In last year's Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race a selection of leading yachting navigators adopted ocean data specialists Tidetech as their weapon of choice for information about currents, tides and sea temperature.
With only two weeks left to the start of this year's race all of the competing navigators are able to access a new, ground breaking package from Tidetech to give themselves a performance edge.
Navigators will be able to download near-real-time current and sea temperature data in GRIB format and receive a specialist analysis of the expected current in the days leading up to the race. Skippers and navigators will also be invited to attend a last minute briefing with oceanographer Dr Roger Proctor and navigation software expert Penny Haire.
Top navigator Will Oxley commented today “I've been using Tidetech's info about the East Australian Current for the last year and have found it provides a significant advantage. For a Rolex Sydney to Hobart race I consider the Tidetech product to be an essential part of the navigator's arsenal'.
Tidetech introduced their Ocean Current GRIB products one week before the start of last year's race. Many of the top boats snapped up the info straight away and of the 17 yachts which used the technology, 10 of them placed in the top 20.
Overall winner Quest, line honours winner Wild Oats XI, third place-getter Wot Now and fourth placed Yendys all used Tidetech's info.
Quest's navigator, Bruce Baker said 'We have found Tidetech's info to be very accurate. This meant that on the Rolex Sydney to Hobart race we could use it in our tactical routing software with confidence and we believe that the information made a big difference to our overall result'.
Tidetech's Penny Haire said “We have learned a lot since we introduced our first current files for last year's race. Since then we have had numerous boats use our information for Australia and win races with it. We've put a lot of thought into how we can improve what we do for this year's race and will be announcing more exciting new developments in the next few days to come”
Tidetech's data is obtained from the highly regarded CSIRO which has been a trusted source of information for Rolex Sydney to Hobart navigators for some years.
Like all data, it does require interpretation – so former Team GBR oceanographer and Tidetech director Dr Roger Proctor will be using his considerable expertise to provide an analysis of conditions to give competitors a performance edge.
Interested parties can sign up for the package at www.tidetech.org/rolex-sydney-hobart-race
For further details contact info@tidetech.org Penny Haire on +61 4 3763 3748 or Greg Boller on +61 4 1980 9752
