Setting the course

I am still waiting on my watch to show up, but I have been reading the documentation and saw a major hole in the software already.

Given the fact that a huge percentage of races are run WL2, it would be a huge help if while setting the line you could define that course to the watch. So after you set the line, you could enter the distance and course heading, and the program would automatically drop the windward mark for you.

 

even if there is a bit of wiggle room between where the windward mark actually is, and the computed location (RC always drops it slightly off station) this would be amazing. Ideally after the first W rounding the app would move the calculated W mark for the one you actually rounded (not sure how the app handles offsets though).

 

At at least on my boat we routinely sail 2nm WL2 courses. While trapped out on an A-Cat just finding the mark can be difficult.

Topic

[Alan Smith]

I 100% agree with you. Being able to set the bearing and distance to the first mark would be brilliant. Certainly, once you have rounded it the first time, it does automatically generate a Windward Mark that you can use for the second circuit.

The challenge is finding a way to do that on a watch with only four buttons!

One idea we’ve played with is having two menus: one to select the bearing – in 5° increments, and another to set the distance by a numerical dropdown where you can select the number of 100 metres to the mark.

But it’s extremely clunky and difficult to get reliable.

Another thought is to provide an interface to the Settings page on the phone, where you could at least use a virtual keyboard.

Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed.

[Mark Hastings]

Hi Alan

 

It sounds like your affiliated with RaceQs (or is it just the Pebble side?) As you are Sydney based I wonder if you could PM me as I’ve got a few questions from the RO at RMYC on Pittwater and he is struggling to get answers.

 

Cheers

 

mhasting2004 at gmail

[Greg Rubin]

I have been thinking about this. When you back out of the app and it asks you if you are sure or not. You could add ‘set course’ to the Y/N option.

That opens a new screen to input course and direction. Course needs to be selectable in 5 degree implements, and distance in .1nm increments.

[tjtjhohmann]

It is possible to include route information in a .GPX file — if routes could be included in the uploaded file along with marks and the watch user could select a route maybe that would be a way to work this.

[Alan Smith]

We have spent a lot of time looking at ways to be able to download courses, but the management of individuals’ courses lists became too complex. I could write a long paper on the issue, but time is against me ;-(

We are also severely limited by the amount of storage on the watch, so we are planning to approach the problem in a different way.

Rather than enabling routes in the GPX file we are planning to allow you to build your own course at race-time by selecting marks in sequence from your downloaded marks list.

 

It’s in the development plan.

 

[Author]

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