We are happy to see that the Clipper Race was a resounding success this year and it will be written into the history books as it is the first time that a female Skipper has led her crew to first place in an around the world race. The Sanya crew took 1st place thanks to their Skipper Wendy Tuck, while 2nd place Visit Seattle team was also skippered by a female Skipper, Nikki Henderson.
How does TIMEZERO help out the skippers and race management?
For the past 3 editions, we have sponsored the Clipper Race with TIMEZERO technology, to provide high performance marine navigation to the Clipper fleet so that they can race tactically and have a complete range of safety features for both the boats and the race management team. While racing around the world, we got in touch with the skippers to find out how they were using TIMEZERO software for a range of different features. Find out the ways in which the skippers, crew and race management use TIMEZERO here:
“It’s a really advanced software program and it really helps us sail at optimum speeds to our destination.” Nikki Henderson, Skipper
Feature 1: Position Report
In any race it’s vital to know where your rivals are. Why? Because knowing where they are will give you an idea where they might go, what strategic decisions they might take and therefore what decisions you might want to take in regard to your competitors. That of course is simply the skipper’s decision. For the rest of the crew, the position report provides a daily means to quantify their distance travelled and distance gained or lost against their closest rivals or the leading boat.
Watch the video here.
Feature 2: Boundaries
Boundaries are of upmost importance in providing safety from atolls, coasts, islands or any low-lying water in your vicinity or near your planned route. By creating boundaries, you can select the radial distance to provide yourself with a margin of error and then create an alarm that is both visual and audible.
Watch the video here.
Feature 3: GRIB files
GRIB files are files that contain the raw meteorological weather data. This can then be used to display the evolution of the weather over time or it can be used in addition to Weather Routing module to provide the optimal route based on unique boat polars and weather. The GRIB file can be either imported externally or from within the software itself. A handy feature is that you can choose to receive new GRIB files by email at your chosen time interval. The files come in .zip format to help reduce costs. The Clipper Race Skippers show how easy it is to get the GRIB files downloaded and into the powerful TIMEZERO.
Watch the video here.
Feature 4: Weather Routing module
The Weather Routing module relies on the polars of your boat and the meteorological weather data. Both are unique data meaning that how your sails react in different conditions can be displayed and allow you to get the best performance out of your boat. Polars can be found in the TIMEZERO polar catalog or from your boat manufacturer. As Nikki Henderson eludes to, adapting those figures to get the most reliable data given the weather conditions is a skill in itself.
Watch the video here.
