Anyone who has been looking at the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) website will have noticed the introduction of trackers on some of their races. This year all competitors in both the Cascais and Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland races were fitted with an OCTracker, giving real time updates of their progress via the internet. Now the RORC wants to establish this technology across all their events and it will be used in next year's Fastnet Race. Having been successfully pioneered on relatively small fleets will the OCTracker be able to cope with a fleet 300 strong?
RORC is working in conjunction with Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA). Developed in 2003, trackers were first used in the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Not only was it a success for the yacht clubs and the sailors' families, but it also helped to expand the international audience.
“Following a call to industry after last year's Rolex Fastnet Race for help in developing a system that could cope with up to 300 entries, the RORC approached OC Technology for the right solution,” commented Peter Wykeham-Martin, general manager, RORC. “Our objective is to provide an effective tracking system in the numbers necessary to look after the Rolex Fastnet in the coming years.”
What is an OCTracker I hear you ask? It is battery-powered tracking device that reports the boat's position, heading, speed and distance to the finish, to be displayed on charts provided by the UK Hydrographic Office. There will also be the opportunity to see the progressive handicap results across all classes. Updates will be sent every 30 minutes, though this time may vary depending on the event. Viewers will be able to access this information on Google Earth.
After competing in the Cascais Race last month, I was surprised to hear how many people had been following my progress. My boyfriend, who has never taken an interest in any previous expeditions, suddenly seemed to be an authority on the affair. Checking pretty much every 4 hours for the duration of my 12-day voyage, he managed to engage with the sport like never before.
However even on my race which only had 6 yachts finish, the lines could be confusing. All shade of pink and red, their similar colourings were hard to distinguish and unless zoomed right in; it was hard to select the vessel of choice.
I have not yet decided if I want to compete in the Fastnet next year, or whether I would prefer to retain my place as Race Officer on the Plymouth finish line. If I do the latter then it will be interesting to see if the new OCTracker technology becomes a help or a hindrance in the lighthouse race office. I appreciate that it will be able to show the positions of the fleet, but when there are 100 boats crossing the finish line within a few hours (as there was last year), I feel it may cause confusion rather than comfort.
Some of the sample trackers used earlier this year have failed to continue transmitting for the duration of the race. Relatives of one boat's crew contacted the Coastguard after the boat they were following disappeared off the map. Not only did this waste the time of the emergency service, but think of the potential stress this puts on those who don't fully understand the concept and fear the worst.
I am all for technological advances reaching the world of sailing, especially if it is going to increase the awareness of events globally, but I fear there maybe problems still to come.
With the Fastnet approaching and crews already getting the necessary mileage to qualify for the event, I guess it is just a case of time will tell. Until then we will just have to continue text message fishing (hoisting mobile phones to the top of the mast in a waterproof container to give them more signal range) to tell our loved ones where we are.
For more information on RORC, visit www.rorc.org.
