Smart – and fast – fellow

Volvo Race-winning navigator and tracking guru Stan Honey has come a long way since his days of racing 505s on San Francisco Bay

Offshore record attempts on giant mono and multihulls, a Volvo Ocean Race victory, Disney’s recent Morning Light movie, Team Origin, Harbor Wing Technologies’ WingSail, even Monday night football. Everywhere we turn Stan Honey’s subtle stamp is visible. Go for a ride in a car with a navigation system, guess what? Stan Honey pioneered the moving digital map displays and in-vehicle navigation back in 1983, the year Alan Bond’s boys opened up the America’s Cup to the world (for a while at least – ed).

Honey used his Yale and Stanford degrees in electrical engineering and applied science to kick off a 30-year career developing navigation, tracking and remote sensing systems for automobile navigation and radio-positioning systems, as well as TV broadcast enhancements such as the well-known yellow first-down line in American football, the K-zone baseball tracking system, the highlighted hockey puck, and highlighted NASCAR cars for those who would rather spend their weekends in front of the television. And throughout that career Honey was also taking on the navigation responsibilities for some very serious sailing projects, including among others Sayonara, Pyewacket, PlayStation and ABN Amro.

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