For the 1st time I am aware of a race organizer is requiring boats to carry cell phones. The Notice of Race for the MM Yacht Club’s 100 Miler reads: ‘13.3 Yachts shall have a cell phone on board.’

Race organizers want the phones on board so they can be notified when boats drop out. In the past boats have dropped out and either not notified the race committee or been unable to reach them via VHF radio. Sometimes those awaiting boats and their crews have become a little panicked and the cell phone requirement is to try and help with this.

This is an improvement but probably not a fail safe. I don’t know how the cell phone coverage is on the Bay of Green Bay, but if it is like anywhere else it’s never 100% all of the time.

Like a lot of things this comes down to responsibility and seeing beyond your own nose. If you enter any race and drop out notifying race organizers can save a chain reaction that can affect many others.

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