iPolar

Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch 3rd gen, requires iOS 5.0
Function: Calculate polar diagrams for sailing performance
Rating: ***
Cost: $9.99

Your average boater is not going to have a clue what a polar is. Let me first say it is not where Santa Claus lives and it has nothing to do with an Express train either. Sorry for the Christmas references but it is the season. Sorry, it was a very lame attempt at a joke to get you to read the rest of the post. Now that I have your attention, the cute bear picture is compliments of Standford.edu!

If you are a sailboat enthusiast you may be interested in the app called iPolar.  The very smart people at KND-Sailing Performance from Valencia Spain have built this Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) app to help you quickly create polar diagrams and data with a few inputs of the boats vital statistics.  Polar diagrams are a very complicated subject and I will not go into a complete explanation here. You can Wiki or Google it to find out more. Basically, a polar diagram is the graphical diagram, consisting of the theoretical maximum boat speeds at various true wind speeds and headings, along with the associated upwind and downwind VMGs (velocities made good).  Knowing your boats optimum points of sail with respect to the wind can give you an edge in a race or get your across oceans is a shorter amount of time.

Features:

• Calculate polars for cruising yachts 8-20 meters
• No multi hull support
• Length Overall input
• Displacement input
• Mainsail area input
• Jib area input
• Unit in metric or imperial
• Length Waterline input
• Symmetrical Spinnaker area
• Asymmetrical spinnaker area
• Resulting polars can be visualized as a graph or table of numbers
• Polars can be sent directly to the weather/routing application such as Weather4D Pro

The app will calculate a polar for each sail configuration in the input data.  iPolar will compute a polar diagram describing the yacht's performance in kts for wind strength ranging from 4 to 30kts and true wind angles ranging from 0° to 180°.

The app has three soft keys at the bottom of the screen. These include Parameters, Polars and Values.

The Parameters page is where you enter your boats name and mandatory data of Length, Displacement, Main Sail area and Jib sail area. Several different boats and configurations can be added to the app.

Optional parameters include Length at waterline, symmetrical spinnaker area and asymmetrical spinnaker are.


The Polars page shows you the diagram of your yachts. Note the two buttons at the top for selecting the Main-Jib configurations and the Main-Spinnaker option.

The app is designed to develop polars for cruising and racer/cruising types of sailboats.

The accuracy of the polar data decreases for yachts that have measurements or displacement to length ratios outside the range of production cruising yachts.

The Wind speed can be adjusted with the slide bar at the bottom of the screen. Note the different diagrams drawn on the chart.


The tabular Polar data is displayed under the third tab called Values. Wind speed is across the x axis and direction is on the y axis.

The polar data can also be exported to the Weather 4D Pro app. Select the arrow icon at the top to export the data.  The Weather 4D Pro app has a weather routing module that will calculate the optimum route for the current wind and boat polar parameters.

The custom polar diagram can be selected within the Routing module of the Weather 4D Pro app.

This is all pretty technical stuff and your average boater may never need to consider this level of detail.  If your a true ocean racer and want to get the best performance out of your yacht, iPolar will give you some data to improve your performance and cross oceans in the most efficient manner.  The Weather 4D PRO app is another great app to use when planning passages.

