Skipper Nilah Miller is racing this week with crew Mason Baird and Sam Heighway on a RS21. It's their first time racing the boat and at the end of day two, the team from Clemson University were tied for first with a solid ten-point lead over the third place. During the regatta, the RS21 fleet has been testing the Vakaros Atlas 2 / RaceSense device, a start line tool that is quickly gaining the respect of the sailing community.

"We've been trying different things and trying to learn the boat this week and the Vakaros software has been cool," Miller said. "We like how you can ping the lines remotely and don't have to press the five-minute button anymore!"

Vakaros is a wireless instrumentation company working in the sailing world and at Charleston Race Week they have been running their new OCS Detection and Race Management Platform called RaceSense.

The new tool that can help monitor the starting line, a terrific aid for racers and race committees alike. CRW is the company's tenth event (they've done two in Europe and eight in the US) where they have had an opportunity to work with racers and race committees in a live racing situation.

This week the RS21 fleet agreed to trial the Vakaros Atlas 2. The digital device is placed on the goose neck and basically shows where you are on the starting line and indicates to the competitor on a small screen if they are on the course side, signaling if they need to return to the start. It uses wireless mesh technology and a Garmin 3 chip for quicker upload and accuracy.

"It's exciting to see CRW and RS21 accepting and starting to adopt new technology like this," Will Huerth, Vakaros' director of sales said. "It's a more efficient, fair, and fun way to go about sailing and it's exciting to see the RS21 youth sailors embracing the Atlas 2, and the race committee love its autonomous lights and flags. To see this all come together at Charleston Race Week is an awesome platform and showcase for us and RS21."

Vakaros is working with classes like the M32, the 69F, and the Melges24, and is thrilled to engage with the RS21 fleet, an exciting new class with a big presence in Europe and growing in the US.

Charleston Race Week PRO Taran Teague, commented, "We're playing with the technology and comparing it using a spotter on the RS21 course - Vakaros are working to get the margin of error improved before the product goes into real use. There are a lot of variables on a start line, boats are rolling around on their anchor rode, the flag is not always in the correct position at the right time, the line moves...this is a great product and I've been watching it for three years."

Teague added, "As head of the race management committee for US Sailing, we want to embrace technology, understand it and to continue to improve our sport and the products that work with our sport. That's why we have been actively engaged in understanding the Vakaras Atlas 2 product - I think it could really enhance our sport and that's why our race managers in the country are really working with it."