Know they are looked after. Know they got back
You pay for the boat, the sails, the entries and the trailer, and you spend Saturday on a beach watching a dot. This page is about what happens to your child on the water, what you can see, and what you cannot.
They push off, and you are on the beach
For the next two hours they are a small sail a long way out, and every parent on that beach is counting the same boats. You want to know they are being looked after, and you want to know they got back.
Follow them with a code. You see your sailor, and nobody else
Your child shares a following code with you. You see their sailing — and only theirs. Other followers never see each other, and you never see anyone else's sailor.
They control it, and they can take it back. That matters to a fifteen-year-old, and it is the difference between a tool they will keep using and one they quietly turn off.
Groups and following, in the RaceZen app
One tap when something goes wrong
Becalmed and needing a tow, gear failure, or injured and needing urgent help — three buttons, no typing, no explaining a position over a handheld radio with numb hands.
The app is straight about what this is: a safety assist, not a guarantee, and not a substitute for a VHF radio, flares or a PLB.
Get Help Now, in the RaceZen app
The race committee can see the whole fleet
While the racing happens, the committee boat has every boat on one view — live positions, last known positions, and alerts for any boat that stops responding or stops moving.
The people responsible for your child on the water can see the whole fleet at once, instead of counting sails through binoculars.
The fleet view the race committee works from
Nothing to press while they are sailing
An eight-year-old in an Optimist has no spare hand for a watch. The countdown is spoken to them and the recall status appears by itself, so the phone is a display rather than a job.
Send them out with a charged phone in a ventilated mount made for the boat they actually sail.
What they see on the water
Questions parents ask
Can I see where my child is?
- Yes, if they share a following code with you. You see their sailing on a map.
- They give you the code, and they can take it back whenever they want.
- This is deliberate. A tool a teenager controls is one they will keep using; a tool imposed on them gets quietly switched off.
Who else can see my child?
- Only the people your child has given a code to. Nobody can find them by searching.
- Other followers cannot see each other, and you never see anyone else's child.
- The club sees the whole fleet, including your child, because it is the club running the racing and looking after everyone on the water.
What happens if something goes wrong out there?
- There are three buttons on the screen: becalmed and needing a tow, gear failure, and injured and needing urgent help.
- One tap sends the alert with their position. No typing, no reading out coordinates with cold hands.
- Being straight with you: this is a safety assist, not a guarantee. It does not replace a safety boat, a buoyancy aid, a VHF radio, flares or a PLB.
What can the race committee see?
- Every boat in the fleet on one screen while the racing is happening.
- Last known position for any boat, and an alert if a boat stops responding or stops moving.
- It means the people already responsible for your child can see the whole fleet at once, rather than counting sails through binoculars.
What phone does my child need?
- Any reasonably modern iPhone or Android phone will run RaceZen.
- It should be a phone you could afford to lose. Boats capsize, and things go over the side.
- Many families use a cheap second-hand handset that lives in the boat bag, which also means no calls or notifications during a start.
Will the phone last the whole day?
- Comfortably. Drawdown testing with the RaceZen app running gave about fifteen hours.
- Send them out charged and that covers rigging, launching, a postponement on the water, the racing and the sail home.
- The app is the only thing that needs to be running — there is no separate timer or tracking app alongside it.
- An older phone whose battery has lost capacity will not reach the same figure.
Does my child have to do anything while sailing?
- No. The countdown is spoken to them and the recall status appears on its own.
- An eight-year-old in an Optimist has no spare hand for a watch, so the phone is a display rather than a job.
- Everything is set up before they launch.
