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SailTimer News

Keeping you at the forefront of sailboat navigation.

Next-Generation SailTimer Wind Instrument™
Mounting Options


To highlight some of the innovative features of the new wireless, solar-powered SailTimer Wind Instrument™, more preliminary information and photos of some of the new features are provided here, leading up to the product launch in the coming weeks. 

The Wind Instrument has a lot of mounting options.  It comes with a vertical Mounting Rod which can be attached to the top of your masthead.  The Mounting Rod is 9 inches (22.8 cm) long and marine-grade stainless steel.  You can see the foot of the Mounting Rod with four machine screws in the photo below.  Remarkably, the foot is only 21 mm square;  very sturdy, yet smaller than a postage stamp.  The Wind Instrument also has a standard tripod mount, so can you can set it on a beach for windsurfing one day, or for example put it on/off a sailing dinghy using the versatile line of GoPro camera mounts

Rather than attaching the Mounting Rod to the top of your masthead, what if you want to attach it to a vertical surface like a boathouse wall, the side of your mast, or a stanchion?  Use the marine-grade stainless steel L-Bracket accessory shown in the photo below (larger view). The L-bracket also comes with the innovative wing-nut hose clamps in the photo, for quick release or attaching with no tools. 

StanchionBracket_sm.jpg


The Wind Instrument can be easily removed from the Mounting Rod, which is handy when things need to happen quickly while your mast is being craned in the spring or fall.  Without the Mounting Rod, the Wind Instrument itself is less than 8 inches tall, and very portable.  Because it has a 1/4-inch tripod thread in the bottom, it will also attach to the versatile GorillaPod as shown on a dock here.  Those bendable mini-tripods can grab on to pretty much anything as in the photo below, where you can see the black base of the Wind Instrument set on a stern rail with a GorillaPod. 

GorillaPod_sternrail.jpg


Full pictures and product specifications are coming soon, when the SailTimer Wind Instrument is officially launched and pre-ordering starts.  Two new systems will also be shown then for raising the Wind Instrument to the masthead without needing to climb or lower the mast (patent pending).  That has never been possible before.  There was little need for this in the past, since the SailTimer Wind Instrument is the first wireless anemometer that can transmit directly from the masthead to smartphones and tablets.  Traditionally, you had to go up to install the wiring down through the mast.  But we have no wires to run down the mast.  These new raising systems are highly useful if your boat is already in the water with the mast up.  

The exact timing depends on our supply chain, but we are hoping to begin pre-orders by the second week of December.  Our previous anemometer has been completely redesigned with this new version, resulting in new innovations and a much lower cost.  The new SailTimer Wind Instrument will be available to pre-order online for US $350, and will later retail for US $449.99.
 




SailTimer Charts Edition™ App Now Free Worldwide

The free Charts Edition of the Sailtimer™ app on iOS used to only be available in countries where we had marine charts available. Even though we are still working on chart coverage for a number of countries (including Australia), the Charts Edition is now available free worldwide. The app does include free land maps and aerial photos worldwide. So you can overlay tacking routes and see them go to a waypoint like this screenshot, or see the distances, times and headings on each tack as in this second screenshot.

The only difference from the SailTimer app (US $13.99) is that this free Charts Edition includes a few of the features as optional in-app purchases (a-la-carte). But they both include the exact same features;  it just depends whether you want to get all of the functions in the initial purchase, or try the free version and add some optional functions later.


Bonus for App Users
The low-cost SailTimer apps provide advanced tacking results that you can't get in even the most expensive GPS chartplotters.  Sailing may be a niche market for the major GPS chartplotter manufacturers, but we think that sailors deserve navigation products that account for tacking distances.  In the GPS age, there is no reason to be trying to display ETA without correct tacking distances, using convoluted VMG calculations or progress into the wind.  We have taken on a big task here, challenging the way the major manufacturers with all of their resources have displayed GPS to sailors for decades. 

The Helmsman's Dilemma is the traditional name for the situation where you are tacking into the wind, wondering if you should head off the wind more to increase speed (with greater distance) or beat closer to the wind to reduce distance (but at a slower speed).  The SailTimer app solves this problem with a quick and easy display of your optimal tacks.  The app isn't perfect yet, and we have a lot of new features in the pipeline for you.  But if you think we are on the right track, we have a little reward for app supporters.  To let other sailors know that the low-cost SailTimer apps provide a correct, simple display of their optimal tacks and Tacking Time to Destination, give the SailTimer app (or Charts Edition) a good comment and star rating in the App Store in your country.  Then send us a quick email, and we'll put you at the beginning of the line for receiving the new wireless, solar-powered Wind Instrument. 

Heck, even if you don't need a beautiful new state-of-the-art wireless anemometer, give us a good rating in iTunes. This is the only app that can calculate your Tacking Time to Destination and display your optimal tacks as a chart overlay.  Let other sailors know that buying an expensive GPS chartplotter does not give better navigation results, just because it costs a lot more than the SailTimer™ apps.  So send us an email if you add a good comment and rating in the App Store, and we'll put you at the front of the line for receiving the new Wind Instrument when they start shipping out. 


 



New iPad Easier to View Outdoors

Polarized Sunglasses: 
One of the features of the new iPad Air 2 that has not received a lot of attention is the new non-glare screen for outdoor viewing.  While non-glare offers a slight improvement, there is a related change that sailors may find much more useful.  You may have noticed on your mobile device that you could only see it in one orientation when wearing polarized sunglasses:  it may have looked great vertically, but the display turned black in landscape orientation.  But now, the newest iPad can be viewed equally well in both orientations when wearing polarized sunglasses.   

 

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