The SailTimer GPS was launched in the US recently for around US374 amid a lot of very interesting claims. Having researched the various technologies available for creating your own polar diagram I thought this device was rather innovative in its approach. since it claims to effectively create a polar diagram “on the fly”.
“…This is the first device in the history of sailing that can instantly tell you your optimal tacking angles. And it can do this by learning the performance (“polar plots”) of your individual boat on different points of sail. The Sailing GPS uses artificial intelligence to learn your boat’s unique performance with different wind angles, and then recommend the tacking angles that will get you there fastest. The only SailTimer product that has this learning algorithm is The Sailing GPS…”
Normal GPS units do not account for the fact that sailboats tack to their destination. If they don’t know how far the distance travelled is, obviously they can’t calculate the ETA properly. The Sailing GPS is the only device in the world that correctly calculates tacking distances, in order to display accurate arrival times and optimal tacking angles (patent pending).
There have been versions of the core SailTimer software used for Google Maps, Windows, Google Earth, iTunes and versions licensed to PC chartplotting programs, such as NavSim SailCruiser and MacENC.
Is this real competition for the top packages listed here that do take into account tacking lay lines and optimal routing? How about combining weather and tidal flow routing with the software algorithm in this device – now that would be clever!
Having researched the articles on optimal routing recently, one of the many avenues of related research that presented itself was of course to do with determining what your boat performance characteristics really are. For a sailing yacht this at the very least involves having as reasonably accurate Polar Diagram.
I have now discovered that the University of Technology at Delft have developed a mathematical model based on their research into hull design and performance which they call the Delft Systematic Yacht Hull Series (DSYHS)
Their research ranges from traditional sailing yachts to systematic research to research on modern racing machines. Over the last 35 years research has focused on the influence of various parameters (hull parameters or heel and trim of the yacht) on the total resistance and sideforce production of the yacht. A total number of around 60 yachts have been tested and this number is still rising.
The outcome of this research has been used to devise a hydrodynamic model that can be used to calculate the resistance components on a sailing yacht based on hull parameters. These expressions have been used to create a Velocity Prediction Program (or VPP), in which the performance of a generic yacht can be predicted.
Based on the DSYHS research Mikael Razola and Jakob Kuttenkeuler have created Polar Designer. This is a free web based program that you can use to calculate a polar diagram for your own yacht.
While researching my 7 part article on Routing Software I came across a number of packages that just amazed me in their sophistication or some aspect of their functionality that I thought was particularly good. Some of these packages are very low cost or even free. Many will run on handhelds or netbooks. Some will import and export waypoints, routes and tracks to the big name chart plotters.
The thrust of my previous article was of course Weather Routing NOT chart plotting. In other words taking into account all the data inputs such as GPS, Wind, Weather, Obstacles, Dangers, and boat characteristics in order to calculate an optimal ROUTE.
For the sake of my sanity I had to omit the packages listed below in that review – but they really do deserve a mention as they would all be great aides to navigation and are all extraordinary value for money – and some also do Weather Routing as well as Chart Plotting!
I have created a small table of these software packages that you may consider looking into.
WinGPS4was released in 2004, and probably the most popular navigation program in the Dutch market. It now incorporates weather routing and is available in all the main European languages. It uses DKW charts and can also use BSB charts from Maptech and BSB4 NV. Digital charts from NV-Verlag.
PolarView NS is available for Apple Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. It combines marine chart planning, tides and weather with live GPS navigation and AIS capabilities.
PC Plotter 5000 will run on Apple Mac as well as Microsoft Vista,and XP It can read Navionics Gold and Platinum charts from SD, MMC and CF cards and can also read/write route/ waypoint files from Raymarine, Lowrance, Furuno Navnet, Eagle, Geonav, Hummingbird and Northstar plotters.
It is unusual in that in can support all Navionics chart media so is particularly useful for those who already have Raymarine plotters and need a laptop based system for planning or as a backup or ancillary system.
TidePlan2 can calculate a route using tidal flow information, and give you the correct Course to Steer. It is aimed at English Channel and Bristol Channel sailing in particular. Multi leg passages can be calculated and the arrival time, rather than the departure time, can be specified. Once a route has been calculated there is a facility for optimisation of the start time. This will find the start time, within 6 hours of the initial start time, that produces the fastest passage. The recalculated route is then displayed.
The list of trackpoints produced by the program can be viewed, printed, saved and exported to the OziExplorer program, the Chart Navigator Pro program, the SeaClear II program or to your GPS receiver. They can also be exported in formats suitable for the G7ToWin and Waypoint+ GPS management programs.
OziExplorer can be used on land or sea with the appropriate GPS and scanned maps e.g. BSB, USGS DRG, ECW, SID, TIF, PNG, etc.
It has direct support for most Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance/Eagle, Brunton/Silva and MLR GPS receivers for Uploading and Downloading Waypoints, Routes and Tracks.
It also has a 3d version and a half price CE version for handhelds.
SailRouter™ is software that calculates the quickest sailing route relative to the weather forecast and sailing boat polar diagram data, i.e. it calculates the quickest sailing route in terms of user-defined departure and arrival points, boat type and departure time according to the weather forecast for the specified sailing area.
