May 2023 (v 2.7.1 292)

A significant new feature and an enhancement, both of which we know will be very popular with clubs and race officers

• Add Club Features such as waypoint, navigational marks and basic chart symbols for your club.

• Select manual location directly from the map or a club map feature which has been added

Club Features - race management oriented charts

We’re really excited to bring you the ability to add map features to Buoy Zone making a race management orient chart available .  This is one of our most requested features! 

Clubs with an active Club Subscription can add key details to their map for all those who join to be able to see. These features include standard chart based symbols such as Marker buoys, Beacons, Lighthouses, rocks etc as well as marks and way-points specific to club activities. The focus is not on replacing navigational charts, rather allowing details relevant to course setting activities to be visible and available to those who need it. 

Before you start, what you need to know:

• Club features are exclusively available to clubs that have a Buoy Zone Club Subscription

• Club features are visible to both those managing a course and joining a course.

• You can only create Club Features for your “Profile Club”

• Club features can be edited by either the user who created them or a Club Admin. 

• Any Club Feature can be selected as a “navigate to function” or can also be used when selecting a manual course location using the “select on map” option

Using Club Features

• To begin adding Club Features click through to “Manage a Course” from the main landing screen. 

  • On the next screen (My Courses), at the top right select “Club Features” then tap the big Orange + Button to begin creating a feature. 

• When selecting the location of a feature it is possible to manually add a coordinate or view the map and scroll to the right location by tapping “Select on Map”

  • Note you may find it useful to toggle on the satellite view layer

• There are options to deactivate features individually if not required, for example clubs may have specific regatta based waypoints which are not always required.

More to come

• We are working on the ability to add “areas” - These will appear as shading or outlines and could depict Areas such as:

  • Course areas - where to set courses

  • Obstructions such as shoals, rocks, reefs, sandbanks etc - where not to set a course 

  • Shipping channels or high traffic areas - areas to avoid 

Select manual locations on the map

Wherever you are able select the location of an item EG Manual course location, Club Feature you have the option to click “select on map” and then select the location you’re looking for on the map. This in addition to the ability to add in both specific coordinates where these are known. 

Note all Club Features are selectable - so for example if you have a mooring or regular course location saved as a Club Feature you can select this as the location of the start boat for the course. 

April 2023

This release has seen the addition of two significant features a few additional ones.

• Course Alert - Allows anyone active on Buoy Zone to raise a “Course Alert

• Join as - Those joining a course now select their role and allocates a specific colour boat icon on map. 

• Enable satellite imagery map view option

• Refinement of buttons on map page

Course Alerts

A feature which we think offers a real innovation for on-water sports and race management. 

This will be especially helpful in the case of general assistance requests, man-over boards, or urgent medic requests. If activated, a notification is sent to all Buoy Zone users who have joined or managed the course in the last 12 hours and alerts them to an assistant request with a location and ‘navigate to’ function. 

“This is an area of innovation we haven’t seen before for on-water sports, where traditionally communications are completely reliant on VHF/Radio,” 

We don’t see Buoy Zone replacing VHF, but we do believe it will expand the range of tools typically used by race officials, and be a valuable way to share more specific details and identify those best placed to respond. 

Using the the Assistance request

1. On the map view select the symbol on the right which looks like a person with their arms out

2. On the pop up screen select the alert type you’re looking for (Man overboard, Assistance Request or Medic Request)

3. Tap the “Activate” button

This will send a notification to anyone who is, or has been active on the course.

To deactivate the Course Alert the individual user or the Race Officer has the option to deactivate the alert from the alert banner on the map screen. 

“Join as” 

This applies to those who are joining a course requiring them to select the role under which they are joining the course. These roles include Mark Vessel, Safety, Umpire, Official, Coach, Spectator, Competitor and Other. The roles all have a unique colour and are reflected throughout, including on the map view and list view. 

As time goes by we see more and more users joining a course for different reasons, some playing and active role and managing a course and others just to observe. The goal through this addition is to allow anyone at a glance to see the role of each boat on the course by colour and descriptor.  

Refreshed map buttons 

The map buttons have been refreshed to include collapsed menu options within. The icons from the top are:

• Centre over start boat 

• Map Layers toggle

  • Satellite image

  • Club features toggle on/off

• Information

  • View mark details

  • View Buoy Zone users active on the course

• Course Alert

• Course Settings (Race Officer only)

21 June, 22 (v 2.6.0 - 258)

Buoy Zone makes it even easier to improve the experience for sailors and race officers by making it possible for clubs to save the course formats and locations they like to use through the Club Templates feature. This feature is currently available for a limited time to all, but will be limited to all clubs who have a Buoy Zone Club Subscription. 

Using the Club Template feature:

Creating new template:

To create Club Templates follow these simple steps

1. From the landing screen select “Manage a Course”

2. Either select an existing course or create a new one. Remember, make sure your course, whether existing or new, is associated with the host club you intend to create the template for. 

3. Set your course settings as you would like to see them saved as a Template. Tip:

if you would like your Template course to be saved in a specific location rather than the dynamically updated GPS location of the RO then change the “start boat location” setting to “Manual course Location.” If you’re reusing an existing course the coordinates will be where you last set the course. If you have created a new course the coordinates will default to your current location, but you can change them.

4. Select the Advanced Courses settings and scroll to the bottom, check the “Set as a club template” field

5. Enter a name for the new Template - this is how the template will be displayed

6. Tap “Set Course” to save and view the template

Using a Club Template:

The Club Templates are available to all Race Officers who select a host club which has saved template(s). Remember when you select from a template course you receive a copy of that template course which you can adjust and edit to make your own, with no worry that you will change the saved “Club Template”. 

1. From the landing screen select “Manage a Course”

2. From the next screen select the + button (Bottom right) to create a new course

3. Choose the Host Country and Club you are creating a course for

4. Select a template course from the “Club course template” drop down

5. The “Course settings” screen allows you to fully adjust the course settings, the template settings are pre-loaded including the course location if the “Start boat location” has been set to “Manual course location”. Tap “Set Course” to view the course