Instruments set to True or Apparent wind
- Thread starter daverebbettes
- Start date
greggron
Well-Known Member
As a simple sailor, my Windex gives me apparent, I need to deduce true from everything else.
Boathook
Well-Known Member
Apparent on my boat. A push of a button shows 'true' though.
Yealm
Well-Known Member
SimonFa
Well-Known Member
Apparent - its what I use mainly for judging when to reef which single handing is a key issue for me.
In the video it looked to me like they didn't have an anchor ball up when they showed the boat from land. I also keep a couple of tins of big soup and vegetables (as well as beer and wine) on board in case I miss a pub or have a change of plan.
In the video it looked to me like they didn't have an anchor ball up when they showed the boat from land. I also keep a couple of tins of big soup and vegetables (as well as beer and wine) on board in case I miss a pub or have a change of plan.
savageseadog
Well-Known Member
Both on two displays if they are available
pagoda
Well-Known Member
I don't think the numbers are that critical?
A combination of wind and sea conditions- and forecast are what determine whether I reef and how much? If I'm heading up wind the apparent wind will feel stronger, but ultimately you can only sail with what you have, numbers don't tell all....
A combination of wind and sea conditions- and forecast are what determine whether I reef and how much? If I'm heading up wind the apparent wind will feel stronger, but ultimately you can only sail with what you have, numbers don't tell all....
johnalison
Well-Known Member
Each to their own as far as I am concerned, but my habit is fairly straightforward, Apparent when sailing and True when motoring or motor-sailing.
When sailing, I need to know the wind direction affecting my sails. When motor-sailing, I need to be sensitive to changes in the true wind which might affect my decision perhaps either to reef or to resume sailing. When manoeuvring in and out of harbour, I need to know how the wind will affect my boat when I am going slowly.
When sailing, I need to know the wind direction affecting my sails. When motor-sailing, I need to be sensitive to changes in the true wind which might affect my decision perhaps either to reef or to resume sailing. When manoeuvring in and out of harbour, I need to know how the wind will affect my boat when I am going slowly.
daverebbettes
Well-Known Member
Definitely had an anchor ball up Simon. Good point about beer and wine.
bbg
Well-Known Member
True.
TLouth7
Well-Known Member
I don't have any wind instruments at all. Dinghy sailors manage just fine without them, and having learnt to sail on dinghies I'm not sure what I would use them for.
RichardS
N/A
All the dinghies I've sailed have had a wind burgee. Perhaps I've just been lucky / unlucky depending upon how you look at it.
Richard
westhinder
Well-Known Member
Apparent, as basically that is what you sail with. It is easy enough to press the button for a quick check on true.
When maneuvering at slow speed it does not make much difference anyway and direction is what you need first, you will feel any gusts without watching screens.
When maneuvering at slow speed it does not make much difference anyway and direction is what you need first, you will feel any gusts without watching screens.
TLouth7
Well-Known Member
All the dinghies I've sailed have had a wind burgee. Perhaps I've just been lucky / unlucky depending upon how you look at it.
A fair point, and we do have a windex, though irritatingly one of the boxes (that show the limits of pinching) has come free and rotates to whatever angle it fancies. We also have tell-tales on the genoa luff and mainsail leach.
I guess you could say that these 'instruments' show apparent wind.
True wind direction is relevant when beating in order to play the shifts, but can be inferred from the heading using the bulkhead compass.
I rely on judgement rather than an instrument in determining when to reef, and anyway this is very dependent on the sea state and point of sail so I don't know how useful a true wind speed reading would be.
On the other hand I am definitely a luddite so perhaps what I think of as logical arguments are really value judgements that fit with my aesthetic preference for an uncluttered form of sailing (paper charts, no lazyjacks etc).
johnalison
Well-Known Member
Although the difference isn't much, I find it easier in confined areas such as when one is waiting for a Dutch bridge to open to have True. Also, it is uniquely depressing when motoring into a headwind to see a high reading on the dial. In windy old Holland, one might find oneself motoring against 24kn of wind, when with the press of a button I can reduce it to a manageable 18.
flaming
Well-Known Member
True, always....
Apparent windspeed is almost irrelevant to any decisions about which sail to hoist, whether to reef, or if you can lay that headland. (If indeed you base these decisions on a readout of windspeed at all) True is the measure of how much power is available to your sails. If you used apparent you reach a different conclusion between turning head to wind to hoist the main, and actually sailing upwind.
Apparent wind direction is ascertained by looking at the windex. The only reason I can think of that I ever need to know the wind direction other than looking at the windex is to know if I am sailing the boat to its polars. And polars are always in true. So I know (for example) that in 10 knots of true wind I ought to be doing 6 knots on a TWA of 150 for the best VMG downwind. Apparent gets me nowhere with that.
Apparent is indicated by telltales, not needles and numbers.
Apparent windspeed is almost irrelevant to any decisions about which sail to hoist, whether to reef, or if you can lay that headland. (If indeed you base these decisions on a readout of windspeed at all) True is the measure of how much power is available to your sails. If you used apparent you reach a different conclusion between turning head to wind to hoist the main, and actually sailing upwind.
Apparent wind direction is ascertained by looking at the windex. The only reason I can think of that I ever need to know the wind direction other than looking at the windex is to know if I am sailing the boat to its polars. And polars are always in true. So I know (for example) that in 10 knots of true wind I ought to be doing 6 knots on a TWA of 150 for the best VMG downwind. Apparent gets me nowhere with that.
Apparent is indicated by telltales, not needles and numbers.
johnalison
Well-Known Member
We disagree, which is a healthy sign. As someone said, looking up to the Windex gets harder as one's neck gets stiffer. I find there is a point on a beam reach when I might want the main fully out, with straight spreaders, or taken in somewhat. Although I can judge this from feel and observation, the Apparent wind gives me early warning of changes. For me, Apparent Wind is basically a duplication of my masthead Windex or burgee.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Perfect summarisation of my thinking also.
Only would add the masthead Windex shows apparent so with instruments on true have both available instantly.
TLouth7
Well-Known Member
As I stated above when cruising on my yacht I do not have access to any wind instruments, and when racing I am too far forward in the boat to be involved with such things. I am thus unfamiliar with the use of these instruments - whether showing true or apparent wind.
Do you use them in real time (in the way that you check tell-tales) or are they for occasional information?
Would/do you find them valuable in an estuary where 'true' wind is a very localised phenomenon, what with wind bends, wind shadows, varying tidal streams etc?
Do you use them in real time (in the way that you check tell-tales) or are they for occasional information?
Would/do you find them valuable in an estuary where 'true' wind is a very localised phenomenon, what with wind bends, wind shadows, varying tidal streams etc?
flaming
Well-Known Member
Tie a bit of wool or ribbon to the shrouds.
My feeling is that as the sailing community becomes ever more used to instruments, and digital instruments at that, we need to be more and more careful to make sure that the data we are using is firstly repeatable, and secondly relevant. I do not feel that apparent wind on a displacement cruising boat satisfies that criteria for the reasons I have mentioned.
It is however slightly better than ground wind.