It sounds like a situation that a gps tracker could have simplified. We're such devices in use for that race?
Everyone typically had a GPS unit for navigation and there was talk about having the teams submit their tracks to prove their innocence. I don't recall if this actually took place.
Sat nav (spots or EPIRBS) didn't exist. Epirbs at the time were a little more rudimentary in that they could signal a satellite to indicate an emergency but they couldn't transmit their location. The satellite would get rescue teams close but the EPIRB also emitted a warble locator signal on the aircraft beacon frequency that rescue crews could zero in on with radio equipment.
