The Sailing GPS

[StevenBauer]

Have any of you guys tried this thing? It looks pretty cool.

http://www.thesailinggps.com/




Steven

[Ian McColgin]

Gotta wonder why this program was not built in before? Could it be that if you just sail along keeping an eye on the SOG and COG and off-course angles you'll more immediatly see how far out on a tack you should go? With current and such vaguries already factored?

[StevenBauer]

FeaturesFast, simple operation. Just enter Wind Direction and Bearing to get your Optimal Route displayed.Daylight-readable. Water-resistant. Portable and handheld.Durable: just drop it in your bag on the way to the boat. No glass screen to worry about.Comes in a waterproof soft bag with tie-downs.Double the battery power in the iPhone and Blackberry Storm 2.Easily viewed with polarized sunglasses, unlike smartphones and tablets.The first GPS device ever that can learn your boat's unique speed profile on all points of sail, to make customized projections about arrival times.
(More accurate than generic polar plots from manufacturers or simulations.)Bluetooth for wireless sharing of GPS data with a PC. Export polar plots. Import waypoints.For sailboats of all sizes, old and new, and everyone from occasional sailors to racers.

How Does It Work?When heading on some angle into the wind, sailors face the longstanding seafarer's dilemma of how close to the wind to sail.
Do you pinch close to the wind to shorten your distance, even with a loss in speed?
Or head off the wind to pick up speed (but increasing distance to travel)?You might think that modern electronics would have provided a solution for this long-standing navigation problem.
But even if you spend $1000 or more on a GPS or chartplotter from any manufacturer,
as soon as you start tacking upwind the ETA may blank out as if you are off-course.
Click here to find out why.
Fortunately, The Sailing GPS solves these problems.Whether you are racing, long-distance cruising or pond sailing on a Sunday afternoon,
you can see the optimal tacking route at a glance.Just enter the directions of the wind and your destination with two buttons and the optimal tacking angles are displayed.
Enter your boat length, distance to destination and wind speed, and we can now calculate your Tacking Time to Destination (tm)
as well as the distances on each tacking leg.Even experienced sailors have a difficult time picking the optimal sailing angle, especially when you are not heading directly upwind.
The Sailing GPS provides a simple solution for this longstanding problem.




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[StevenBauer]

Publications and Product ReviewsGizmodo (April 2012) - A GPS Designed Specifically for Pirates (and Other Sailing Types)GizMag (April 2012) - The Sailing GPS understands tacking... and lots more (required reading if you sail)48 North - The Sailing Magazine (April 2011, p. 35)
Digital edition here. Web site: 48north.com
Review of The Sailing GPS and our SailTimer app:
Article in January 2010 boat show issue of GAM on Yachting magazine (848k PDF).Featured in Yachting World, January 2010 issue, page 32.
Online version of that issue available for purchase here."Bad News for Velocity Made Good": article from the May-June 2009 issue of GAM on Yachting magazine
(836k PDF). For a summary of the problem, see this page.

[John B]

It assumes a fixed wind direction though doesn't it. Where I sail its all about picking the wind shifts and calling the tide.( even though our tide range isn't that severe.)

[Hwyl]

You would still use smoke and mirrors if there was current, I like it though, I can;t see how it can operate without the wind vane. http://www.sailtimerwindvane.com/

The problem with VMG and ETA meters, is they cannot read momentum, so if you are doing 6 knots on a close reach, say 60 degrees to the true wind and then luff head to wind, you'll carry 5 knots for awhile and the VMG will think that is sustainable.