Wild Oats Maxi Yacht and Advanced Navigation Inertial Navigation System

Wild Oats XI is an Australian maxi yacht, most famous for being the race record holder and a nine-times line honours winner of the Sydney to Hobart Race. Her helmsman, Mark Richards, is recognised as the race’s most successful skipper.

She is one of the fastest and most technologically advanced ocean racing yachts in the world, with an innovative carbon hull and a hydraulic canting keel* so powerful it could lift a jumbo jet off the ground.  She was also the first international racing yacht to feature a hydrofoil, an underwater wing-like structure that lifts her bow and reduces the hull’s drag. Thanks to the ground-breaking design, she can reach speeds close to 35 knots!

But when it comes to winning a race, it is the sailing navigation that is paramount, and to make the right decisions, the crew need to be able to rely on accurate and reliable information. That is why, in 2014, Wild Oats chose Advanced Navigation to commission a high-accuracy navigation, heading and leeway system for their renowned maxi yacht.

Vito Guarrera updating Spatial Dual's firmware

A recent software update for the Spatial Dual INS was a great opportunity for Advanced Navigation Support’s team to head to the race yacht to install the new firmware and gather some valuable feedback from the Wild Oats team. Vito Guarrera, Technical Sales Manager at Advanced Navigation, also took the time to demonstrate the full potential of the Spatial Manager software to the crew.

After almost 4 years in a challenging marine environment, the INS is still working perfectly and shows no signs of wear even after the yacht is struck by lightning! The free update will further increase positioning accuracy, giving the crew an edge when it comes to tactical navigation decisions.

Job done

*A canting keel is a form of sailing ballast suspended from a rigid canting strut beneath the boat, which can be swung windward of a boat under sail to counteract the heeling force of the sail.