Golden Globe audio leaks, Van den Heede: “Can you look on the site? I don’t see the stars, the moon and the sun.”

The “audio leaks” at the Golden Globe Race (the solo round-the-world race without instruments on long keel boats built before 1988) are the case of the moment among all sailing enthusiasts. The question is this: is it permissible to use amateur radio to get information related not only to the weather but also to one’s own GPS location and that of opponents? The Sailing Newspaper reconstructs the case from the beginning and provides new “suspect” audio.

THAT’S HOW IT ALL STARTED
It all kicked off in late November 2018 when the navigator Jeanne Socrates (read HERE his story) in an interview with Gold Old Boat magazine, told of listening daily to conversations via SSB and HAM radio between radio amateurs and skippers, who received their gps positions daily from shore, via website: “They [the GGR racers] are given their accurate position (from their trackers) as part of their weather forecasts. Please note – they get their positions from talking to radio contacts daily on SSB – the fact that skies are overcast for days on end, preventing sextant sights being taken, does not stop them from knowing exactly where they are from other people who can see their tracker positions! They don’t have to wait to find a ship in their vicinity to talk to on VHF any more….”

That is, “They (the Golden Globe skippers) receive their precise location (from their trackers) as part of their weather forecast. Please note that they get their positions from talking to SSB radio contacts on a daily basis – the fact that the skies are overcast for days on end, preventing sextants from making the point, does not prevent them from knowing exactly where they are from other people who can see their positions on tracking! They no longer have to wait until they find a ship in their vicinity to talk on VHF“.

This is a potential violation of Golden Globe regulations. Race management was quick to point out that the fact that they were receiving gps positions from land did not mean that they were no longer sailing with the sextant: but the case ended up on the lips of all ocean sailing enthusiasts.

Since that time, however, various amateur radio communities have made a habit of listening to and recording the Golden Globe skippers’ conversations with their land-based “teams.” Attention became even higher when Mark Slats, the pursuer of Jean Luc Van de Heede (who is leading the race), in the final rush to Les Sables, was enjoined by Dutch authorities to stop using his HAM radio because he did not have the license to do so. Some international media reported the rumor that Van de Heede was not in possession of the license either, but this is not what interests us for the purposes of the regatta, as this is purely a bureaucratic/legal issue.

THE LATEST “SUSPECT” AUDIO
“Upping the ante” on the controversy, however, are audios from Van den Heede’s last days (we told you about them HERE) and in particular one of the last ones posted by the Golden Globe Radio Club facebook pages on January 23, 2019. In this, the great navigator, now less than 1,000 miles from the finish line, asks for assistance from the tracking website to receive speed and course at regular intervals, failing to take stock with the sextant:

HERE the original audio

ITALIAN TEXT OF SALIENT PASSAGES

Jean Luc : if you get a chance to go to the site and that’s what I’m interested in because I don’t see the sun anymore, I don’t see the stars, I don’t see the moon anymore, I don’t see anything, and how do I do that? Locate me and if you can report it to the next contact, I am interested in the four speeds evidently, because with the course and speed in the last two hours I can know how the boat is doing. These are not real pilots but gait controllers; the boat moves quickly and as a result it is not easy to know the exact course I have; it will be easier for you to locate me;

Amateur Radio: no problem, I’ll try to locate you as best I can since we have tracking every two hours and I’ll try to track it every two hours and then you’ll be the one to tell me what time you want me to transmit it. No problem, it is arranged.

Jean Luc: well at the contact, at the contact, at the next contact you will tell me, 6 hours for X miles at that speed, at noon you have traveled x exact miles. And not worry about getting up at 3 a.m. to know what I did at midnight.

Amateur Radio: no problem, let’s try what you say…. well, I’ll tell you about the last eight hours ; this morning at 8 o’clock you were at 746 (miles from the finish ed.) and Mark’s (Slats) were 1046, that means 300 nautical deviation, and in any case a significant advantage over yesterday. Regarding your course, then, this morning you were at 74° at 7 knots. Mark was at 4, 7 knots at 7°. This constitutes for us an angular deviation in latitude of 4.39°, that if it decreases it is normal, and instead it seems to increase considerably. It is in longitude where you pass now is 24° , in distance traveled in the last 24 hours is 152 nautical miles for you and 74 nautical miles for Mark.

Jean Luc: okay it’s all clear, listen it’s perfect ; as far as Mark is concerned don’t worry about the differences, the miles to his arrival will be enough for me, anyway he’s 300 miles behind, no need to emphasize it, there’s no suspense.”

On this information being received by Van den Heede and previously by the other sailors (Mark Slats can no longer receive it via HAM, as mentioned), there could be a violation of Section 3 et seq. of the Notice of Race (read it HERE GGR-NOR-EN-050218): this is why the “audio leaks” are stirring up so much controversy in the world of ocean sailing.

Jean Luc Van den Heede is just over 400 miles from the finish line, Mark Slats at 850. TRACKING HERE.

Mauro Giuffrè