ORCA Instrumentation

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 As many know, I'm a bit of an instrumentation geek when it comes to sailboat racing. This is particularly relevant on BlueJ which is a one-of-a-kind boat racing in a handicap PHRF fleet. Without like boats nearby to judge performance, we end up relying on presented numbers based on boat performance. And this has led us to this:


But first some backstory. After years working at Magellan GSP where my team designed some of the first stand-along marine plotters, I've alway focused on having detailed sailing data on the boat. For racing, this started with a TackTick Racemaster compass, which actually used a mechanical fluxgate compass! Next came the Velocitek ProStart, a Prism, and then a stint at Vakaros where I ran global sales and marketing. All of these things were mounted to the mast in some fashion, usually with a mount designed for some other instrument. Not ideal, but it worked!

While at Vakaros, we launched the Atlas 2 and Racesence. It was a great run, but it burned me out. Taking some time off doing a startup, I got a call from Sailmon, asking if I was willing to talk about the Sailmon MAX, a device I admired. Over the course of a few calls, I ended up taking a consulting gig with them, with the deep understanding that many of the issues that faced were created by me during the design of the Atlas 2!

During that time, I came up with a GREAT 2-up MAX system with one showing compass and lift/knock, and the other showing boat speed and true wind speed and angle. It worked great, within the limitations of its ability to show accurate wind data.


This also did a great start timer, and allowed logged data be be sent to SailNjord for review. A solid system, and we would have stayed if not for an opportunity to do a great upgrade.


The ORCA system (LINK) is a four-part system:

1) An iOS or Android app

2) An NMEA-2000 sailing processor

3) A 1000-NIT configurable mast mount display

4) An optional array of value-add subscriptions.

The App and the display function as one, the real key is you can also run the app on your own hardware.

The Core is the real heart of the system, and combines its own GPS and 9-axis sensors to augment the boats NMEA data to present TRUE true wind, and associated analytics like % of polar performance and VMG beat and run angles. Magic? No, it combines its data with a downloaded ORC polar chart for your boat that produces this information.

The result looks like this on our boat, a real game changer for us:


Sometime over the winter I'll do a real deep-dive into all it its capabilities.


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