Ask any mark-boat volunteer what irks them most about setting a start pin for a class that allows GPS-based ­starting devices and chances are the response you’ll get is: “The pinging chaos.” What a pain it is to stream or reset tackle while crews swarm like flies, yelling and banging into each other. Pinging is a modern annoyance for everyone, but the engineers at Vakaros, makers of starting devices that contributed to the problem in the first place, have finally rolled out a solution that could put an end to it.

With its new Atlas2 units flying off the shelf and the companion race-management software getting into the hands of PROs, Vakaros says the stresses of ­getting—and delivering—a good and fair start are fast becoming a thing of the past. Race committees and marshmallows rejoice.

“[RaceSense] is something we’ve been talking about for a long time, and we’re now at a place where we have the technology ready and the bandwidth to focus on it,” says Vakaros co-founder Jake Keilman. “We’re going from it being something possible to something that will become very common.”

That something is more effectively orchestrating starts using better GPS technology. That means sharper time-and-distance accuracy for the sailors and more-accurate OCS calls for the race committee. The RaceSense platform isn’t all about starts, though. It can essentially manage an entire race from start to finish.

Keilman says it’s a game-changer, which is hard to dispute. Modern times call for modern technology, and that technology is here.

The Atlas2, a compact (4.5-by-3.5-inch) instrument, has all the essential features and then some—timer, compass, heel angle, etc., with a significantly upgraded hardware and battery package that also has been a long time coming. 

“We held back on the Atlas2 to get the newer technology,” Keilman says. “We’re now at a place where the GPS accuracy will match or exceed the human eye calling the start line in any situation you could imagine.”

Catamarans, foilers and other high-speed craft breaking the line at 20 knots? Absolutely, says Keilman. They’ve proven as much with test events in Miami this winter with both the M32 Catamaran and 69F classes, which use reaching starts.

Racecourse ­management once exclusive to the America’s Cup and SailGP has been scaled for the average sailor with the RaceSense and Atlas2 platform, says Vakaros co-founder Todd Wilson. 

“There were a number of ­challenges we had to really think about to solve. One was position accuracy, but the other was communications, which in a lot of ways was the greater challenge. Then there’s the overall user ­experience—can they interact with the units? Can race committees send messages and other data straight to competitors? Will there be additional ­hardware that has to be added to the boat?”

The answers are all packed into the diminutive Atlas2. The critical internal compass and sensors are the best they could source for the price, and the battery will last the duration of a three-day regatta without requiring a daily charge.

With access to dual-band GPS, they were able to solve the accuracy hurdle. Previous units relied on a single GPS signal, which is subject to anomalies in the atmosphere and can result in errors in the range of 2 meters, Keilman says. “Dual GPS takes us to 50 centimeters of error—or maybe even better under optimal conditions.”

That promise of 50 centimeters of on-the-line accuracy is the tech leap they needed to make it all worthwhile. With the communications challenge sorted, they now have a device that’s a lot more than your old-school starting aid, timer and compass. Race tracking and data logging make post-race debriefs honest discussions.

How does it all work in practicality? The racecourse mesh network would be set up with units marking each end of the starting line. The ­tablet-based RaceSense app in the race committee’s hands gives the PRO a controlling view of the racecourse. They can verify the course is set, control timing, and send messages to the competitors’ units.

Before the race, each competitor with an Atlas2 automatically checks in with the race committee once in range. (Although the unit does need to be registered with the race committee beforehand.) It’s the equivalent of coming within hail, shouting your sail number, and waving to the committee secretary. A green light on the unit will indicate they’ve joined the race, and then they will receive any messages from the race committee (e.g., start time, course length, mark bearings).

Once connected, the sailor can carry on with pre-race drills. When the race committee initiates a starting sequence, a notice overrides timers and updates previous mark pings. “All the boats get a live sense of where the line is as it moves around during the sequence,” Wilson says. “The competitor does not need to ping or interact with the unit at all; they just get notifications—sounds, lights, messages onscreen to keep everyone in sync.”

With time, distance, boatspeed and angle displayed prominently in big black digits, there should be no reason to be over early. But it happens, and when it does, it’s impossible to miss the red flashing light atop the unit and the big bold OCS on the display.

The RaceSense app shows the race committee which boats are over early (and whether they’ve exonerated their penalty), which theoretically eliminates the practice of ducking for cover behind an exposed boat and getting away with it. The spotter doesn’t need to see you to ding you.

