adjudication of races. Traditionally, a race officer runs this, but it can be a difficult job with up to 20 boats passing over the finish line within seconds.

After some research, Keates discovered Mobotix and contacted the UK office, which provided a list of several potential partners. After discussing the club’s requirement with a number of system integrators, Keates selected IPSS Ltd, a respected advanced Mobotix partner who had shown a proven track record of successfully installing cameras in challenging locations. In just a single day, IPSS setup two cameras as well as a new weather station at the Aldeburgh Yacht Club which now has a high-resolution video feed on its website as well as weather data. The cameras also watch over the clubs docks, in particular a number of boats that had previously suffered high value thefts. “The feedback from the members has been very positive,” explains Keates, “and we are now looking at other things we can do with the cameras including filming events and potentially providing playback clips on line and in the Clubhouse.”

The installation uses an M24-SEC-D11 and also M12-SEC D143-N22 of which the M12 is linked to a Davis vantage pro weather station with all data passed over a single IP connection. The solution stores around four week’s worth of video footage in high resolution and Mr. Keates has been particularly impressed by the power of the Mobotix Controlcenter software included in the installation.

“The team from IPSS has been very helpful and we will be working with them later in the year to develop more video features into the new club website,” Keates concludes.