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Technology bringing sailing closer

The race management system is used to monitor the fleet

LONDON, England -- Not so long ago round-the-world sailors were elusive to the outside world, traveling the high seas with only primitive means of communication.

High frequency radio sets only allowed sailors to report in once or twice weekly, but that has all changed now with advances in technology.

Today, the race management system in the Volvo Ocean Race extracts position data from its fleet every 10 minutes and allows the management team in Southampton, England, to know exactly where each boat is at all times.

Using satellite technology, the race management system also allows messages to be sent from sea to land and supplies data to competitors of their rival's whereabouts, MadforSailing.com reported.

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BT's advanced research and technology business, BTexact Technologies, is behind the system that makes the world of sailing more reachable.

Inmarsat C-Sat terminals are installed on each Volvo boat and allows for text messages, e-mail, weather information, telemetry and global positioning systems (GPS), which provides the yachts with numerous statistics such as distance to finish and points and race standing, according to MadforSailing.com.

According to the Volvo Ocean Race's official Web site, the system also provides information feeds for the site including the leaderboard and provides the data for the Virtual Spectator -- the 3-D interactive race viewer.

BTexact software developers provide support for the system 24 hours a day seven days a week to accommodate the race.

The accessibility has certainly boosted the popularity of the sport, as the media is able to provide up-to-the-minute information to the public in a way that was not possible just a decade ago.