For classes that currently do not allow distance-to-the-line functionality, the units can be configured to be class-­compliant, but the race committee can still communicate and alert OCS boats. “We’re adaptable to class rules,” Wilson says.

With real-world winter trials underway and an expanding list of classes and events adopting the RaceSense experiment, it’s in the early days yet in terms of realizing the full potential of the device and software. But the immediate focus for Vakaros is demonstrating to rank-and-file racers the wonders of the starting application. There’s functionality built into the Atlas2 that will enable a fleet to essentially run races without any race committee at all. We’re talking virtual racecourses with boundaries, mark zones and recorded finish orders. “We want it to basically orchestrate the entire race,” he says, “and maybe down the road, we’ll be able to provide advanced tools for umpiring.”

One hurdle for RaceSense implementation across a local fleet or one-­design class is the universal buy-in for the Atlas2 units, which retail for $1,100. Resistance within ranks of some classes is to be expected, Wilson says. But he sees another benefit for small fleets where competitors have to occasionally sit out to run the race. “I think this can really make a difference for fleets that don’t have big budgets or aren’t able to bring in a big race committee team. The dream is to be able to push a button on shore, with mark bots running on RaceSense. That way, everyone who wants to sail gets to sail.”

That also means the decline of pinging chaos, he adds. The only ones who will lose out will be those in the gelcoat repair business.

The post RaceSense Aims to Automate Races appeared first on Sailing World.

I had been speaking with Sailing World’s Dave Powlison about a potential series of articles highlighting the major generic controls on most keel-boats to control the rig and sails, when it suddenly occurred to both of us that we could do this series in parallel to my involvement in the creation of two 5.5 Metre class yacht builds taking place in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight in England.

Why the 5.5 as a platform for this discussion? For starters, there are no fewer than 46 control points. This is where a control line is directed to a crewmember. Believe me, I have “simplicity” going through my mind at every moment—we are doing all we can to minimize complication. At every step of the way, we debate what we do and don’t need and where it needs to be led.

What makes this such an interesting project is the “blank canvas” nature of the rig plan and deck layout. After a lifetime of working within the constraints of one-design rules, the 5.5 Metre is totally unrestricted when it comes to systems, layout and rig control. The class was conceived in 1949 as a measurement formula to provide level racing under a con-trolled rating rule that revolves around hull length, sail area and overall displacement, with limits on minimum and maximum sail area and displacement, among others.

Given the development nature of the class, I find it really interesting that, at the 2020 Worlds in Sydney, within the Modern fleet, we had boats of differing lengths, sail areas, displacements, append-age volume and geometries, and yet the racing was as tight as anything I had experienced in one-design classes. This speaks to how refined and optimized to the rating formula these boats are.

The 5.5 came into the world spotlight when it achieved Olympic status, starting with the 1952 Helsinki Games, and remained there for five quads, up through 1968. After the 1968 Games, the class was replaced by the less- expensive Soling, and the 5.5 earned the distinction of the last-ever development class used for Olympic competition.

Originally timber, the hulls in the 5.5 Modern fleet (any design since 1994) are con-structed with composites, but the construction rules restrict the panel weight. Consequently, the boats are very stiff and reliable. Likewise, the spars are now carbon fiber, but the mast has a minimum weight similar to the Etchells’ alloy mast. Hence the high-modulus masts of today are incredibly stiff and strong for the loads they carry.

In the past 20 years or so, Swiss boats designed by Sebastian Schmidt and built by Christof Wilke have dominated the class. As any Finn sailor can attest, Wilke’s craftsmanship is superb. These boats are pieces of art, with everything in beautiful proportions—a design that has stood the test of time. They really are “floating pianos,” refined and sophisticated but also perfectly tuned and simple to play. And like the piano, to play well, they demand a significant investment of time.

In 2010, at Lake Garda, Italy, I had the good fortune to team up with two great Swiss sailors who possessed a wealth of experience in the class and venue: Flavio Marazzi and the aforementioned Wilke, with me in the middle. We won that event. It was “one and done” for the next 10 years, before joining Brits Peter Morton and Andrew Mills in Sydney a year ago, which takes us to the here and now—Cowes—winter, and the scene of so many yacht-racing builds over so many decades.

Following the Sydney Worlds, Peter Morton (or Morty, as most people know him) caught the 5.5 Metre bug. In Sydney, we felt slightly outgunned in our 16-year-old Wilke boat, so discussions turned to producing a new boat, and Morty being Morty, it was always going to be built local to his home in Cowes.