Christmas is coming soon and I hope all of you have your shopping done. If you know some Geeky sailor who might want to calculate Polars, I have just the stocking stuffer for him, iPolar.


~~~Sail On~~~ /)  

 ****Happy Holidays****
Mark

Track Pad

Application: iPad Ver 5.0 or later
Function: Passage planning with currents and tides
Cost: Free
Rating: ***

I was paging through the many navigation apps the other day on iTunes and came across one I had not seen before.  Track Pad is a fairly new app that has been developed by the folks at Ruddernuts. I like these guys already just for their crazy name. They have put together a simple and intuitive app that can be used in passage planning.  It is designed primarily for sailors and calculates course and time to destination (TTD), calculations taking into various factors.  For us sailors this is an invaluable tool.

Track Pad is a great little app that should be on every sailor's iPad.  It is not available for the iPhone, so your out of luck there. 

The app is not a chart plotter, a GPS or a weather app.  It works independently from these devices to aid in your passage planning.  It allows the sailor to compute tacking solutions at any point of sail taking into account user selected wind and current directions and velocities.  Power boaters may also find it useful to calculate correct course settings taking into account wind and current conditions.

Tack Pad can use your sailboats Polar Diagrams to estimate speed and leeway.  Instant calculations provide estimated time of arrival and detailed information of the required course to steer and intermediate tacking points. Current and wind speeds and directions can be adjusted on the fly as conditions change. Instantaneous calculations provide the user with the new course to steer.

Features:

• Drag and Drop multiple waypoints
• Tacking solution calculate on the fly
• Two pages for alternate routes
• Downwind tacking
• Estimate current speed and direction
• Estimate wind speed and direction
• Solve Course
• Reverse Course
• Add your boats polar diagrams through iTtunes
• ETA and distances /tubes
• Course to steer
• Estimated leeway
• Velocity made good
• Estimated speed over ground

The main Track Pad display is simple and intuitive. The starting waypoint is the red waypoint labeled #1. Destination waypoints can be added with a double tap of your finger shown here as point #3. The gray intermediate tacking point is #2 and is automatically calculated.

The vital parts of the course and tacking points are listed in the diagram to the left. C is for Course to steer, B is for Bearing, Wind barb, TR is for Track, D is for distance, T is for Time and S is for speed.

All of these values are estimates and are used as a good starting point in you navigational trip planning.



The apps main display is used for creating the waypoints and adjusting the current and wind speeds and directions.

There are a set of icons on the lower right side of the screen to access other features and settings of the app.  The Top Page icon will allow you to select a second page for additional course calculations. The Arrows icon allows you to reverse the course and associated calculations with a touch of this button.  The Small i icon is for information of the waypoints. The last Gear icon is for the settings page which is shown at the left. 

Settings include velocity prediction programs (VPP) for three different boat characteristics. Polar boat performance settings and Leeway settings can be adjusted also based on your boats performance.

To start a course calculations just double tap the screen and start moving the points around the screen to estimate your intended route. As sailors we all know that wind and currents affect our boats intended course and speed. Tack Pad is programmed to make the calculations needed to come up with the course to steer taking into account these factors.

The example to the right shows my last trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini in the Bahamas.  The trip as the crow flys is about 50 miles at a bearing of 117 degrees.  The wind was about 12 knots right out of the east.  Simply double tap the screen to add additional points if needed.  Points can be removed by double tapping them again. A single tap on any point brings up the info screen for that waypoint.

The other important factor in this calculation is the Gulf Stream current. In this case I estimated it to be about 5 knots running northeast at about 18 degrees.

To adjust the current settings, I tapped and held my finger on green arrow.  I moved my finger in a circle around the point to set the direction and away or towards the point to increase or decrease the current speed.  The settings were shown at the bottom of the screen as I adjusted them.  I was able to tap and hold the wind barb and adjust the wind speed and direction in a similar fashion.

The red coarse to steer line then automatically calculated an estimated time to destination of  9 hours and 11 minutes, speed of 7.9 knots at a course of 153 degrees to reach Bimini.

Using your finger to make these settings takes some trial and error but it can be done with some practice. In this example I did not have to tack at all so no intermediate tacking points were calculated.  If the wind had been more on my nose, it would have calculated the optimum tacking point automatically.

This slick little app can take into account your sailboats Polar diagrams. Polars are a graphical representation of the performance of your boat at different wind speeds and points of sail.

In the settings menu, tap the Polar section to make changes to the Polar options.  Settings can be made for main and jib or spinnaker configurations.  Theoretical hull speed can be set here also.

Individual specific polar diagrams for your boat can be loaded in to the program using file sharing in iTunes. Open up iTune and connect your iPad. Select the APPS tab for your device and scroll down to Track Pad listed in file sharing. Simple drag or add the polar text file to this location. Make sure to change the file extension to .bp before adding it.

I am very impressed with this little app.  I found it very easy to use and I liked being able to modify the settings to fit my boat's performance characteristics.  It is very useful as a planning tool and is a good starting point for getting your boat headed in the right direction.  In situations where you are dealing with strong current or wind this app will quickly give you a sense of how those factors will affect your desired course.

~~~Sail On~~~
Mark

Return to Basics!

Saturday mornings are my quiet time to sit down and write blog posts about some Geeky apps.  This morning is different.  I felt compelled to express some feelings about yesterdays tragedy.  When my eyes opened this morning I was still thinking about what took place in Connecticut yesterday morning.  Another troubled young man killing 26 people in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. The victims included teachers, staff and 20 innocent children. This was in addition to the senseless mall shooting that took place in Oregon just a few days prior.

I watched the news most of the day as the details unfolded. At first it appeared most of the kids had made it out alive, then it was announced children had been slaughtered by a lone gunman with no apparent motive. I kept asking myself why, why would someone do this? How evil do you have to be to commit such unspeakable acts on poor defenseless children?  Some will say he was a troubled boy who no one could help. Some will foolishly blame guns for this insane act of violence.  I think there is something bigger happening here, something that goes to the very core of our society.

