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.
IIRC their GPS tracks magically disappeared that night, and their course was blamed on a buddy who was also on RC. It definitely cast a bad shadow on that year, which goes to show it should have been handled swiftly and to the letter of the law in the SIs. If it had, no one would even remember it. A couple of years later, I actually confronted the skipper of one of the boats at an A cat regatta (not Mischa) and it almost came to blows. Later that night we made peace, drank beers, became friends, and I found out he trained by boxing. Needless to say I was pretty glad it didn't come to blows.
"I said, now, I said ,pay attention boy!"
The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea Isak Dinesen If a man is to be obsessed by something.... I suppose a boat is as good as anything... perhaps a bit better than most. E. B. White
