Sailing and Instrumentation Labs (SAIL)

Competitive sailing brings together many aspects of mechanical engineering, and measuring the performance resulting from different choices is critical for success. This sequence will explore some of the engineering science behind sailing and build from scratch some the instruments needed to measure critical performance data during competition or practice. We will look at how to duplicate the capabilities of successful products in the market and the challenges of building on those capabilities for a reasonable price and providing the accuracy needed to support elite competition.

Commercial Instruments

There’s a wide range of traditional instrumentation available in the market including major players like Raymarine, B&G, and Garmin as well as some more niche products:.

• Annalisa provides a compute module and apps to provide decision support from basic instrument information.
• Ockam has provided high end race instrumentation for many years, and provided the original equipment on Signature, our trial boat.
• TruSail is focussed on detail training measurements for elite level skiff racers.
• Velocitek ProStart sets the standard for GPS based instrumentation for starting line, speed and course in dinghies and sport boats.
• Smartfittings uses wireless technology to measure rig loads in mid-size boats that haven’t had that capability until recently.
• Sailmon/Max was announced in late 2019 for delivery in 2Q2020, providing both GPS and IMU data for dinghies and sport boats

What you can use and how you can use it is often restricted by class rules.