No one is holding a gun to your head and saying you have to buy an expensive tacktick... You can buy a $2 wrist compass and be compliant.
The majority of the top of the fleet at NA's did not have any electronics on board, so if you want to argue that you need to buy these gadgets to be competitive think again. I have a tacktick and I hardly ever sail with it because in most conditions it's more of a distraction than anything. I can tell a header without having big numbers to tell me.
As far as the trackers goes... they were cheap boost cell phones that only sent signals. Doesn't the wording say receive GPS?