Thundercat Racing Choose Icom Land Based Comms Solution

Thundercat Racing, one of the world's most exhilarating offshore water sports series is now using an Icom radio system utilising IC-F1000 VHF handportables to assist in the running of their events, making sure that they run smoothly.

Fiona Pascoe, Director of ThunderCat Racing ThunderCat Racing said, ‘We needed a radio system to solve issues including channel usage. Some of the teams and their managers who had VHF radios were listening to directions made by the race directors on the water and on land. What we were having was a situation where there was a lot of chit chat on channels M1 and M2 which we needed to keep silent so we chose a land based solution that provided good range for our type of racing which are normally coastal courses.’

She added, ’Every head of department from our chief marshal to chief steward, safety office, race control, commentator and flag people will have one of these radios. Flag people who are usually at the end of each course are very important to us as they need to know if they need to stop the event and get their flag up as quickly as possible. In our sport, someone can fall out of the boat relatively easy….not getting hurt…it’s just the nature of the racing…so we red flag to stop the race straight away. We expect our safety officers to be there in around 20-30 seconds. Clear precise communication between our team is vitally important.’

As to the radios performance, ‘Clarity is excellent. When you are on a jet ski it is very difficult to hear and we have tried many types of radios. The range is excellent and we have found that working with Icom, their people have been able to teach us how to use the radio and maximise what they can achieve.’

For more details about Thundercat Racing visit their website at ThunderCat Racing.

04/05/2016