Vakaros - International 49er Class Association

49er Policy on Vakaros Data

On Water Experience

Purpose: The main reasons to adopt an electronic starting system

a) to avoid general recalls

b) reduce or eliminate OCS scores for sailors

c) keep the regatta moving efficiently.

As such, the 49er Class policy on all the data Vakaros can offers is we WILL display:

– Time to start

– OCS communication automatically to sailors

– Compass angles

We will also advocate for use of P flag as the initial starting flag, so OCS teams will have the chance to exonerate their starts, though Race Officials and the class reserve the right to move to U flag or Black flag should good starting require that.

It makes sense to allow sailors to see the compass bearing. We already allow compasses on board, so allowing the units to show this function will reduce costs for the fleet and the need to duplicate hardware.

The 49er class policy will NOT allow display of any other data during racing

– Distance to line: it seems like the fleet is not interested in changing the information sailors currently have in the pre-start, so for the 2028 quad at least, we should not make visible Distance to the Line. It could be that once teams have more experience with the system the sentiment will change, but given we are only 2.5 years from the Olympics, we should give certainty to everyone of how the starts will be contested and say the distance to line and similar data will not be shared with sailors live.

Speed over ground is less clear as to where the fleet feels on this topic. We should ask the fleet to vote on this informally to see if there is clear guidance from them. Initially, speed over ground will not be allowed to be displayed, but if the fleet feels strongly about this we may change this decision during the quad.

Off Water Experience

We will work with Vakaros and statistic companies to make available racing data and analytics for common use by the fleet. There are currently software limitations within racesense that must be developed, and back end work to be done in order to make this viable. Over time, however, the class should expect quality data to be available for all to analyze.