MaxSea used by the race manager of the Velux 5 Oceans

David Adams (race manager of the Velux) and Muriel Robin (member of the race committee) sent us a testimony on how they use MaxSea.

"We use MaxSea as our main navigation program for the VELUX 5 OCEANS. It helps us create the theoretic route which gives us the exact distances to sail, information for the website and list od positions. We use it to define waypoints, in order to keep the racers in an area where rescue and assistance teams can operate. We also check that contestants follow these instructions. We use MaxSea for weather predictions, in order to see what conditions the skippers go through.

Contestants' security is our priority, and we use MaxSea to figure out and solve rescuing scenarios that might occur. For example, we can simulate an emergency situation with a sailing yacht in distress, and try to find out how to help it and how long it will take to reach it. This means that we check the weather in the area, because we will not ask another boat to change its route if it implies sailing on a 50 knots wind in a dangerous sea. At every moment, a person who is on watch at the Race headquarters is aware of what's happening on sea and ready to answer.

As you can imagine, considering the speed which the yachts sait at, delay to find a solution and send the message to the other boats which might play a part in the rescue has to be very short. People at race headquarters, there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week when yachts are on sea, have big responsibilities and we try to give them the best equipment possible. MaxSea software comes out to our demands.

Now that yachts enter the Antartic Ocean, we will note the position of icebergs which will be given to us by different sources. This information will be classified then given to the skippers as they enter a risky zone. We belong as well to a group of research observing icebergs. As from now, everything is fine and we are very satisfied with MaxSea. Since several persons use MaxSea at the race headquarters, we have noticed its easiness of use and its accessible fo all."