Greg, all I'm saying is: VTS wants to hear from RC periodically during the race. This call will be far more useful to VTS if RC can tell them something about where the fleet is. Therefore, what I propose is that some racers - it doesn't have to be everyone - try phoning in during the race, when they're not too busy. We may learn something about cell coverage, and we may be able to get some information to VTS that they would like to have.
This isn't a roll call. Nobody's going to push the panic button if somebody doesn't phone. The idea is just to push information around. Actually it might be more efficient for a racer to call VTS directly and advise them of where the bulk of the fleet is; I did this myself a couple of years ago. We can talk to them a long way out on channel 12.
Forget the ziplock bag if you like; that idea came from the YRA ocean equipment requirements that we've already thrown out.