06 January 2012

SPOT Tracker Hire

The organisation of the Kiwi Brevet is a fairly relaxed affair, but we do have standards! Believe it or not we even have a Health and Safety Plan. That plan requires just one bit of compulsory gear - an emergency locator beacon. You must have something capable of calling for a rescue even when you're out of cell phone range.

Like last time, we are getting a bunch of SPOT trackers in from overseas that you can hire. These trackers send a signal to a sattelite every 10 or 15 minutes, which gets forwarded to the SPOT HQ and then displayed on a web site. This is great fun (and peace of mind) for friends and family back home, who can see where you are at throughout the event. With this device you can send an 'OK' signal or a 'Help' signal. The 'OK' signal goes to the website. The 'Help' signal gets forwarded to '111' here in NZ. One rider activated the 'Help' signal at the inaugural Kiwi Brevet and a rescue helicopter arrived at the top of the Big River track quite promptly.

If you prefer to use a traditional emergency locator beacon, you may. If you are registered as a team (which requires you to ride within ear-shot of your partner at all times) you may share a SPOT or emergency locator beacon.

We're getting 50 SPOT trackers. If you want one, please email Pat Hogan
(patjhogan [at] me.com). Pat's a Kiwi Brevet veteran and has kindly agreed to manage the SPOTs this year. They will cost $80 to hire for the duration of the event (and Pat will hand them out immediately before the event briefing, about 2 hours before the start).

If you are using your own SPOT or emergency locator beacon, you'll need to produce it for inspection before the start. If you supply us with the details of your SPOT beforehand, we'll try to get it included on the tracking page for the event.