Do u use one? Do u find it useful? Where and how do u mount it? I'm thinking of one to use on my Nacra 5.2.

--
2016 Hobie Getaway
1978 Nacra 5.2
1978 Hobie 16 (back in the day)
--

Well, what I did is get one of these:
https://www.overstock.com…er/13403972/product.html
And I run this very simple app:
https://play.google.com/s…ltophoto.knotmeter&hl=en

My boat is an inter 20, and I made a mount that slots into the track on top of the front crossbeam so no drilling, and I paste the tablet to the mount with Velcro. It takes a bit of fiddling to get the tablet going, as it's so cheap because some of the instructions and apps pre-loaded are in Japanese. Nevertheless I figured it out and I'm no whiz at this stuff.

Bottom line is I'm happy with it, and for 10% of the price of a speedpuck. It'll run for at least 8 hours on a charge.

I can shoot some pics next time I'm at the boat if anyone is interested.

Best,
Eric R

Are you asking about whether or not it is worthwhile to use a tactical compass for course racing?

In my experience, no it is not worthwhile and few if any top beach cat racers use them these days.

Performing well in a beach cat race depends on many factors such as getting a good start, having excellent boat speed, reading the fleet and the wind over the course, and having strong tactical skills and knowledge of the rules - not staring down at a compass.

sm

i can defiantly see the value in having a nice large screened speedometer / VGM calculator on your boat during anytime except racing.

It can be a great resource for learning what makes your boat "tick"

you can see instantly the effect of sheeting, traveler, out-hauls, weight placement, etc

you can learn about best course for vmg and then use that knowledge during racing

MN3

It can be a great resource for learning what makes your boat "tick"

you can see instantly the effect of sheeting, traveler, out-hauls, weight placement, etc

This is the exact reason I bought a SpeedPuck this summer. At the age of 67 and new to sailing, I don't have years to gain the expierience to get the most out of my cat.

After this pic was taken I added foam pipe insulation to protect any metal edges.




--
Pat
Hobie Wave
Canadian side of Lake Huron
--

maxphunn

MN3

It can be a great resource for learning what makes your boat "tick"

you can see instantly the effect of sheeting, traveler, out-hauls, weight placement, etc

This is the exact reason I bought a SpeedPuck this summer. At the age of 67 and new to sailing, I don't have years to gain the expierience to get the most out of my cat.

After this pic was taken I added foam pipe insulation to protect any metal edges.

What is a speed puck? Ur picture didn't load for some reason.

--
2016 Hobie Getaway
1978 Nacra 5.2
1978 Hobie 16 (back in the day)
--

It's a gps speedometer and more. Here is the link to their site...

https://www.velocitek.com/pages/speedpuck

--
Pat
Hobie Wave
Canadian side of Lake Huron
--

I bought a refurbished Garmin Quatix GPS off ebay couple of years ago. Primarily use it for speed and distance. The feature I like the most that I use during an occasional race is the ability to mark the starting line and having it give you the time/distance to the start of the race. Let's you time your approach.

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Steve
Nacra Inter 20
Okemos Michigan
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I agree with MN3 and others that having GPS speed (and potentially heading too) is super helpful to learn how to go faster. Also helpful in long-distance racing where you have less shore-reference points (so you don't have to stare at your GPS as much). Plus it's honestly 100% fun to see how fast you're going, as it was for us during Race to Alaska when we once started hitting 17kts, then 18 and finally 19.2kts under spinnaker -- we just looked at each other and laughed "did you see that?".

We mounted ours on the bowsprit, about 1ft behind the jib tack, using a custom mount (not to hard to build yourself, or can 3D print).

For around the buoys racing however I think Dogboy is right that it's more important to be heads-up and read the other boats, course and wind shifts visually -- though even in this case a race-legal compass can probably help fine tune your senses of when a windshift is happening (the pros feel stuff to a level of precision that amateurs can't since we don't spend thousands of hours on the water). At least that's my sense when racing bigger boats -- I haven't done enough around the buoys beach cat racing to confirm.



Edited by southstars2012 on Sep 04, 2017 - 10:20 PM.

--
SL
Nacra Inter 20 (sold)
2017 Race to Alaska "Team Ketch me if u can"
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamKetch/
- Race video highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTWp4DP0VcA
Sausalito CA
--

[Note: this post is a longer review of various speed/heading displays -- 100% personal opinion]

For the 2017 Race to Alaska (long-distance race including night sailing), a good bowsprit-mounted speed/compass display on our Nacra Inter 20 was critical, so I spent a lot of time researching my options. Here's the run down, in case you are considering a similar display:

(1) Best all-around GPS speed/heading display: NovaSail NS360 Pocket v2 (MSRP $529)
(see here: http://www.nova-sail.com/…cket%20V2.php?buy=129832)

This is what we ended up using for R2AK, and I loved it (would absolutely reuse the same again). Not the best-looking display, but by far the most functional and flexible. The only standalone display that I know of that can do all of the following:
- GPS speed (speed over ground)
- GPS heading (course over ground)
- Magnetic heading
- Start timer
- Ability to simultaneously show any 2 of the above 4 data fields (for example: GPS COG + magnetic heading, if we were in a high current spot to determine drift; or GPS speed + COG, which we used most of the time to figure out our best speed/angle)
- Other features: Backlight for night use; long battery life (30-36hrs in our experience)
- Missing features: distance/time to start line (for racing)
- Note: probably not race-legal in most classes (uses GPS data) -- unless you show only magnetic heading + start timer (no GPS-based data fields), but then the class would have to trust you not to misuse the GPS fields while racing.

