The biggest change of the year 2022 is the attachment of the GPS location devices to the boats of every participating team. The goal of the organisers is, to enable precise tracking and investigation of possible rule violations. Both boats of every team is fitted with a GPS tracking device, that the marshal attaches with the help of a numbered seal, and only they can remove it. With the help of this device the competition committee can follow the movement of the boats during the entire competition!
The device will send notifications with verified information to a closed system in case a boat leaves the determined area. There are rules about the maximum pulling distance, and violating these rules results in severe sanctions
Let’s see how the system works in practice:
Every fishing spot drawn has 4 GPS coordinates, that are shown to the competitors, and can be determined in person by local landmarks. The most important criteria about, that their furthest points are at an equal distance, and the width of the fishing spots is also equal. The information about these virtual points is given to the competitors before the start, marking these on location is a task for the teams.
The teams have the possibility to mark the locations of the fishing spots 3 hours before the start of the competition. After this, the system goes online, violating sector borders after this comes with possible sanctions! According to the given GPS coordinates, buoys can be placed, that can help determine location on the open water. In case of a level 2 storm warning, going on the water is of course FORBIDDEN, marking the area is only possible after the storm warning has ended.