Wind Speed & Direction recommendations wanted

Re: Wind Speed & Direction recommendations wanted

Yes, when I need to. If not at the mast head certainly at the luff . I've got tell tales on the genoa main leech windex and ribbons on the shrouds , Oh and I can tell where the winds coming from etc etc small wavelets BUT as with everything on a boat beit, sailing , navigation, collision avoidance,weather its the big picture that makes one fully aware of whats going on . Information from as many sources as possible I say . Besides I am an incessant sail trimmer always looking for that extra fraction of a knot, cunningham ,outhaul, traveller, car position . Its my boat I'll do it my way , if you just want to set the sails and relax go for it, so do I some times.
 
Re: Wind Speed & Direction recommendations wanted

H4B has a good point in that the answer probably depends on how you sail:

I don't bother much about the extra fraction of a knot - I'm more about feet up cruising.

If I raced seriously, or really enjoyed getting that last ounce of speed out of my boat, perhaps I'd up the priority of the wind direction equipment.
 
One thing to bear in mind is that when you are sailing downwind everybody underestimates the strength of the wind. Personally I like the instruments reminding me (through true wind speed) what to expect if I were to turn round and beat into the wind.

On the whole I do think they are useful.
 
I'm interested in this since my aging Stowe WS&D is finally packing up which gives me the excuse to replace it with one that gives a wind input to the Autohelm. I had heard that the latest NASA beast does now give such an output and, being unwilling to spend more than necessary, was thinking of that until all these stories of cups falling off / bearings failing appeared. How do you get the TT to talk to the Autohelm? If you already have a GPS talking to the Autohelm do you need some kind of data combiner?
 
Nobody so far seems to have mentioned 'wind' mode on the autopilot. On a Raymarine system - and, no doubt, everyone else's system - you can set the autopilot to 'auto', 'nav', or 'wind'. 'Auto' is the usual fixed compass heading. 'Nav' keeps the boat on the track required to the waypoint and is very handy when in a narrow channel, especially when short-handed, or when the workload is high.

'Wind' mode keeps the apparent wind angle constant just like a mechanical wind vane so you don't have to keep altering course or trimming sails on a longer passage. It is really brilliant - I use it most of the time when sailing in preference to 'auto' or 'nav' modes which I use mainly when motoring. Obviously to make this work you need a WS&D device that is compatible with your autopilot and an autopilot with 'wind' mode. Once you've had it, you will never want to be with out it so eat your hearts out, you 'little bits of ribbon on the shrouds' brigade! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Have recently installed TT wind and a new st2000. You will also need a NMEA interface box so that TT can send apparent wind to autopilot for wind mode. It all works very well but the costs add up, however it was easy to install.

cheers
 
Hi Dave,

NASA, does it take GPS in to sort out real wind etc ?

for the TT network,

you need a T122, this interfaces between the network and nmea

then you connect the AH to the T122 out and the GPS to the T122 in

i bought my TT wind for just under 600 on the net, good value i think, especially as it does not need any wires

Simon
 
[ QUOTE ]
I thought that was more or less what I just said. Is this a Lakesailor?

[/ QUOTE ]What do you mean about being a lakesailor? If you go back and have a look at the times of posting you will see that your message was posted at the time I must have been writing and posting mine. They crossed.
 
Hmm, I knew the TT was dear but that's worse than I thought (gulp!)

On your two points. as far as displaying true wind, I'm not too bothered with this; I've got fairly used to doing a mental calculation / guesstimate from apparent WS&D and log (or SOG if the tide's running fast). I would class it very much as "bells and whistles" rather than "definitely useful".

On the interfacing issues: I use an Autohelm which is fed nmea information from the plotter to allow it to follow a track, and it also now gets Seatalk so that it can respond to a Raymarine remote control that I bought in a moment of madness last year.

My thoughts were that if I buy a Raymarine WS&D I could simply hook that up to the Seatalk bus to give the autohelm wind information, whereas if I use another make, TT. Nasa, or whatever which outputs nmea, I am going to have to get some sort of data combiner to let both the nmea "talkers" give data to the autohelm. The vital question is, how much does such a "combiner" ("interface box" or whatever each manufacturer calls it) cost?

Incidentally I like the basic idea of the TT system and if starting from scratch I would give it very serious consideration despite (well almost) the price, but given that I already have a cable up the mast and a deck gland it's not quite the same issue.

Trying (probably vainly) to save a few bob, has anyone anything good to say about the NASA WS&D?
 
I suppose I should really look it all up properly, but do you happen to know offhand whether the TT122 will also take in nmea from non TT equipment - in my case the plotter - and output all the nmea in one stream? Oh, and roughly how much does the TT122 cost?

I take your point about the benefit of knowing actual wind direction - I can think of times that would be handy.
 
true, we are all a bit lazy and hope some one else will tell us !

sure, it takes nmea in and out so you can use it as a central in / out box, i am no expert,

but my TT 122 has one in from the plotter for data to the wind, then one out to the plotter so it displays the depth,

this out is then daisy chained further to the autohelm 1000 +, it works :-)

cost, you'll have to gooogle it, i bought the wind for just under 600
 
You said: "Wind Speed & Direction recommendations wanted"...

I've always enjoyed a good south-westerly F5, myself...
 
Interesting thread....

I've got an Raymarine WS&D..... I use the speed bit when anchored overnight to get a sense of what the wind is doing, its trends and max gusts etc to influence my plans for the following day.... but when sailing, make much less use of it, and really make no use at all of the direction..... I find that I look towards the masthead, or just plain 'feel' the boat.... if I was starting again, i'd look for something that just gave me wind speed..... and probably only down at the chart table....

From a self confessed gadget freak.....
 
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