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Thread: 3BF Race Tracking via cell phone system - a means to assist RC & show your course

  1. #11
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    Well at least the cavalry has arrived.

  2. #12
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    Da-da-da-da-da--DA! (Sounds of cavalry arriving.)

    General announcement: If you see some weird stuff on the Jibeset Regatta Information page for the Corinthian Race, it's just me trying to teach myself Jibeset. Apparently it all goes away when those-who-know-what-they're-doing take over.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    So let me get this straight. The SSS race committee, volunteers du jour, will be asked to stay on full time a week or two after the Fiasco in order to watch the tracks of 355 sailboats? This after watching video of the starts and finishes for the Fiasco? How about GoPro videos to triangulate boats' performances in the background vis a vis other boats? Seriously? I knew buying that camcorder was a mistake.
    Imagine sitting on the race deck, laptop in front of you, and there before your eyes are the names of vessels on the course and approaching the finish line. As screen operator you might even choose to let the rest of the committee know that two boats named "Moore4Me" are about to finish, one from the west, one from the north.

    I hope you don't mind if I conduct an experiment in the next year to see if cell phone technology, coupled with volunteer users, could assist in this large race.

    Brian

  4. #14
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    Brian, I think it's a wonderful idea and nobody in his/her right mind would object to making the Fiasco finish less of a ... fiasco. If you'd like to conduct said experiment from the deck of the Corinthian Yacht Club for our upcoming Corinthian race to see how it goes, even better! Does the experiment assume that all boats upload from their smart phones? Because (as you know) the SSS includes a lot of smart sailors with dumb phones. As long as this does not become another condition of participation, I love it. Bob, Mr Race Chair, do you love it?

  5. #15
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    The experiment only needs volunteers to enable their phone, via a free installed application. Once that is done, and they turn said phone on, the application will report positions each time the boat moves a predetermined distance, say 100m. What will appear on the laptop is a series of tracks and points indicating each boats position.

    I have written up the proposal for the Corinthian, in the Pressure Drop website, in hopes of getting a few volunteers. I have already proven the basic method works well by sailing both in the bay and offshore from Half Moon Bay.

    Questions that remain open:
    1) Are there limits to how many reports can be handled at a time (for Google to answer) ?
    2) Can a guard ring be set, I.E. as boats get within 500 m of the finish have the phone report more frequently the position. A question for the App developer.
    3) Are participants willing to participate ?

    It may not lead anywhere, but on the other hand it could be useful.

    Brian

  6. #16
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    So any more work on this topic? I heard some rumblings about trackers again for local ocean races that require extra cost items.
    thanks!

  7. #17
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    Hey Bob, I can see it now: A computer receiver is perched at the line at the race deck. Tracker signals approaching finishers via unique identifiers. No more race volunteers complaining about too much wind, not enough sandwiches etc. The PRO merely retrieves the computer from the line....wait! the computer is actually in Los Angeles and is programmed to issue a finish report within 20 minutes of the time limit.

  8. #18
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    Unfortunately there are some of us who still use flip phones ("dumb" phones) and would be left out, not counted, banned, or otherwise ostracized. How would we participate? Pat

  9. #19
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    Bob, As PRO for the Corinthian Race I object. There was already more than enough "weird stuff" going on that day. Like running two races with different Start-Finish Lines at the same time from the same deck without using a gun; getting kicked off the race deck by a baseball themed bar mitzvah; and watching sailboats achieve the impossible by sailing backward thru Raccoon Strait (the wrong way, of course). I think it would be much more interesting if you diddled with the Pac Cup results? Pat B.

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