TIMEZERO recently sponsored the Barracuda Tour that took place in La Rochelle, France. There were multiple teams all competing in Beneteau Barracuda boats all kitted out with TZ professional v3 with the PBG and Sounder modules.
The event started off on the 27th May, lasting 3 days. It started with an amateur open where anyone could register as long as they were equipped with a Beneteau Barracuda boat and the winner would then get to trial a top of the range Beneteau Barracuda 8 to represent the brand in the professional competition.
The professional competition labelled as the “Grand Finale” took place on the 1st to the 4th of June in La Rochelle with the infamous Fort Boyard as a backdrop. In many ways the trials of the hit 90s television show (named Fort Boyard) are not so far removed from the problem solving skills that are required to compete in the Barracuda Tour.
The tournament put out an international field with competitors from France, UK, Germany, Norway, Spain, Turkey and even the now not so far-flung China.
The final consisted of a group stage splitting up the competitors into 2 pools with the best going through to the final the following day. But how does a team win the competition? The points system worked based on having a 5 fish quota, meaning that your top 5 fish count and they have to contain at least 1 of each of the following fish (as well as meeting the minimum legal size requirements).
European Seabass: minimum length 42cm
Spotted Seabass: minimum length 36cm
Meagre/ Shade fish: minimum length 45cm
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There is no weighted advantage by fish. Length of the fish in centimeters equates to the points score. So 42cm gets you 42 points.
TIMEZERO software on board
Each team got to use TZ Professional v3 software on their boats with the PBG and Sounder modules meaning that all the info they could possibly need was all being displayed within a single navigation software, making identifying where the best spots are, a walk in the park.
How the PBG module gives you an edge
Finding the best spots and being able to save them to your map is a doddle with TZ Professional v3 and this example shows you just how powerful the software is.
More on what the PBG module offers
The latest version of the PBG module will allow you to create charts of the seafloor that are even clearer and more realistic. The PBG module is constantly being improved and the latest version now provides a resolution twice that of its counterpart. It now provides a resolution of up to 1.5m x 1.5m.
The 2D and 3D imaging will now have customizable color coding scales which will allow for instantaneous precision research. As you can see the new 3D view makes seeing the data simpler and is just that bit more intuitive.
PBG data is received and automatically saved and displayed on the screen. This can then be used for future trips.
If you’re looking for a tool that provides a way to extrapolate PBG data automatically in real time with seamless customizing of brush size, then you have found it. Displaying PBG data using sounding data onto the chart with a scalability that will suit you is now possible with the new “PBG Sounding” function. Another new function allows for automatic detection and removal of bad PBG data which take out the tedious work from your daily schedule.
And just one more of the many improvements with the new PBG module is that you can edit the 3D imported database (no longer limited to just the user data).
Because the PBG module is effectively generating and updating the 3D database in real time, it is essential that some data is filtered to provide clean and accurate results.
Tidal Height correction: Automatically corrects the depth offset related to the tidal height.
Quality Filter (Furuno): Automatically rejects depth data that is considered invalid by the Furuno sounder.
Depth filter: Allows you to define minimum and maximum acceptable values.
Speed Filter: Allows the temporary stopping of the depth sounder information recording when you exceed a specific speed.
Consistency with Previous Recorded Data: This filter makes a comparison between the current depth value returned by the sounder and the last recorded and correct depth value.
Consistency with 3D Database: This filter compares the depth value sent by the sounder against the depth recorded in the 3D database.
Fixed data rejection: Automatically rejects succession of fixed depth values generally due to a sounder problem or signal loss.
On top of automatic filtering, there is also a tool that allows you to identify and remove bad data, and with the undo button, you won’t need to panic if you make a mistake.
You can use the 3D database with either info from the chart, imported data or from the PBG and you can activate, disable or merge any of these three at any given time.
Find out more about TZ Professional v3 and the PBG module:
View from the competitor’s perspective
One of the competing teams and also a TZ Professional v3 dealer MC Technologies talked with us about the event.
“We have been here since the first edition and are proud previous winners, but this year was even more remarkable as it really has become international. The PBG module really helped us find isolated rocks and get the precision you need with refined bathymetry.”
When we asked about where there best secret sports where he replied saying that actually the areas where they got lucky ended up being in shallow water (2m depth). Whilst they weren’t happy to not win the tournament, they still enjoyed the atmosphere, buzz and seeing the sports fishing community come together for this event.
We will be bring more info on the event soon so stay tuned!