after bubs post i am just wondering what is actually involved in the GSC, i know what gps is and that it is to get speed, but what is involved in it, is it just trying to get the fasting speed around a coarse,...
of cource there is more to it than that, but what?
chears
jordan
Jord, this is the laymans version.
Its not racing around a course.
You know what a GPS is, in this case it is measuring your speed and distance travelled over a period of time - 1 second intervals. That is every second the GPS registers where you are and how quickly you got there from the position you were in 1 second before.
The GPS team challenge involves 6 categories.
2 second peak: the fastest speed attained over 2 seconds
5 x 10 second average: the fastest average speed attained from 5 different 10 second runs
1 hour: the highest average speed attained in any 1 hour of sailing
alpha racing: (tricky one this) the fastest speed attained by sailing up, gybing and then sailing with the distance being 500m from the start to the finish - (i'm probably wrong with this one and someone else can explain better)
Nautical Mile: the fastest average speed over a straight nautical mile
Distance travelled: the accumulated distance travelled in any one session.
Basically racing against the clock.
In the instance of a team, you have to have 2 or more people register in any one day for your scores to count. this is the team aspect.
At the end of each session, you download the data from your GPS into a program called RealSpeed. It works out the categories for you 
Hope that helps.
At first, you just strap the GPS on and go for a sail. Have a blast, and worry about the numbers later.
Then, after you've uploaded your numbers, and realised how slow you are in comparison to everyone else, the red mist descends, and you set out on a concerted effort to improve your numbers. Tactical strikes are mounted with team mates on specific categories, the mythical "20 knots all day" conditions are dreamed about to crack the elusive 200 km mark. New gear is purchased, fins polished, relationships suffer, and you turn into a slavering monster whenever the forecast looks like you might be able to crack a PB by 0.01 of a knot...
Run away now, Jordo, and don't give in to the demonic device!!!!!
thanks for that. grumps, nebs, and decrepit
it sound intresting, but not too sure, doesnt sound as good a freestyle and waveriding, but still if i run out of things to buy, i might just go get one and have a crack at it, i have 2 good boards for speed, and a few good sails, 
