Navigation and communications on board the Clipper fleet
From the equipment on board to navigational challenges
The Clipper Race is an international yacht race that sees twelve teams of amateur crews take on the some of the greatest oceans. The eleven-month circumnavigation stops in 13 top global destinations and will see crews navigate in vast variety of waters, from the North Pacific to the South China Sea.
Daniel Smith, Deputy Race Director, for the Clipper Race talks to us about navigation and communication on board the twelve-strong fleet of Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s in preparation for the start of the 2017-18 edition from Liverpool, 20 August.
Leading the Derry~Londonderry~Doire team to second place in the Clipper 2015-16 Race, Dan has experienced first-hand the equipment and navigational decisions on board during the race. “The Clipper Race is tough, requiring the highest standards from our skippers and crew. They have to take full advantage of all the equipment on board to get the most of their yachts.
“Navigational challenges differ depending on where in the world our yachts are sailing. In UK waters skippers rely heavily on the tidal and weather information they can obtain through the navigational and communications equipment. Collision avoidance with large fishing fleets is always in the front of the skippers and crew’s minds, I remember on one occasion seeing 300 AIS targets all within a 5-mile range, when in the South China Sea. Radar and AIS are invaluable here”
The Clipper 70s have a wide variety of top of the range navigation and communications equipment on board.
Navigational equipment includes:
Garmin AIS and Radar screen
Rugged PC (A second media PC of identical specification can be swapped in case of failure).
7 Garmin navigation displays,
Garmin radar
Garmin AIS
Echomax Active XS radar reflector
Communications is dealt with using:
Garmin VHF radio
Fleet broadband satellite system
Inmarsat C satellite system
Iridium satellite system
On the importance of having both electronic and traditional methods of navigation on board Dan said: “All yachtsmen know that technology has huge benefits and can make life a lot easier but it needs to be used alongside traditional methods of navigation. The two systems back each other up and work together. Technology can fail, electricity can become limited but a boat must always know where it is and where it’s going.
“The fleet carry a full paper chart folio of the route including a full library of admiralty publications to be used alongside electronic methods. Sextants are carried on board so in the event of power failure or lightning strike damaging instruments the skippers can keep racing.”
When it comes to the communications on board “The answer is to have a plan A, B and C.” Says Dan, adding: “The fleet have multiples systems on board, built to be tough like the boats that they are on. There is also plenty of redundancy built into the systems to ensure that boats can always communicate with the Race office and the coastguard when necessary.
“Skippers and crew have access to email and voice communications via the Fleet broadband satellite system. We have a backup for voice and data using the Iridium system and finally Inmarsat C is used as a very reliable system allowing us to track boats, send and receive email messages, send distress and receive safety messages. These three satellite systems give us a really robust long-range communication system.
“Shorter range communications between boats is dealt with via VHF. This is used between the fleet and also for Clipper Race yachts to communicate with passing marine traffic where necessary.”
When asked in his opinion what are the most important navigation and communication tools on board, he said: “For me the all singing, all dancing equipment is great but the basics are the most important. Having reliable log, depth and wind instruments together with being able to send an email from the middle of the ocean is invaluable.”