From version 3.3.+ EVOLUTION includes a function that associates each race course mark with an identification code from a location beacon.
At the moment, these beacons are simple AIS transmitters. This new feature replaces the “Place Mark in a Position by Successive Bearings” mechanism. For more information on setting up EVOLUTION, please review the updated “Race Course, Marks, and Waypoints” manual, page 2-11.
If you use EVOLUTION v3.3+ in events where the organizers have used GPS beacons for the race course marks, their location can be automatically synchronized with the actual locations of those beacons.
As you will see below, this offers considerable advantages for both the Race Committee and the competitors.
Benefits for the Race Committee
When the race course marks are equipped with positioning beacons and can be displayed on the nautical chart on the electronic equipment, or with EVOLUTION 3.3+, on the Race Committee boat, the main benefits are:- Perfect Course Geometry – By knowing the exact coordinates of each mark, the committee can precisely calculate the starting line length and leg angles, ensuring the course strictly complies with the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) and the Sailing Instructions (SI).
- High-Precision Deployment – Course marks are anchored with total confidence, eliminating errors and enabling the detection and correction of issues before the start of the race.
- Accurate Corrected-Time Calculations – Essential for formula-based racing, where exact distances are required to calculate corrected times and final rankings.
- Rapid Course Changes: When the circuit needs adjustment due to a persistent wind shift, beacon-equipped marks can be repositioned with pinpoint accuracy through simple instructions to the support boats, and competitors can receive clear and accurate information about the change of race course (bearing and distance).
- Detection of Dragging or Accidental Displacement of a Mark, allowing it to be repositioned intime and the race to be restarted, or, in an extreme case, canceling the race altogether.
- Objective Evidence in Protests. The mark position data serves as a fixed reference point for comparing against boat tracks, facilitating the resolution of conflicts over whether a boat rounded the mark on the correct side or entered the “zone” with mark-room rights.
- Course Management in Low Visibility: In fog or heavy rain, the committee can monitor the location of all club assets from a single screen, ensuring no buoy is lost or out of place.
- Efficient Recovery: It simplifies the task for support boats in locating and retrieving equipment at the end of the day, reducing fuel consumption and operational time.
Benefits for the Competitors
In addition to using the boat’s chart plotter to look for the location of each mark, you can use EVOLUTION 3.3+, which automatically repositions each mark to its actual location. This enhances the use of many other system-critical functions and frees you, as the navigator, from time-consuming tasks.- Automatic Adjustment of the Starting Line. It eliminates one of the most demanding and error-prone processes. No need to sail to each end of the line for their positions. In large fleets, getting to the PIN or RC location just before departure is difficult and dangerous. On the other hand, if the committee moves the line a few meters, your manual “ping” will no longer be useful, and you will start either too early or too late without realizing it.
- Perfect Race Course Geometry – The course deployment should be precise, particularly on windward-leeward races. Upwind and downwind legs should be symmetrical to ensure races are decided by tactics and speed, rather than by luck of mark placement.
- Exact Tactical Calculations: Laylines are the imaginary lines that indicate the exact moment when you should tack or gybe to reach the next mark without sailing an unnecessary distance. The system knows the current position of the tactic (go-to) mark and does all the optimal sailing calculations. You can navigate to the layline limit with confidence. The system will also deliver other related tactical data, for example, VMC (Velocity Made on Course), DTG (Distance to Mark), and TTG (Time to Mark), with the utmost accuracy.
- Irrefutable Evidence in ‘Rounding the Mark’ Protests is obtained by overlaying the boat’s track with the mark’s actual position, allowing the jury to see whether the boat’s path encircles the mark’s coordinates. In cases of contact with the buoy, the impact might be so slight that the competitor does not acknowledge it or the jury does not observe it. If the beacon’s GPS shows a sudden shift of more than a couple of meters that does not align with the swell or wind, it could be physical proof that a boat has pushed it or become entangled with its line.
Most collisions and protests happen within the ‘zone’ radius around the mark—where rules determine the right-of-way. Since the beacon GPS pinpoints the exact center of this zone, the race software can precisely establish which boat entered the radius first.
It’s important to remember that starting lines are never static. In extreme weather conditions, the RC boat and buoy are moved a few meters by the wind and waves, forcing the competitor to adjust their start calculations on the fly. In these cases, having the line’s actual position helps you achieve perfect starts without worries.
