www.pantaenius.com/NBRtracking 

By Talbot Wilson

NEWPORT, RI, June 16, 2014 – The 49^th Newport Bermuda Race is right around the corner. Home-based spectators can track their  favorite yachts, skippers, or crewmembers in the 635-mile ocean classic starting June 20 at Newport, R.I., with the first gun at 12:50. All boats in the 2014 fleet will be provided with Yellowbrick tracking modules before the start. Pantaenius Race Tracking is your link to all the virtual action in the race.

Pantaenius Yacht Insurance is the Tracker Sponsor for the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race.

Test the site ahead of time and also download the Yellowbrick app for mobile coverage wherever you are. Some browser updates may be needed. The Yellowbrick race viewer will run well on any web browsers released since 2012, namely: Internet Explorer 10 & 11, Google Chrome 23 and upwards, Firefox 20 and upwards, and Safari 6 and upwards. Updating your browser is normally easy and is good practice since it will also patch any security issues that may have been found since it was released.

Time Delay: In the Newport Bermuda Race this year, there will be a time delay in the early stages of the race to prevent competitors from using the positions of other yachts for tactical advantage. Tracking will be delayed by 4 hours for the first 48 hours of the race and then go to near-real-time reports every 30 minutes from each yacht. Expect to see a jump forward after 48 hours to the yacht’s actual position. As yachts get within 15 miles of Bermuda the timing of reports will be more frequent.

For competitors using satellite links, a low bandwidth link for sat phones will be available.

This year, 165 boats have entered in five divisions. These will be divided in classes of about 15 boats each plus a class for the Spirit of Bermuda, starting by herself in the Spirit of Tradition Division. Twenty-nine of the two Newport Bermuda Lighthouse Divisions' entries are also sailing the 25th Onion Patch Series, a tough triathlon of offshore racing.  These Onion Patch racers sailed the New York Yacht Club 160th Annual Regatta presented by Rolex and form the core of the June 27nd Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta. The RBYC Anniversary Regatta is open to all IRC or ORR rated yachts over 25 feet. Entries close at noon on June 25th. Information is at Onion Patch Series.