RTYC/RIN Joint Talk - 'Navigation and Electronic Systems Management on a Racing Yacht' — 15 November '12

Thursday 15th November 2012 at 6.45pm

Hugh has spent his whole professional life developing navigation systems. Initially these were in the offshore industry in the fast growth years of the ‘70s and ‘80s, migrating to military systems including designing the hydrographic survey systems used by a number of the world's navies including UK and Australia. Since the early ‘90s his concentration has been on leisure and yacht racing systems. He was the developer of the Yeoman chart plotter system and his group of companies owned Brookes and Gatehouse for a number of years. For nearly 40 years he has been a professional sailor, primarily as navigator, and continues to race on a number of high profile yachts including most recently the canting keel supermaxi Leopard 3.  He holds a good number of records and race wins in the ocean racing circuit including the Sydney-Hobart, Fastnet, Bermuda and Transatlantic races.

The role of the navigator on a racing boat has changed considerably over the last 30 years. Modern systems mean that there is little time spent on fixing position so what does the navigator do? Hugh will draw on his experiences of navigating some of the top racing yachts to explain the techniques and systems used currently to monitor weather and predict tides which enable the best route to be selected.

This Talk has been organised to encourage a better understanding of safe navigation methods on small crafts.

Time: 6.45pm

This is a free event but please book in for this evening by contacting Lucia in the Secretariat on membersadmin@royalthames.com or on 0207 201 6267. 

The Coffee Room will be open for dinner afterwards, to book your table please call Reservations on 0207 235 2121.