SailGP: Surveying with B&G

Due to the delicacy of the foils of the F50 – the revolutionary foiling catamaran that SailGP is contested on – it is vital to ensure that there are no underwater risks when launching and sailing the high speed cats.

Each of the six national team’s chase boats are kitted out with Structurescan 3D sonar transducers. This allows the team’s to survey the launching and sailing areas to check that there are no underwater obstructions that will cause damage to the delicate F50 foils. Using C-MAP Genesis technology this data is used to draw custom charts of the seabed in the dock.

C-MAP Genesis is a mapping program that enables the user to create custom, 1-foot contour, high-definition maps from sonar data recorded with a compatible sonar/GPS unit*.  This means you can always have a current and relevant map you can trust.

When SailGP was heading for New York City for the third event in the new global league, the Race Management Team voiced concerns about some areas of the marina entrance where the water may have been too shallow for the deep foils of the F50s and could potentially cause damage.  With this in mind SailGP asked that we carry out a survey of the area and record all data to ensure there were no underwater risks.

Using a B&G Zeus3 chartplotter and StructireScan 3D sonar, as fitted to the chase boats, a full survey was conducted; using the data processed with C-Map Genesis Edge, new bathymetric maps were produced for the area.  These maps were then included in all relevant support boats to enhance safety when the F50s were launched and maneuvered.

* Most modern Lowrance, Simrad and B&G sonar/GPS units can display C-MAP Genesis charts as well as record sonar log files.