Shark Island Challenge

Client: Alfred

Date: 16th June 2024

Venue: Shark Island Cronulla

No. of guests: 500+

Type of Event: Bodyboarding Competition

Role / Involvement: Broadcast & Live streaming

Supply and Operation of Camera Systems and Media Servers for recording & streaming.

About the Event:

Twenty-five athletes from diverse backgrounds and skill levels will converge for a highly anticipated surfing event, showcasing their talents against a backdrop of both natural beauty and challenging conditions. Among these participants, four local surfers will lend their familiarity with the harsh terrain, making the competition even more thrilling.

The event is organized in collaboration with Surfing Australia, ensuring a professional and well-coordinated experience for all involved. The surf break, situated on a rock island at the southern edge of the Sydney Basin, presents both an awe-inspiring sight and a formidable challenge. Its shallow waters have claimed the pride of many aspiring surfers, leaving them with reminders of the island's unforgiving nature.

As the athletes prepare to paddle out, they must not only contend with the powerful waves but also with the currents and sharp rocky outcrops that characterize this unique locale. This event promises to be a test of skill, endurance, and strategy, all while celebrating the spirit of surfing and camaraderie among competitors. The sense of anticipation rises as each athlete gears up to navigate the treacherous sands and roiling waters to claim their spot at the forefront of this extreme sport.

Key highlights of event:

The event is slated to be held within a 2-month waiting period (to ensure the waves are massive!) featuring the world’s best bodyboarders who travel from all corners of the globe.  

Event organisers can only give the green light for the competition to run 3 days prior which obviously provides a lot of obstacles and making the pre-production stage critical. Weeks were spent on site visits, meetings with key stakeholders, testing of the scoring systems, preloading all content, integration of graphics, booking / re booking crew and everything in between. 

We were responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the 6-camera live broadcast which featured our Panasonic AK-US400 cameras and Fujinon UA107x8.4 4K Box Lenses- the break is 300m offshore, so it was critical that we used the best possible equipment available to put the viewers in the box seat. We remotely integrated the Inspire 3 drone and positioned our reporter on a 50-foot boat in the channel bringing us live updates and interviews with the riders which was wirelessly RF linked back to our OB position.