As the pandemic lockdown took over our lives in spring 2020, David Hollom was com-missioned to design the boat. Hollom submitted a number of candidate shapes that were analyzed using CFD tools in Australia by Steve Quigley’s One2Three Naval Architecture firm. America’s Cup icon (and Morty’s close friend) Tom Schnackenberg assisted with the validation by applying VPP analysis to the hulls, using their sail areas and displacements. North Sails provided guidance on the rig and sail plan, and we were off and running.

Gavin Tappenden, of Composite Craft UK, was appointed to build the boat in Cowes, with Suzy Russell, of Orca Consulting, given responsibility for the construction design. The button was pushed in August 2020 for hull and deck plugs to be machined and molds taken from the plugs at Sinergia Racing Group in southern Spain.

At the same time, Morty was offered the deck, appendages, spars and associated hard-ware from another 5.5 Metre, one that did not set the world on fire from a performance perspective. Desiring to build the fleet locally and provide employment for the local raceboat-building industry in the grips of the pandemic, Morty also commissioned David Heritage and team to build the next-best design candidate.

With the “engine above the deck,” we took delivery of a lovely high-modulus carbon spar from Heol Composites in Brittany. It is super-stiff, so we have some decisions to make on standing- and running-rigging configurations, which are, again, unrestricted. More blank canvas!

My role in all of this is to ensure that everything works, it all fits together, and the crew can extract the best performance possible from these boats. Over the winter, I’ll chronicle how the various systems come together, as well as why we have them and how we are working to overcome obstacles that almost every-one encounters when creating or simply updating. I’ll be zeroing in on systems that are not just specific to the 5.5 but more generic.

The first item I’ll focus on is the mast step and its adjustability. Other areas will likely include the jib sheeting system, our “magic wheel” mechanical purchase system (in lieu of a traditional purchase system), adjustable mainsail tack, plus a discussion of the rig geometry and controlling stiffness with runner and deflector. Each part of the series will have a generic side to them so that you can see their effects and how they can be set up on different boats—perhaps even yours. But the series will also focus on the 5.5′s we are building and why we have elected to set them up in the way we have.

As we are slowly coming to realize, despite our hopes, 2021 might be another year with very limited traveling. Morty must have envisioned this—stretching out in front of us from April is some full-scale 5.5 Metre testing on the Solent waters with three boats. I’m sure it will be an interesting ride for us all!

The post Making Complex Simple appeared first on Sailing World.

Tim Ray only knew of Tom Allen because of his top-notch reputation among the many classes in which the Allen family has served as boat­builders, champions and mentors to many. So, unannounced, he walked into the Allen Boat Co. in Buffalo, New York, a few years ago and proposed a trade: business consulting for workshop space. Fast-forward to today; Ray is running a rope-manufacturing facility with Allen. What might seem to be quite a leap from that initial barter is not so far-fetched. Each of them shares a work ethic and deep passion for the sport.

Ray has a degree in ­environmental science, as well as experience in the field. Besides being able to help companies navigate environmental regulations, he’s the kind of guy who replaces old lights in the shop with LED fixtures, recycles cardboard cordage spools, and even saves line covers stripped for tapered sheets and donates them to a local crafter who makes bracelets and the like.

Tom Allen Jr. is the Allen Boat Co.’s second-­generation owner. The company is best known for making one-design boats, including the Lightning, Highlander, Jet 14s and Blue Jays. Allen is the kind of guy who would never let a boat out of the shop unless it was perfect.

Curious about how the Allen family had a rope-­manufacturing plant in the first place, I met up with the two of them, and we drove past Niagara Falls to Crystal Beach, Canada, where the plant is located. I know the area as Lake Erie’s home of the Buffalo Canoe Club, which has long enjoyed a deep and talented Lightning fleet, but I had no clue there was a rope factory nearby. Our destination was a cork-insulated building once used to store ice blocks cut from the lake back in the day. You’d never know from the outside, but there in the old icehouse are all the supplies and machinery to make the lines we pull and climbers hang from.

When Allen Jr. took over the boatbuilding business from his father in the late 1980s, the elder Allen wasn’t quite ready to retire. The industry was in his blood, he still had plenty of energy and he knew everyone. Timing is everything, and G&B Ropes was up for sale. Allen Sr. bought it and had a good run of it for a while.

