Message from ILYA Commodore Haines
Dear ILYA Members, Melges 15 Competitors, and E Scow Competitors,
I am thrilled to share the exciting news about the opportunity that the ILYA Bilge Pullers have provided for us. Many fleets have been using the Vakaros sailing instruments for a few years now. Recently, these units have been upgraded to utilize their newest feature, RaceSense. This feature enhances the experience for both our race committee and all competitors. It includes OCS detection, synchronized timing, and eliminates the need to ping the starting line as the unit handles this automatically.
This year, because of a generous contribution from the ILYA Bilge Pullers, Vakaros will not only be providing RaceSense units to our ILYA race committee teams for the Melges 15 Inland Championship on Pewaukee and for the E Scow Inland Championship on Clear Lake, Iowa; but will also be providing rental hardware and software for all of the competitors at these two events at no cost to the competitors.
This game-changing technology has been used for the A Scow Class and will be again at this year’s ILYA Championship, however, no other ILYA fleet has had this opportunity as of yet. The first event, the Melges 15 Inland Championship, is fast approaching on August 2nd-4th. Sailing Instructions will be released soon, so keep an eye out for more details.
As for the future, the Bilge Pullers are currently working with Vakaros for the 2025 season to not only include the A, E, and Melges 15 fleets, but also to add the C and MC fleet. We will have more information in the fall, but for now, look forward to these two 2024 events featuring the Vakaros Race Sense technology.
I want to extend my gratitude to the Bilge Puller Past Admirals for facilitating this exciting opportunity and to all the Bilge Pullers for continually supporting technology and equipment that improves our race committee's job and enhances the sailing experience for all of our sailors at no additional charge.
If you're interested in purchasing a unit, please contact the team at Melges Performance Sailboats as they have units in stock. Melges and Vakaros representatives will be on site for both of these events.
We look forward to seeing you at all the Inland Championships soon.
Commodore Todd Haines
Message from Vakaros
Dear 2024 (M15 or E Scow) ILYA Championship Competitors,
We’re excited to share a new development for this year’s Inland Championship—we’ll be using Vakaros’ RaceSense technology! Whether you’re already familiar with RaceSense or not, this technology has made massive strides in improving our racing and on-water experience. RaceSense has been used extensively worldwide, from the 2024 Etchells Worlds to the Melges 15 Winter Series, and in many classes in between. Each team competing at the Inlands will race with one of Vakaros’ Atlas instruments, which many teams have already chosen.
To aid in adoption, Vakaros and Melges are offering paid ILYA registrants a 10% discount on the Atlas 2 or Atlas EDGE. For all sales related inquiries, please contact Will Huerth from Vakaros (Will@vakaros.com) or Eddie Cox from Melges (Eddie@melges.com).
For teams that do not wish to purchase a device, Atlas units will be available for rent at no cost, thanks to the generous contribution from the Bilge Pullers this year. Devices must be mounted on the mast at the time of racing.
Vakaros RaceSense is an America’s Cup/SailGP style technology that offers a number of benefits to sailors, RC, and regatta organizers, including, but not limited to:
- Automatic, live pings. No need to ping the ends, line location is broadcast directly to the instrument on each boat
- Automated timing. Each boat’s timer will start and be synced automatically.
- OCS detection. RaceSense uses a high-precision L1+L5 GNSS, as well as an internal compass, to determine OCS immediately and notify teams.
We see RaceSense as an opportunity to use our time on the water better: there will no longer be a need to allow time for pinging, and we will be able to avoid most general recalls.
We understand this may be new to many teams. Before the event, feel free to check out some of these resources about RaceSense:
Melges 15 - 100 Boat RaceSense Promo Video
RussellCoutts44's using RaceSense
Sailing World Article on RaceSense
Seahorse Magazine Article on Vakaros
2023 VX One North Americans Powered by RaceSense
For any questions related to RaceSense or purchasing an Atlas, please contact Will Huerth via email at Will@vakaros.com
I look forward to seeing everyone on the water!
Best,
Will Huerth
Sales Director
Vakaros
+1 815-575-1281
