Special Offers and Demos

Currents offshore Australia from Sydney southward towards the Bass Strait and Tasmania are strong, highly localized and constantly shifting. We use satellite data taken immediately before the race to build detailed current models for racers. Our digital models can be displayed onscreen and incorporated in sophisticated tactical computations, using our own tactical software or supported third-party programs such as Deckman for Windows. We also supply high-resolution wind-prediction files for this race.

Races along the Atlantic coast, and to Bermuda, depend critically on point to point knowledge of Gulf Stream Currents and cold and warm eddies. We have been building digital current models of Atlantic currents for over 10 years, and supplying top racers such as Blue Yankee, Pyewacket and Morning Glory with the details they need to win. Other sources take satellite data and simply interpolate between values. We take it as experimental data and apply hydrodynamic modeling to produce a more realistic, self-consistent result. Our current models are not built on an evenly-spaced grid; instead we put much more detail where current is strong and/or sharply varying. In 2002, Stan Honey, navigating Pyewacket to a Newport-Bermuda record, called our current predictions "astonishly accurate." This race featured a very unusual Gulf Stream pattern and challenging wind forecast. For a recap of the navigational factors and decisions in this race, click link below.

You don't need seminars, hard-copy charts of the Gulf Stream or pre-race routing advice. Our tactical software displays latest wind, current and pressure data overlaying a broad variety of electronic charts, and applies this data in a routing computation customized to the characteristics of your boat. This provides all of the information you could ever need. Print them out if you like, but they are ready to display at a touch of the keyboard.

Pre-race studies of the Gulf Stream don't help you. We provide the latest data the morning of the race, and this will hold up beautifully for the duration of the race - it has in all past races.

And pre-race routing advice is next to useless. Routing is far too complicated to do by hand, and depends critically on your boat's performance characteristics and the latest wind and current forecast. This cannot be done in advance, and not without a computer applying your boat's polar data. It is done best after you are underway, away from shore where the wind forecast becomes realistic, and repeated every few hours as the race proceeds. For this you need tactical software and a PC aboard. Period.

In the 2000 Newport to Bermuda Race, the top boats also used our current predictions and routing software to finish in front. On Sayonara, top navigator Mark Rudiger combined with Ed Adams to find the best route. Afterwards, Ed had the following to say about our digital current model:

"Great job on the Bermuda Race currents this year. Our current set/drift numbers seemed to match your predictions for the entire 600 miles. Keep up the good work!"

Chances are, you are not going to have Mark or Ed on your boat, but with our routing software and supporting data, you can come up with the same answers. In fact, we make it easy.

We recommend Advantage Level 2 for the 2008 Newport-Bermuda Race. Complete with detailed charts, tidal-current model of Block Island to Nantucket region, Gulf Stream currents and wind forecast files for US$900. Contact us for a demo, including a practice wind file and prior year currents.