Race-Trax is delighted to announce that as part of an ongoing partnership with the RYA, they have be chosen to provide sub metre GPS tracking and sail race management, complete with live data feeds, for the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta for the third consecutive year.

Following on from the success at last years regatta, Race-Trax, which transmits sub half metre positioning from competing boats, updated every second, will also supply mark positions and live wind data to the onboard computer systems located on the Committee Boat whilst simultaneously providing the shore based media with LIVE! data.

This year’s Regatta will boast expert commentary and LIVE! Race-Trax tracking via the use of the BBC’s red button between 12 and 2pm on medal race day.  Mike Anderson-Brown of Race Trax commented “ We are delighted to be part of enhancing sailing's spectator appeal  - this is exactly what Race-Trax has been designed for.”
 
RYA Competitions Manager, David Campbell James, event director for Skandia Sail for Gold, said: “The RYA’s continued work with the Race-Trax team has enabled the development of the system’s race management broadcast functionality for this year’s event."

Hard work but hugely successful is the best way to describe the results of the first full use of Race-Trax dedicated Match Race software at Match Race Germany.

Tracking the whole event Race-Trax captured data from the 22 Round Robin Flights and all the finals including the epic tussle between Ben Ainslie and Ian Williams in the quarters; and the down to the wire semi finals which saw Ben Ainslie beat Peter Gilmour and Mathieu Richard beat Damien Iehl in 5 race classics.

Each day got off to an early start with boats, fully kitted up with Race-Trax trackers, heading out of the beautiful marina at Langenargen before 08:30. Conditions for racing over the five days were incredible with good, if sometimes a little shifty, winds and brilliant sunshine.

The Race-Trax team worked particularly closely with Christoph Schumann, The German Voice of Sailing, who provided commentary for the 45,000 spectators from a vintage custom built Land Rover Fire Support Truck owned by the charismatic PRO Rudi Magg. Alongside the truck was a big screen displaying the action as it happened. Christoph was particularly impressed with the second by second quality of the data which gave him instant information for his commentaries.

“The Race-Trax system is very good because it helps with making objective commentaries in a much better way. There is so much information about each boat meaning I can give a better interpretation of the action as it progresses. It is the system I have always waited for !” 

Christoph Schumann - Eurosport Sailing Commentator

Christoph was not the only person to see the benefits of Race-Trax,  Eberhard Magg principle organiser of the event enthused;

"Race-Trax did a great job We were very happy, very smooth and easy the whole week. I was really impressed with the second by second quality and accuracy of the information. We provided a big screen and it was great to see so many spectators watching it. We need more screens at the event and we need to share this with many more people. I think it was very good for us and shows that Match Race Germany is leading with new technology and enhancing the experience for spectators. We look forward to working with Race-Trax in 2010". Eberhard Magg

And the last word should go to Bruno Morandell a local spectator and match race enthusiast who had been to every Match Race Germany event over the last 12 years

"This Race-Trax is fantastic ! You can see everything as it happens in so much detail. At last I know what is really going on. There should be screens all over the site"

A selection of Race Files from the event is available in the Downloads section

Race-Trax joins the World Match Racing Tour 2009


Race-Trax is delighted to announce a partnership with the World Match Racing Tour 2009, to provide match tracking at Tour events.  Race-Trax will be using their full Match Racing regatta software and solution at these high profile events.  Developed from a system currently in military use, it will allow boats and skippers to be paired and tracked, updated second by second to within ½ metre accuracy, and will allow penalties to be displayed ensuring that both spectators and officials are kept up to date with the action on the water.

The first event will be Match Race Germany where Race-Trax Trackers will be fitted to each boat in the Match Race Fleet as well as to the race marks, enabling the precise position of each boat and mark to be transmitted, every second, back to race control. This information will then be displayed to the race management teams and spectators at the event, allowing the action to unfold by use of the dedicated match race software module. The next step is for Race Trax to further develop the system to enable people to follow all the action online globally. 
“GPS tracking is a great way of bringing the Tour to a wider audience and we’re looking forward to working with Race-Trax to develop a tool that will be beneficial to spectators, media and race officials alike whether they are off or on-site.“ said Craig Mitchell, Tour Director.

“Of course we are extremely excited about this partnership - it could not have come at a better time in our products development due to the imminent launch of our fully integrated match race regatta software.  We are both eager and excited to be tracking the first event in Germany.” Ian Watts – Technical Director, Race-Trax.

Intensely testing is the only way to describe what both the sailors and the Race-Trax faced at the opening event of the iShares Cup in Venice.  Conditions provided close racing throughout the 17 race series, putting Race-Trax through its paces and showing how well the Race-Trax event management software performed in what could only be described as tricky conditions.

Options for positioning the Race-Trax Trackers were severely limited on these high octane boats with very few areas that were not affected by crew or equipment. Thankfully due to the compact nature of the trackers space was found and trackers were fitted to all 10 of the Extreme 40s enabling the Race-Trax software to provide a detailed set of statistics as the event progressed.

The event also showed the value of Race-Trax to everyone involved as illustrated by John Barber - Race Team Safety - iShares Cup

"It was a pleasure working with Race-Trax at the iShares Cup in Venice and I was very impressed with the capability of the system. Race-Trax can tell me the exact location of all competitors and RIB's at all times, which is a great help in ensuring the highest standards of safety, particularly at such a fast paced event"

“The opening event of a series can provide not only technical issues but logistical as well, we are therefore delighted with how well Race-Trax performed, it just confirms the flexibility of the solution – for example with very limited notice Race-Trax was tracking the pre-race events in the Golfo di Venezia from a 6.5 Mtr RIB.”  Mike Anderson-Brown – Race-Trax.

Following the Paris Launch of the 2009 iShares circuit Race-Trax is delighted to announce the official partnership with OC Group the organisers of the iShares Extreme 40 Cup, to provide tracking throughout this years events. 

The Race-Trax technology is developed from systems currently in military use and will provide each boat’s position in the fleet, updated second by second to within ½ metre accuracy ensuring that both spectators and officials are kept up to date with the action on the water.

Race-Trax trackers will be fitted to the 10 Extreme 40s, as well as the race marks that layout the course and the cutting edge technology will be pushed literally to every extreme. Race-Trax will also provide its Replay function to the top class skippers allowing them to review where those critical decisions were made.

Tim Hancock, the iShares Cup Race Director commented,

Mike Anderson-Brown Commercial Director of Race-Trax commented,

“It is always an exciting time when a new relationship is formed and our time with the iShares Cup in Paris has given us an insight into these truly Extreme 40’s, they will not only provide fantastic tracking but also the extreme conditions that the Race-Trax technology truly excels in.  I am positive they are exciting times ahead…”