BMEA

Katie Miller, the 2006 Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year, has scored another first – as the youngest female skipper to complete the OSTAR.  Katie was the ninth person to finish, as she raced across the line on bluQube at 0729 hours BST on 17 June 2009.

As an international ambassador for Raymarine, Katie’s Beneteau Figaro II was fully equipped with the latest navigational, communication and safety products to help her on her way.  While her instruments and chartplotter provided vital navigational and positional data, it was her autopilot and AIS transceiver that came in for the most praise from Katie as she crossed the finish line.

“The best bits of kit on board were definitely my autopilot and the AIS,” she said.  “The pilot was so reliable that I could sleep very easily – even if it was only for forty minutes or so.”  Sailing single-handed across the busy shipping lanes in the Atlantic meant that Katie had to keep a particular eye out for other vessels.  Her boat was equipped with Raymarine’s AIS500.  This Automatic Identification System (AIS) transceiver enabled her to set up proximity alarms that would alert her to any vessels in the area emitting AIS data.  She said, “Even though I was in the middle of the Atlantic I still saw my fair share of ships and the majority of these were drawn to my attention by the AIS500’s proximity alarm.  Knowing you have another pair of eyes onboard means you can take other tasks in hand without worrying about keeping a constant look out.”

All the Raymarine equipment on board – from instruments to chartplotter, radar to radio, autopilot to AIS – were fully integrated so Katie could see all vital information at a glance. This system-wide accessibility of vital information enabled her to utilise all available data to help get the best racing result; her award winning achievement in being the youngest female skipper to complete this gruelling race.

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