When Allen Sr. passed away, his son was busy building boats, so the shop sat dormant for almost 10 years, only occasionally producing rope for the Lightnings he was building. Allen Jr. had been waiting for someone like Ray to come along, and eventually, he brought Ray across the U.S.-Canada border to see the facility firsthand.

When Allen first opened the doors for Ray, he cracked open a time capsule. Dust-covered equipment was waiting patiently to get back to work. Like the solid old icehouse, the machinery was good industrial-quality stuff, and Ray saw past the clutter and cobwebs to see his new calling.

Large iron machines with big gears will last forever with enough grease, and the technique of rope braiding is timeless. Sure, newer equipment has the capability to measure length, and some back-end spooling equipment would save time, but for the low-volume custom needs of the sailing market, these ­industrial relics do the job just fine.

In one back corner, Allen and Ray show off a large machine nicknamed “Big Bertha.” It needs no warning sign for me to know to keep fingers and loose clothing clear. Bertha twists a bundle of filaments together to make yarn. The filaments are the raw material of rope manufacturing. They are wispy thin, like the cobwebs draped across the shop’s nooks and crannies, but these are much stronger.

Once twisted and spooled, the braiding machines braid the yarns, and like all good rope manufacturers, G&B uses a mix of different filament types for specific applications. There are a lot of braiding machines for cores and jackets, which is handy because there are so many different ropes, and an almost infinite number of possible color, line size and type configurations.

Having some ready to go for common types saves setup time, and a number of different lines can be manufactured at the same time. Covers are braided over a core that has already been braided. The core feeds up from the bottom, and yarns are rhythmically woven around it to form the rope cover. The moving parts unspooling yarn and weaving it into rope is mesmerizing, like watching an open flame.

With his market ­homework done, Ray decided to differentiate G&B from larger competitors by applying a slightly different technology at the outset. Most rope manufacturers buy their rope already twisted and braided then coated with a protective layer after the braiding. Since Ray already has that capability, he buys the filaments pre-coated, which allows him to braid pre-coated bundles, making a consistent surface throughout the rope’s length. The idea behind the pre-coated ­filament is that when the line runs through a block it doesn’t chafe against itself, and when the line bends, it does not expose uncoated parts to damaging ultraviolet rays.

It also allows Ray to make the line in unique colors. By coating the line at the yarn level, he can mix colors at the braid level. For example, if the line cover is blue with orange flecks, he can make the core blue with orange flecks so it matches. This is pretty cool when tapering a line so it is the same color, removing a potential source of confusion on the boat.

“How are you intending to use this?” is the first question Ray asks. He can make just about anything, and he knows all the right combinations to meet the buyer’s desires. We sailors know what we want, and often have some idea where to start, but we don’t have the full arsenal, nor the colors, so suffice it to say, we’ll leave the spinning to these guys.

The post Roped In appeared first on Sailing World.

My last iPhone ended up in ten feet of water at the bottom of a creek after a failed attempt to take a photo of our crew on the sail back in from the race course. One dive tank and a few panicked hours later, it was recovered from an oyster bed, and transferred to a bag of rice. Thanks to a well-worn waterproof shell case, it survived with minimal damage. However, had I met Melanie Cole and Vicky DeRouchey earlier, the whole ordeal could’ve been avoided.

Mel & Vic, as they prefer to be called, live up to their own ugoWear tagline, “Dare To Be Free.” Vic is a two-time breast cancer survivor who felt she had nothing to lose by starting a business and partnered up with her best friend to create a phone case that suited their water-logged lifestyles. Their waterproof case is in a category of its own, and unlike any other on the market. What sets the ugoWear case apart is its TIZIP Technology, the zipper is the same one used in the construction of dry suits and hazmat suits, making it virtually impossible for moisture to get into the case, and meaning it won’t wear out over time. The fabric, manufactured in-house by Nike, is 100% waterproof, but cool enough to keep phones from overheating in the sun. The inside has specific places to house your keys and any other essentials along with 6 credit card holders and an additional zipper. Even though the case floats, it can withstand depths of 15 feet deep. The anodized brass details on the case are even saltwater and chlorine resistant.

The ugoWear case is an obvious choice for sailors who use their technology on the water, but worry about losing their phone or keys overboard or if they capsize. Not only is the ugoWear case durable, but also sleek looking and comes in a variety of colors. If you’re anything like me and fear losing your device on the water, the ugoWear is an ideal solution to keep in your regatta bag. Right now, you can find the ugo dry bag on sale at https://ugowear.com/collections/shop.

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