Kayak and canoe race timing, with everyone on the map.
For sea-kayak races, canoe marathons and long tours: paddlers carry their phone, you see every boat and who is still out, finishes are timed and provisional results are ready at the last finish.
Sea-kayak races, river and lake marathons, open-water tours with a time.
Marathon day, fixed.
What the race office gets.
Long courses on a map
Start, turn marks and finish — lake, river or coast. Distances are shown as you draw.
Line honours, live
Positions by distance to the finish along the course, gaps in time.
Retired, heading in
A boat that retires stays on the map until it is ashore, with the distance still to go.
SOS and the nearest boats
The paddler’s phone guides the call to the right rescue centre; the race office sees the SOS and the nearest boats the same second.
A live page for families
No app and no login — the map, positions and finishes in any browser.
One phone per boat
K2, C2 or a touring double: one phone is enough, with persons on board entered at joining. A crew backup phone is optional.
Your race on VesselSOS, step by step.
- 01 · YOU
Draw the course
Start, the turns and the finish on the map.
- 02 · YOU
Share the code
At registration or in the race briefing e-mail.
- 03 · PADDLERS
Join in the app
Boat, persons on board — then the phone goes into a waterproof case.
- 04 · YOU
Follow and count them in
Watch the field, mind the cut-off, publish provisional results at the last finish.
Every crew back ashore.
Joining is checking out
Name, boat, persons on board and an ashore contact come with the skipper’s profile — no sign-out sheet.
A tally until 12 / 12
On the water, finished, retired, ashore. Ashore is marked at the harbour; the race closes when everyone is in.
SOS, with the call guided
SOS on the competitor’s phone guides the call to the right rescue centre and alerts the race office the same second, with position.
The 3 nearest boats
One tap asks the three nearest boats to help (RRS 1.1). The time they spend assisting is logged.
VesselSOS is not a rescue service and never alerts a rescue centre for anyone. It does not replace safety boats, VHF or your club’s safety plan. Write your race-day safety plan →
Honest limits.
- Line honours only for now. Checkpoint races and stage timing are SOON.
- Phone GPS is about ±3–5 m — for a close finish, your finish judge decides.
- Positions need mobile coverage; on remote rivers they are buffered and uploaded when the signal returns.
- Canoe and kayak races run under the event’s rules or national / ICF rules — check your notice of race. Rule numbers on this site refer to sailing (RRS).
Free tools for this race.
In your browser, no account. Downloads ask for an email; the tools never do.
Questions
Does it work on a river or lake marathon?
Yes, wherever there is mobile coverage. In valleys without signal the phone keeps recording and uploads when it can; the map shows the last known position meanwhile.
What about doubles and crews with one phone?
One phone per boat is enough. The skipper enters how many people are on board when joining, and a second crew phone can be added as a backup.
Do competitors need a new app?
No. Race mode lives inside the free VesselSOS app, under Profile → Races; home stays the same. Race mode arrives in an app update for the 2027 pilot season — VesselSOS is on iPhone today, Android later. Organisers and spectators use the web.
What happens when someone sends SOS?
SOS works exactly as in the app today: the SOS screen guides the skipper to call the right rescue centre for those waters, with the position ready to read out. In a race it also alerts the race office the same second, and the race office can ask the 3 nearest boats to help (RRS 1.1). VesselSOS does not call or alert the rescue centre for anyone.
Who sees the competitors’ phone numbers?
Only the race office, for safety. The public live page shows boats, positions and results — never phone numbers or contacts. Contact details are deleted 30 days after the race.
What does it cost?
It is free for competitors, always. We are onboarding a small group of clubs as pilots for the 2027 season and agree the terms with each club — no prices yet.
Other races on VesselSOS Racing
Run the whole race on one screen.
VesselSOS Racing is the race-office web app we're building with pilot clubs: draw the course, share a 6-digit code, see every boat live with line and corrected positions — and every crew back ashore. Skippers join in the free VesselSOS app they already carry.