Raymarine support Hatfield

Spirit of Canada gets her electronics package

Raymarine, the world leader in marine electronics, announced today it would once again support Derek Hatfield and the Spirit of Canada Ocean Challenges team. As a Platinum Partner, Raymarine will completely outfit the new Open 60 ocean racer, Spirit of Canada, with a complete electronics package that includes autopilots, radar, navigation aids, instruments, communications, software and systems.

“We are very excited to have Raymarine back as our official electronics partner, said Derek Hatfield, Spirit of Canada skipper. “In the last race around the world, the Open 40 was totally kitted out with Raymarine electronics, autopilots and software and it all worked beautifully.”

We are pointing our bows to the 5-Oceans race in 2006, it is acknowledged as the longest, hardest event for an individual in any sport. It is a single-handed around-the-world ocean race that spans eight months and 28,700 nautical miles of grueling competition. Derek finished in 3rd place in class II in the 2002/03 Around Alone (now the 5-0ceans) race sailing a 40-foot racer, despite a life threatening and catastrophic capsize near Cape Horn.

He’s thrilled that Raymarine will be there to support him as he builds a new 60-foot Spirit of Canada for the next race in the fall of 2006.

“Because I know the electronics intimately, I have the utmost confidence in Raymarine’s reliability and functionality. This confidence will go a long way to ensure the Team’s success in this highly competitive IMOCA Open 60 Class,” says Hatfield. “The Raytheon 6001 autopilot was still working after 35,000 miles around the world. When I had electrical problems in New Zealand, Raymarine tech support found a solution quickly and was unbelievably supportive.”