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Displaying items by tag: GRAD

#Lighthouses - The Research and Radionavigation team (R&RNAV) that supports the three General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the UK and Ireland - Irish Lights, the Northern Lighthouse Board and Trinity House will now be known as GLA Research and Development (GRAD).

GRAD will continue with its work to undertake research and development of physical and radio marine aids to navigation, support systems and their integration to support the GLAs’ mission to deliver a reliable, efficient and cost-effective aids to navigation service for the benefit and safety of all mariners.

In recent years, the team’s successes have included a number of world firsts in the fields of Radionavigation and visual signalling; GRAD and its staff are recognised the world over for their knowledge and achievements in the provision and future provision of marine aids to navigation.

The big impact made by this small team not only reflects well on GRAD but on all the GLAs and the UK and Ireland. GRAD will continue to support the GLAs’ objectives, strategies and plans while supporting operational requirements over the coming years.

More information about the work of GRAD can be found at www.gla-rad.org

Published in Lighthouses
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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.