What marine electronics software and hardware are required for the Vendée Globe?

The Vendée Globe race, also known as the Everest of the Seas, is the first non-stop solo race around the world without assistance. The 16 ocean skippers (Nov. 19^th) will have to sail 25.000 miles around the world and try to arrive first with the help of their own sailing skills and impressive equipment ranging from freeze-dried food to complex solar power plants.

Today, we’re going to focus on the vast array of marine electronic software and hardware and all the means of communication, navigation and localization that are required on board by the Fédération  Française de Voile and is listed on the IMOCA’s Equipment Inspection for Offshore Racing:

• VHF fixed
• Masthead antenna for transmission/reception alternatively on AIS and VHF
• Spare VHF Antenna
• HD Camera x 3: 2 fixed (1 inside, 1 outside) and 1 waterproof mobile
• Radio receiver
• Hand-held waterproof VHF Radio with batteries charged and spares, next to the chart table
• AIS transceiver, active and software to visualize AIS cables
• FleetBroadband 250 or 500 (Inmarsat)
• Iridium OpenPort
• Other satellite equipment
• Boat’s Standard C fitted with GPS card + software for polling and data reporting
• Antenna free from any obstacle (60 cm) and at sufficient height (55 cm)
• Radar target enhancer (RTE)
• Impulse Radar: power >2 kW or Broadband radar
• Radome at least 5m above the waterline
• GPS
• Echo sounder
• Speedo/Speed indicator
• 2 EPIRB – Distress Beacons coded and registered in the boat’s name
• PLB in skipper’s name
• Individual AIS localization beacon
• Paper marine charts for the whole course: scale from 1/5 000 000 to 1/10 000 000
• Paper charts or photocopies or screen prints from a marine navigation software or cartography software for landcalls in (click links to access MaxSea’s equivalent charts):
  • Cape Town
  • Kerguelen
  • Heard Island
  • Perth or South West Australia
  • Tasmania, Bath and South-East Australia
  • New Zealand, South Island
  • Horn
  • Sovereign Islands and Falklands
  • Book or photocopies of book of lights for zones covered on the race.

The 2012 edition of the Vendée Globe, a French race who takes place every 4 years, started on November 10^th from les Sables d’Olonne and will last for 3 months.

MaxSea International is one of the official suppliers of this sailing event.