🚀 go-pugleaf

janr@falch.no (Jan Robert Johnsen) writes:


>Since I posted the article in News I've received plenty of messages,
>So it's obvious that there are many people that's interested in sailing-
>related software for the Mac.

stuff deleted...

>MacSea was first developed by some Frenchmen as early as 1984. And have
Mac Sea was developed by Informatique et Mer in Bayone. The main author
is Jean Luc Bernot, most recently associated with the 1991 french Admiral's
Cup Victory

>Tactic-part:
>Shortest and fastest passage to different point in the regatta. It's 
>not always the shortest that's the fastest!
Mac Sea does NOT do tactic: it does strategy and weather routing.  From
the known performance of you boat (speed polar) and the current weather
pattern (large scale) it can predict which couse is best, taking into
account of the movement of the anticyclones etc... and the finishing
line position.  It can also perform sensitivity predictions to determine
how 'risky' one or the other option are.  This is all transatlantic
etc... stuff.  Do not try to use it for sailing in the bay...

A true Tactical program is still needed for the mac.  I explain and Hope!
Most of the skill in high level yacht racing is in 1: predicting what the
weather is doing; 2: knowing the weather condition, which course is best.

To do both those things, you must know you boat performace (speed vs
wind andle and wind speed) and monitor the wind condition.

Doing both those things requires at least a PC.  You must acquire about
30 variables as regularly as possible, store them to get time histories
and update your database of performance.

This information must then be digested to say things like:  you are sailing
at 85% of your best performance for these conditions.  The wind
has been shifting right slowly for the last 5min but it is slowing down
etc...  This helps you, but essentially does not achieve anything you can
do instictively.

Where the computer scores heavily is when you must evaluate tradeoff between 
sailing fast in the wrong direction (following a longer route) or sailing the
direct route slower.  Only a computer can find the correct answer.

Still waiting for one on the mac.