There are new cloud based apps emerging in the keelboat space which will help clubs, officials and boat owners alike with regatta organisation and participation.

The Sailor app is a cloud based app for phones and tablets and has become the go-to system for many off the beach clubs, classes and regattas. Any sailor or club official who frequently participates in a dinghy or catamaran regattas will likely have used it, or become expert in its use.

A shift in the landscape is that keelboat clubs are now starting to use it. The Safety Beach Sailing Club and the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria are both at the vanguard of this change.

The app has developed a keelboat module which allows boats to register their crew, link to the club’s membership database and SailPass, upload important documents required for entry, integrate rating systems such as ORC and IRC, and of course produce the race scores.

On the surface this may seem nothing new to the sailor. What is different is that it’s a cloud based app. Or for us older people, server-side software that can be used anywhere you’ve access to the internet.

The ORCV are working with the developers and looking to trial it in their 2023 Winter Series. When asked why, the club saw that the Sailor app will make race organisation simpler, particularly for new race administrators who are tasked with setting up and managing the events.

The SBSC have used it for a few reasons, its ability to manage twilight pursuit races, that they can set up and administer races from anywhere, at any time, and that the boat can sign on and declare who the crew on board is rather than relying on VHF and boats stating X number of people on board. That the Sailor app connects to the club’s membership database and SailPass is hugely helpful on this final front.

SBSC and the keelboat module.

The pursuit start times for entrants in blue.

Among other handicapping options, the SBSC is a user of the ORC rating system, the ORCV has both ORC and IRC in play. Having cloud based scoring available to the race committee will make it easier for them to do their job and get results out to competitors faster.

That two established keelboat clubs are doing this important work is relevant to all keelboat clubs. Their work with the Sailor app developers is leading toward an important race administration tool that will make life easier all round for any keelboat club or owner.

For the Sailor app go to their website or look them up in the App Store or Google Play.
Information about ORC and IRC ratings is here.

By Glen Stanaway