Full disclosure: Florent from NovaSail very kindly lent us the display for R2AK. It's a great product so I'm not shy of recommending it. He's a French guy running a tiny operation out of Hong Kong, so he's not well known in the US, but he was very responsive, and has more traction in Europe -- his display was used on the winning Diam 24 trimaran in this year's Round-France Regatta (Tour de France a la Voile).

More NovaSail links:
- Picture of the display (being tested in our car): https://www.facebook.com/…36522605/?type=3&theater
- NovaSail Facebook page (better than their site): https://www.facebook.com/novasail.hk/
- NovaSail display feature comparison table: http://www.nova-sail.com/en/Compare.php

(2) Runner-up GPS speed/heading display: Velocitek Pro-Start (MSRP $599)
(see here: https://www.velocitek.com/pages/prostart)

Very similar to the NovaSail above (and better looking), but less complete:
- No magnetic heading
- No backlight

Additional feature: distance/time to start line (stand-out feature, but probably not race-legal in class racing)

I have less to say about the Pro-Start as I've never seen it in person...

(3) Best heading-only display (no GPS): Velocitek Shift (MSRP $699)
(see here: https://www.velocitek.com/pages/shift)

Only 2 display features (no GPS speed/course):
- Magnetic compass
- Start timer
- Other features: Backlight; built-in solar power
- Note: probably race-legal since no GPS (depending on the class)

We bought the Shift for R2AK as our back-up to the NovaSail display (since our must-have feature for R2AK was compass heading + backlight at night), but in the end we didn't use it since the NovaSail display did the same and more. It's a very nice looking display overall, very legible, with a great backlight. If anyone is interested, I'm selling it brand new on Ebay for $600 ($99 under MSRP) -- I can arrange a bigger discount if you message me so we avoid eBay fees (plus I'll pay classified fees to BeachCats).

Runner-up race-legal compasses: Raymarine (ex-Tacktick) Micro Compass T060/T061 (MSRP $499) or Race Master compas T070/T071 (MSRP $849) - more expensive than Velocitek Shift for a given feature set (though you can find discounts at online sites like Defender and even Amazon).

(4) Best entry-level GPS speed/heading display: Velocitek Speedpuck (MSRP $339)
(see here: https://www.velocitek.com/pages/speedpuck)

Only 1 data field at a time (vs. 2 fields with the NovaSail or Pro-Start):
- GPS speed (SOG), or
- GPS course (COG)
- Note: may not be race-legal as a compass heading display since it uses GPS

I suspect the Speedpuck is Velocitek's most popular display - simple and easy to use, and many people are happy to just display speed (while judging heading by eye). If anyone is interested I have a second-hand one (barely used) that I'll sell if you PM me -- since I'm boat-less right now I don't need it, and if I get a boat I'd probably invest in the NovaSail...

There are certainly other options -- cheap tablet like Ericrayl suggested, or a GPS watch -- but I don't think these really compete with the ease of use and battery life of marinized displays like the ones above.



Edited by southstars2012 on Sep 04, 2017 - 10:19 PM.

--
SL
Nacra Inter 20 (sold)
2017 Race to Alaska "Team Ketch me if u can"
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamKetch/
- Race video highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTWp4DP0VcA
Sausalito CA
--

wanderoo222

Do u use one? Do u find it useful? Where and how do u mount it? I'm thinking of one to use on my Nacra 5.2.

Had one on my 5.8.... Look by my feet, yes it was very useful





Edited by JohnES on Sep 05, 2017 - 07:27 PM.

--
John Schwartz
Ventura, CA
--

JohnES

Had one on my 5.8.... Look by my feet, yes it was very useful

John, have you checked the accuracy on your SpeedPuck lately?

While mine was under warranty I noticed it was showing 20% slower speed than actual. I tested it against my car speedometer, a Magellan GPS, and the Motion-X app on my phone - all at the same time. The other three agreed to the mile per hour. The SP was consistently low for the entire speed spectrum.

I sent it to the manufacturer and was given a replacement, which went bad in the same way a year later.
The direction and mapping still work well, but the speed is the fun part and it disappoints.

--
Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
--

klozhald

JohnES

Had one on my 5.8.... Look by my feet, yes it was very useful

John, have you checked the accuracy on your SpeedPuck lately?

Don't have a speed puck... that is an old fashion flush mounted compass in the picture.

--
John Schwartz
Ventura, CA
--

JohnES

klozhald

JohnES

Had one on my 5.8.... Look by my feet, yes it was very useful

John, have you checked the accuracy on your SpeedPuck lately?

Don't have a speed puck... that is an old fashion flush mounted compass in the picture.

John, does the compass mounted that far down on the tramp get in the way? That is the compass model I am considering. How sturdy is the compass dome?

--
2016 Hobie Getaway
1978 Nacra 5.2
1978 Hobie 16 (back in the day)
--

wanderoo222

JohnES

klozhald

JohnES

Had one on my 5.8.... Look by my feet, yes it was very useful

John, have you checked the accuracy on your SpeedPuck lately?

Don't have a speed puck... that is an old fashion flush mounted compass in the picture.

John, does the compass mounted that far down on the tramp get in the way? That is the compass model I am considering. How sturdy is the compass dome?

Nope, hardly knew it was there... It was mounted with nylon screws and nuts from Home Depot along with one of the white cutting boards that was cut down to a 4" X 4" as the backing plate... Don't use metal fasteners to fasten it..

Pretty sturdy.... I had it there for about three years and it started to yellow about the third year... but for $24.00 it was pretty cheap to replace which I didn't.. sold the boat.



Edited by JohnES on Sep 06, 2017 - 09:31 PM.

--
John Schwartz
Ventura, CA
--

How much is the speedpuck and where can u buy it?

--
Frank
Prindle 15/Hobie 16/Hobie 14T
--

https://www.velocitek.com/pages/speedpuck