Moreover, if the customer wants to avoid a strong wind, the SailRouter can calculate the optimum sailing route, i.e. the quickest sailing route with weaker wind strength than the user-defined maximum wind. It can also calculate the waiting time, if necessary to avoid a too strong wind.
SailPlanner incorporates its own sophisticated route optimization tool to find the best route for your boat in the taking into account the current weather data.
SailFast™ is a PC-based navigation program used to predict optimum routes for offshore racing and cruising. Weather information is imported directly from Grib forecasts of wind, current and sea level pressure. Built-in Gulf of Maine tidal currents are already included.
Taking into account vessel speed characteristics and predicted wind and current, SailFast™ determines the fastest course from start to finish, or between any 2 waypoints. “Isochron” methods are used to find a globally optimized route. A typical isochron solution from start to finish takes about 3-5 minutes to compute.
OpenCPN is a free software project to create a concise chart plotter and navigation software for use as an underway or planning tool. OpenCPN is developed by a team of active sailors using real world conditions for program testing and refinement.
The 406 MHz units were designed specifically for satellite detection and Doppler location, and provide the following:
improved location accuracy and ambiguity resolution;
increased system capacity (i.e. capability to process a greater number of beacons transmitting simultaneously in field of view of satellite);
increased probability of detection (higher power);
global coverage; and
unique identification of each beacon.
System performance is greatly enhanced both by the improved frequency stability of the 406 MHz units and by operation at a dedicated frequency.
These beacons transmit a 5 Watt RF burst of approximately 0.5 seconds duration every 50 seconds. The carrier frequency is very stable and is phase-modulated with a digital message. Frequency stability ensures accurate location, while the high peak power increases the probability of detection.
For a treatise on the whole Search and Rescue topic you need go no further than good old Wikipedia of course, and it was here that I looked for explanations of what legal or international standards our EPIRB products should adhere to. They all seem to claim a variety of compliance certificates! The definitive list of standards can be found on the actual COSPAS-SARSAT web site here.
Also, when it comes to the actual operation of the SAR service, training, response type etc…there is also some international variability according to this Wikipedia article ….”…With or without formal underlying foundations, numerous SAR organisations develop their own proprietary training curricula and operational protocols, which are available and applicable only to their own members. In the US SAR standards are developed primarily by ASTM International and the USNFPA which are then used by organizations such as the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA), the US National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR), and the USNFPA to develop training that will meet or exceed those standards. Within ASTM International, most standards of relevance to SAR are developed by Committee F32 on Search and Rescue. Formed in 1988, the committee had 85 current members and jurisdiction of 38 approved standards. ….”
Obviously you will want to get your EPIRB registered – something that most good dealers will do for you. If you are in doubt then I recommend looking at the excellent COSPAS-SARSAT web site FAQ’s for information about your country’s registration process and the unique country code identifiers.
You will also want to buy an EPIRB that has the correct approvals – not just a long list of acronyms that look impressive – again check out COSPAS-SARSAT – they provide a list of products by manufacturer here.
From this web site it is of note that:
A particular beacon model may be sold under several different names. All alternative beacon model names provided to the Cospas-Sarsat Secretariat by the beacon manufacturer are listed in the detailed report. Detailed reports can be accessed via the table listing beacon models by Cospas-Sarsat type approval number.
Some manufacturers use the same beacon model names for beacons with different type approval numbers.
Cospas-Sarsat Numbers (No.) starting at 700 identify special use beacons. These beacon models are compatible with the Cospas-Sarsat System; however, they do not satisfy all Cospas-Sarsat technical and testing requirements as detailed in Cospas-Sarsat documents C/S T.001 (406 MHz beacon specification) and T.007 (406 MHz beacon type approval standard). Therefore, they have not received a Cospas-Sarsat Type Approval Certificate.
In the maritime domain, EPIRBs are designated as either float free (FF) or a non-float free (Non FF). FF EPIRBs are designed to float away from a sinking vessel and activate automatically, whereas Non FF EPIRBs can only be activated manually.
I am ashamed to say that I didn’t actually get round to replacing my old EPIRB – so I am looking once more at the options on the market, and have whittled it down to three possible contenders. So I looked them up on the COSPAS-SARSAT web site for approved products, to see if they had actually got the correct approvals…
The Digital Yacht SC500A GPS Chart Plotter with built in AIS Receiver is really the sort of thing that the ill fated Raymarine RC400 could have evolved into.
To be fair I have used the RC400 mounted at the helm of my 32ft yacht, and despite all its faults and initial hiccups in getting it to work at all I must say that it has withstood both hell and high water and worked very well for the past 4 years. The trouble is that it doesn’t link to anything and connecting it to PC based chart plotting/planning software is useless- er, yes I do know about RNS…!
So the Digital Yacht range of 5” colour chart plotters caught my eye especially when you see some of the sophisticated things it can do.
Firstly it is a modern device unlike my poor old RC400 and benefits from all the technical hardware innovations of the past 5 years – for example there is an ultra bright display with 256 colours and a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels.
The unit also uses the C-Map cartography which means that you get all of the following features…
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September 7th, 2010|
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Last year I did a quick summary of the EPIRB products
i was able to open this because of the urgent homework in navigation