I am no expert but I can only give you my perspective and insight into why I think this may be happening.  In my short lifetime of 52 years, I have witnessed the decay of our society away from the morals and values that I was raised with and this country was founded on.  Good old Christian values of God, family, respect, caring, hope, love, humility, accountability, righteousness and community.  I was taught these by my two parents, my church and my community.

I was born in 1959 in a small Midwestern town to two loving parents that came from conservative christian backgrounds. I was no different from my friends or neighbors. You may have had a similar childhood. I spent my youth being taught values and principles that have guided my life and most of us in this country. My parents took us to church and taught us religious principles and values. In school it was ok to say a prayer, salute the flag, say the pledge of allegiance and be proud of our country and church. These morals and values are what held our society together. 

My father was the disciplinarian in our home. We learned right from wrong and respect by his example.  I would have never even considered using foul language for the fear of getting a good spanking.  A little fear was healthy and kept me on the straight and narrow path.  Today, we live in a society where parents are afraid to discipline their children for fear of child abuse charges. Today, kids have no fear of consequences for their actions due to this lack of discipline.

Like it or not, we are now reaping the results of what we have sown in our children.  We have to wake up as parents and return to these values or we will continue to see these societal problems get even worse.  Lets put a stop to this destructive path that we are on.  We need to all step up as parents and be responsible for the young lives we have in our hands, lead by example, teach them the morals and values we were taught. 

I gave both of my kids a big hug last night as I do most nights and told them that they are loved.  I can only think of those broken hearted Connecticut families who can't hug their kid tonight.

Mark

Welcoming Google Maps Back to the iPhone

Application: iPhone 3G, 4,4S,5
Function: Turn by turn navigation, search and POI
Cost: $Free
Rating: *****

Many of us remember when Apple made the big move to leave Google Maps out of their iOS 6.0 release.  I along with many users were up in arms over the deletion and protested.  Apple created their own Maps app which got alot of bad press.  Many users reported being taken to the wrong locations and many searches were reported to be inaccurate.  Heads rolled at Apple and they have since been working to improve their native Map App.

Google took their time to redesign their most awesome new Map app and just released it on December 12th for the iPhone.  The iPad release is expected soon.  Even though this is not strictly a marine app, I thought I would let you all know it is now available again and cover some of the new features.  This app will come in handy whether your on land or the water. The powerful Google search features just can't be beat.

The app is invaluable for searching for marinas, restaurants, fuel stations, parts stores, marine stores and grocery stores. 

Features:

• Search for addresses, businesses and locations around the world
• Best route and alternate routes
• Mileage and travel time
• Public Transit
• Locate places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and local reviews
• Sign into Google to sync your searches, directions, and favorite places with your computer
• Provides voice guided, turn-by-turn driving directions
• Options for train, bus, subway or walking directions
• Access live traffic information in many cities around the world
• View 360-degree panoramas with street view and inside over 100,000 businesses worldwide
• View high resolution satellite imagery
• Use gestures to explore the map 

The new Google Maps app was redesigned from the ground up.  It has a great new look with a few new features sprinkled in.

Once you open the app it immediately finds your location and displays the search bar at the top. Simply type in an address, city, location or name of a business and it will instantly list the location along with address, phone number, website and a street view. Options for calling, saving and sharing the locations are listed for your convenience. 

On the top right side of the display are two icons. The People looking icon can be selected to sign into your Google account to save and synch your searches. The Turn arrow icon starts the navigation from you current location.  Select this to choose a destination to where you want to go.

The Arrow icon in the lower left takes you to your present position on the map.  The Three dots tab in the lower right brings up a menu to select real time traffic, public transit, satellite views and Google Earth.

A search for West Marine stores in the Miami area turns up several locations. The search results are listed from closest to farthest. Simply select one to start navigating.  The up and down arrows on the right can be selected to reverse the route.

At this point several routes should be shown with the best route normally highlighted in light blue. If Traffic is turned on the main route will show patches of yellow and red for traffic congestion.

Other alternate routes are highlighted in gray. Tap the gray alternate routes to see the mileage and time of travel.

One of the newest features of the app is voice guided turn by turn navigation.  Once you have selected you destination, you are provided with a pleasant voice giving you directions to your destination.  This new feature is awesome! It allows you to keep your eyes on the road instead of being distracted trying to read what your next turn might be.

 

The app has really become more of a full featured GPS road navigation app that will help you find and guide you to about any destination on the planet.

 

The Google Maps app is speedy, easy to navigate and now it talks to me. How cool is that?  Of course you will need to have cell service for it to work.  If your cruising along the ICW and want to know where the closest restaurant or marina is, just type it in, and your almost there.

