In the old days the Ostar fleet would just disappear over the horizon from the start at Plymouth with nothing reported back until the finish. Then spotter planes would set off from Newport in the hope of getting the first glimpse of the leaders through the fog and a photograph for the newspapers to print the next day, or the next Sunday in the case of the Observer. The full results would not be known for a couple of months as the stragglers crossed in 40 or 50 days. The likes of Tabarly and Hasler were notorious non-communicators; only Chichester had a radio and a newspaper contract.
Imagine the Grand National steeple chase at Aintree being held at night with only the start and the finish lines illuminated, the last you hear or see on the commentary is ‘And they are off, they are crossing the Melling road for the first time’ then very much later the first exhausted horse crosses the finish line’ it looks like Red Rum, yes it’s Red Rum, a fantastic victory for Red Rum’. You can imagine all the action has been missed, the fallers, the overtaking, the rider less horses, the suffragettes. Not good for spectators, sponsors, commentators or skippers.
The 2009 race will be a landmark for Ostar followers, with all the yachts carrying satellite-tracking devices for the first time. These self-powered units will send back the yachts position, course and speed at preset intervals, all carefully synchronised to ping at the same time to give accurate race ranking.
This facility brings the excitement of the race in ‘real time’ into the homes of millions of race followers around the world and gives a small taste of the soloists challenge as days turn into weeks at sea. With wind fields over laid on the chart the viewers can imagine the next tack and endure all the calms and storms from the comfort of their office chairs or living rooms.
Over the last few years ocean race enthusiasts have become used to following all the French races with excellent tracker displays and this sophisticated audience will enjoy an Ostar race for the first time, accustomed as they are to data blackouts for tactical ploys and overnight embargos. All the early action will be keenly sort when people return to work on the Tuesday after the Bank holiday race start.
The new breed of solo skippers are keen to communicate and we will be carrying their frequent and gruesome reports here, linked to their positions.
Iridium phones allow the speedy despatch of emails to our automated blog pages where typos and choice language will have to be accepted as the price for live action.
The 2005 race was tracked in a rudimentary fashion via noon positions reported back to HQ and displayed on Ocean Race Track; an animation of the 2005 race can be played here. You may have to load the software as per instructions but all is free. Ocean racetrack replay allows boats to be selected from the fleet and raced against each other in any combination or by class for endless amusement.
Argos beacons were carried in the races from 1980 sponsored by Europe 1 but this was before the Internet era and the tracks were not available to the public other than by a telephone enquiry to race office. The System Argos beacon did have an emergency button that the current Offshore Challenges (OC) trackers do not have. The polar orbiting satellites did not allow for synchronous reporting. Organisers stress that loss of tracker data is not a cause for alarm as all yachts do have EPIRBS and iridium phones for emergency communication.
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