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Cowes sailors test SMS navigation

COWES, England -- Sailors in the world's longest running race are taking part in a new technology experiment that could change the traditional course of communication.

Entrants in Cowes Week, sponsored by Skandia Life, will be receiving course instructions via SMS text messages to their mobile phones in addition to the traditional combination of course boards and VHF radios.

The race week, which officially began on Saturday, will see some 245 races over the eight-day period, with 33 classes racing each day.

Ten minutes before the starts of the race, the course -- worked out manually then checked by a course-setting computer -- and a list of target phone numbers for the corresponding class will be sent to a central SMS processing centre where individual messages will be sent to each phone within 40 seconds.

Race organisers, Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC), will also be able to send other messages, such as safety warnings, to individual boats, certain classes or to the whole Cowes fleet.

Traditional methods of communication will remain the primary means of information exchange, but, depending on the feedback, it is possible electronic communication could become the norm at Cowes, the CCC said.

Cowes Week was first held in 1826 as the Cowes Town regatta with two races over two days.

Today there are 33 classes racing each day for the rest of the week, with some 245 races over the eight-day Regatta.

Cowes Week is an international sporting event open to everyone with amateur sailors competing alongside Olympic and World Champions.

Three Olympic sailing Gold medallists -- Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Shirley Robertson -– will be racing on board the Swan 70 'Volvo for Life' for the Britannia Cup on August 7.