With our club being the main location in WA for Kitefoil racing and the newly emerging Wingfoil fleet (alongside our established catamaran/multihull fleet), we struggle with the safety aspect of monitoring these competitors on the water. They are just not as easy to see in the open ocean as a boat is.

We have a strong safety procedure that includes multiple safety boats, trained volunteers, onshore monitoring, and strict sign-on/sign-off; but we have still had incidents where we have had to track down our competitors out on the water, or on the beach, to account for them and ensure they are safe.

Recently we trialed a tracking system that uses an online system to track each competitor. This means our Officials and volunteers can see every competitor at all times, and know when they are off-course and possibly in trouble. It also means that ensuring every competitor has returned to the club at the end of racing is simplified, and means our support boats can stand down and come ashore much sooner.

Based on the feedback from competitors, volunteers, Officials, and supporters/parents/ partners, the Club Committee strongly feels we need to purchase a similar system for use at not only Regattas and Championship events, but also for use at all Club racing.

The safety outcomes for all of our participants is huge, and the ease of monitoring makes the job of our volunteers so much more rewarding and less stressful.

We believe we will be the 1st WA based club to implement this tracking system for Off The Beach classes, and hope that other clubs will be able to see it in use locally and also implement this valuable safety initiative.