Fastnet boats will be trackable

30 years on from '79 disaster, boats will carry tracking devices

Three hundred boats entering this year's Fastnet yacht race will carry an on-board tracking device made by sporting and sponsorship operations group, OC.

The 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race starts from Cowes this Sunday, August 9th, and marks the 30th anniversary of the tragic 1979 race, when gale-force winds battered the fleet, 15 yachtsmen lost their lives, and a total of 23 yachts were sunk or abandoned. Limited communications technology carried by yachts back then meant that one of the greatest difficulties facing the rescue services was locating each boat.

The Fastnet is a 608 nautical mile offshore race which sees boats ranging from 30ft cruisers to 100ft Maxis racing from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock, off the south coast of Ireland, before returning to the finish in Plymouth.

The OC Tracker is an Iridium-based GPS unit that automatically supplies position updates for the entire fleet, which can then be viewed online on a special race viewer.

The OC Trackers make offshore racing a ‘virtual' spectator sport too. Now, race followers can watch all the action as it unfolds across the Irish Sea by viewing every boat in the fleet's position on the event website.

However, occasionally a boat may not show on the race viewer. If a yacht is too heeled over, the OC Tracker might not be able to send a signal, so it will keep trying again. But if a Tracker isn't working on the map, that doesn't mean the boat necessarily has a problem.

Follow the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race online at http://fastnet.rorc.org/2009-fleet-tracking.html