Why, that the latest and greatest Cyclone 2000 , gauranteed to whistle up some wind for any boat carrying it! It's an excellent training device (especially for crews in predominately light-wind areas), but not class-legal. It seems the Voodoo Engineer stopped making them when the price of steel went up due to the Chinese building another planet As such, there aren't enough to outfit all the Olypic racers.
They have their downsides though, as the price of these units is $1k each, plus some hair and clothing samples from each of the crew. While it's not a lot of monetary output, you have to be prepared to burst into flames at any moment.
G-Cat 5.7M #583 (sail # currently 100) in Bradenton, FL
Hobie 14T
There was a thread about that picture on Sailing Anarchy a while back. I looked but can't find it. Someone there, who reported to have had good information on the subject, stated that this was a gps tracking pod.
It's for the camera, I was involved in the design of the units.. The GPS unit was attached to the stb hull just in front of the front beam, you can see the dark patch on the deck where the velcro was stuck to attach the unit to the selected boats, they were rotated on a daily basis.
As such, there aren't enough to outfit all the Olypic racers.