 

~~~Sail On~~~ /)

Mark

Weather 4D Pro 1.3.2 Updates

Application: iPad, iPhone 4S,5, iPod Touch 3,4,5 Requires 4.3 or higher
Function:Weather, Current Forecasts, Polars and Weather Routing
Cost: $27.99
Rating: ****

 

It snowed  yesterday for the first time this season.  We may have a White Christmas after all.  The weather has been unseasonably warm and dry up to this point.  You will notice from the picture above that our lake is not even frozen over completely yet.   Ice fisherman are normally out there by now wetting a line. They will have to wait for cooler weather.

 

Weather is a very important part of a boaters life.  Boats move with the seasons and the ebb and flow of the winds, currents and tides.  One app that gives you forecast weather data better than any other is Weather 4D Pro.  The author, Oliver Bouyssou, is constantly adding new features to make his app even more cutting edge and state of the art.  No other app puts together so much data and allows it to be viewed it in such an elegant way.

I reviewed the original Weather 4D app back in April 2011 and was blown away how cool it was.  Since then the app has gone "PRO" with new features to allow you to view currents, import polar data and create weather optimized routes.  Check out the list new features.

Features:

• Compatibility iOS 6.
• Isochronous routing  for sailing and motoring
• Import of polar from csv file.
• Management of polar combined with multiple sail sets
• Mail request by Great Circle (Mail, XGate, AxcessPoint)
• Management of a route from the current position
• Compatibility with iPad mini and iPad 4th generation
• Management of  Current GRIB parameter
• Added units for currents
• Compatibility with the "Export Routes" of iNavX
• Ability to reverse a route.
• Display of the estimate size of GRIB files.
• Improved editing of grid.
• Setting of the depth of historical (1d -> 30d or unlimited).
• Predictions of satellite passes without a time limit related to the current GRIB file.
• New weather models GCWF (Great Circle Weather Forecast)
• Download GRIBs from Internet and Satellite connections
• Added parameter "Currents" in the meteogram
• Added display settings currents (Gradient, Isoplages)
• Access to catalog Tidetech in the definition of GRIB file with filtering based on the geographical area
• Tidetech tidal GRIB files and account management
• Fixed maximum zoom level for GRIBs files containing "Currents" and / or "Waves"
• Simulation of route and routing calculation with currents
• Importation of polars from iPolar app http://www.sailingperformance.com/iPolar.html
• Visualization of polar diagram and tabular values 

Polars:

Weather 4D Pro provides all the great weather forecast features of Weather 4D with all of the new additional features listed above.

The last several releases of Weather 4D Pro have added powerful weather routing features taking into account your yachts performance and polar diagrams.

Your average casual sailor in probably not going to worry about polar diagrams and maximizing your speed to that degree.  But if you race sailboats or plan on making a long ocean passage, it will come in handy to determine the optimum route for the forecast wind and current models.

A Polar diagram is the graphical diagram estimating the theoretical maximum boat speeds at various wind speeds and headings with the associated upwind and downwind velocities made good,VMG.  Polar Diagrams are used by sailors to determine the optimum course to sail, given the existing wind conditions.

Weather 4D Pro now gives you the ability to import a polar diagram data as a .csv file. The file can be email and then downloaded using the OPEN In feature to import the data file into Weather 4D Pro.  The Polar files are listed under the Route feature. Select your imported Polar file for use.

Routing:

Routing was added to Weather 4D Pro with revision 1.3 and offers the ability to optimize your route in combination with the weather forecast GRIB data and your yachts polar diagram performance.

Francis Fustier at NavigationMac has a great tutorial on all the steps needed to import the polar csv files and optimize a route and then export the route back out to a program like iNavX.  He does a great job explaining it and has many nice screen shots showing exactly how it works, so I will not try to duplicate his efforts.  His routing comparisons with the MaxSea TimeZero program validate that the program works as advertised.

Current GRIBs: 

Another new feature for Weather 4D Pro has been the addition of Currents and being able to download and display these GRIB files. 

The current data comes from a company called Tidetech.  The current GRIB data is extensive and covers many areas. Make sure your area is covered before you make a purchase.

To get access to the data you will have to go to the Tidetech website to get a user name and login and purchase a PRO subscription to get access to the GRIB files.

The Pro subscription is a fairly expensive investment of $649 per year.  Once you have purchased your subscription go to the the Weather 4D Pro app and enter your user name and password for your Tidetech account at the bottom of the settings menu.

Weather 4D Pro continues to be the leader and my Go To app for GRIB forecast weather data.  The additional new features of Routing, Polars and Currents make this more than a just weather app.  These powerful features provide the mariner with additional tools to optimize the boats performance with the forecasted data and provide the optimal route.

If your a coastal cruiser like me the weather forecasts features are all I will probably use. If your in need of these additional technical planning features Weather 4D does a great job in providing them. 

~~~Sail On~~~ /)
Mark