Sailing’s gathering of minds in the name of better beacons

Imagine going to work every day, knowing that what you build could very well save a life sometime in the future.

While it is no doubt motivating and rewarding, the job of building EPIRBs comes with a certain level of responsibility.

It’s a responsibility that GME, a long-time partner of the CYCA, takes very seriously and a major reason why the leader in emergency and safety beacons collaborated with the club earlier this year to organise a high-level workshop with sailing industry experts.

The workshop

Ian Macgregor, GME’s Marine Product Manager, and CYCA Sailing Manager Tara Blanc-Ramos, a group of experienced sailors and industry professionals was brought together to capture user perspectives on world-class marine safety and communication equipment.

There were representatives from leading organisations like AMSA, NSW Marine Area Command, Marine Rescue NSW and Australian Sailing, including from their National Safety Committee. The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, Southport Yacht Club, Fremantle Sailing Club, Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron and of course the CYCA were involved, as were elite sailors like Ty Oxley, Murray Spence and Alice Tarnawski.

All shared the same core priority: if they ever needed to use emergency marine safety equipment, they wanted the device to be the very best available.

Ian Macgregor

Macgregor said the workshop was an in depth look at how GME could take market leading products and make them better.

“When you’re in the design phase of product development, you often start with a set of assumptions about what the finished product would be,” Macgregor said.

“So before committing to anything, let’s reach out to the people who use this equipment every day and hear their thoughts.

“You’re looking to validate your assumptions around a particular product or feature. The result is to decide which features to include or exclude in the final product.

“That sort of stakeholder engagement is really important. It’s going to form a critical piece of the development phase. It was a very valuable discussion.”

Which brings us back to Macgregor and GME’s daily drive to produce products that could potentially save a life.

“There’s probably not a day that goes by I wouldn’t think about that,” Macgregor said.

“Just walking out onto the production floor and seeing the team building emergency beacons, you know that one of those devices heading out the door could be the one someone activates when they’re at the end of their tether and in real trouble.

“Marine safety equipment is difficult to design and manufacture. Every step of the process involves multiple layers of complexity and challenges, resulting in a high barrier to market. In the end, this results in products reaching market that can truly make a difference and can be relied upon to save lives.”

Reliability

So, what is the most important consideration when designing and building a device that, for some sailors, will ensure they make it home at the end of the journey.

“It has to do everything it says it will,” Macgregor says matter-of-factly.

“If we say that it operates for 24 hours, then it must do that. In fact, it’s got to exceed it.

“It’s reliability. It must be reliable from day one to the end of its useful life. That’s front and centre of product development.”

Tara Blanc-Ramos

For Blanc-Ramos, whose role involves managing the day-to-day sailing operations at the CYCA, including the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, any development in areas of safety are front of mind.

“When GME came to us with the idea of this workshop, it wasn’t something we wanted to do, it was something we felt we couldn’t not do,” Blanc-Ramos said.

“The CYCA is one of the world’s leading offshore racing clubs and we run some of the biggest races on the global sailing calendar, so the safety of our competitors is paramount.

“We have had some incidents in the past and we have learned from them. One of those lessons was to make the use of Personal AIS Beacons mandatory in our major races.

“In the Rolex Sydney Hobart and all our major offshore races, for instance, every crew member is now required to carry both an AIS Man Overboard (MOB) beacon and a PLB during the race.

“If we can help a trusted partner like GME to make those products even better, and in turn make our events safer for competitors, then why wouldn’t we. It’s a no-brainer.”

Featured image: Black Jack sailors wearing their safety gear during the 2026 Newport Bermuda Race – Ashley Dart pic.