ORCA Instrumentation (Part 1)

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 bit of a unicorn racing in a USA PHRF handicap fleet. Without like-boats nearby to judge real-time performance, we end up relying on presented numbers based on boat performance to stay on pace. And this has led us to this:

Our brand new, all-singing, all-dancing ORCA Core system, fully integrated into our existing NMEA-2000 network. And while not perfect, it has fundamentally changed how we sail and race BlueJ.

But first some backstory. After years working at Magellan GPS where my team designed some of the first stand-alone 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, a RaceGeek, a Sailmon MAX 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 RaceSense. 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 once owned and still 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 they 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 for mid-sized boats with one MAX 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 (or inability!) to show accurate wind data. This is a SERIOUS limitation, and one that many overlook. I'll talk about that in a later post.

The dual-MAX setup also had a great start timer with DTL, and allowed logged data be be sent to SailNjord for review. I did a big blog post about the Sailmon MAX setup HERE. A solid system, and we would have stayed if not for an opportunity to do a great upgrade.

NOTE - The bracket being used is a NKE TL25 bracket, which fits the ORCA Display 2 charging mount perfectly. While not longer being made or sold, they can be found on the used market.

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

1) An iOS or Android app

2) An NMEA-2000 sailing processor with GPS and 9-axis sensor pack

3) A 1000-NIT configurable mast mount display

4) An optional array of value-add subscriptions.

The ORCA app (iOS and Android) is really the user interface for the whole system. You can run it on your phone, your tablet, or on the ORCA Display 2 – they all show the same interface and sync seamlessly. The app is extremely configurable, letting you build custom screens that combine charts and instrument displays however you want them. Need a screen with just your polar performance and VMG data? Build it. Want charts with a small instrument overlay? Done. The flexibility here is impressive (but sometimes frustrating!), and it means you can set up completely different layouts for racing versus cruising, or for different positions on the boat.

The app also ties into ORCA's subscription services, which include weather routing and offline chart storage. The routing feature uses your boat's polar data to suggest optimal routes, while the offline charts mean you're not burning through cellular data (or worse, losing functionality when you're out of coverage). The real beauty is that because it's just an app, you can run it on hardware you already own – though the Display 2's 1000-NIT brightness and marinized design are pretty compelling for permanent cockpit or mast mounting.The Display 2 is a marinized android tablet, waterproof and possessing a very large battery and a bright display. The User Interface is extremely configurable, with the ability to define new screens that show a user-created combination of charting and instruments.

The Display 2 is essentially a marinized Android tablet purpose-built for the cockpit environment. 

It's fully waterproof, has a massive battery (important for all-day racing), and sports a 1000-NIT display that remains readable even in direct sunlight – something anyone who's tried to use a regular tablet on a bright day (which we did!) will appreciate. It runs the same ORCA app as your phone, so the interface is identical, just optimized for the larger screen and permanent mounting. The Display 2 comes with a charging mount that – and this is a happy accident – fits perfectly in the old NKE TL25 bracket that's no longer made but still floating around the used market. Another great feature, it has a SIM slot. In the USA, a 2nd data-only SIM on T-Mobile is only US$5/month, making putting a SIM in the device a no-brainer. This allows it constant access to the wireless network, meaning that beyond convenience of downloaded data, it allows remote tracking and monitoring when you are away from the boat.

What makes it work as a primary navigation device is that combination of ruggedness and configurability. You can have it show full charts for navigation, flip to a dense instrument panel for racing, or anything in between. The large screen real estate means you can actually see multiple data fields at once without squinting, and the touch interface stays responsive even with wet hands. It's designed to live in the cockpit permanently, which is exactly what we needed for BlueJ's mast-mounted setup.

The Core is the real heart of the system. 

It 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, for TRUE wind, it combines sensor data about boat motion, and also mast height to get a better feel for what is happening at the mast top. Calibration runs at different wind speeds allow it to build a table it uses to null out errors. Then, it combines its data with a downloaded ORC polar chart for your boat that produces this real-time polar performance numbers. A nice feature, the Core will pull ORC polar data for your boat type straight off the ORC site.

That last point about polar performance was the reason for the change. We were good, but I wanted to know HOW GOOD. And a system that would tell us that based on TRUE wind and polar performance was the next logical step.

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

What’s not to like? First, there are some minor issues with the user control display configuration. In an ideal world, the displayed numbers would be larger and use more of the available area. Right now they (as you can see above) are very small, making it harder to read the necessary. Changing layouts can be incredibly difficult; often it’s best to start fresh as opposed to try and change a screen. Once you get it set things work pretty well, except if you lock the screen, a permanent annunciator at the bottom describes how to unlock the screen, partially blocking the view of the bottom row of data. A tragic oversight that should be easily fixed, but has yet to be addressed. 

The biggest issue is the lack of any real racing functionality, Even though you get solid performance numbers. The three biggest misses are:

A start timer, which would hopefully include line pinging. That would allow distance, and time to line displays. Because the Core has the boat’s polar data, TTL would be in reach and a game-changer at this price point.

The second is a lack of lift/knock on the upwinds. To start, even a simple delta off pre-set tack angle would be a start. But the big win would be of it incorporated ‘true’ TWD in a smart way; automatically creating a set of solid upwind numbers that would be updated due to changes in TWD over time. Even smarter? Take into account changes over the course that might be created by land masses and the like. With the right numbers, pretty much anything is possible. 

The third is a lack of automatic display page switching, depending on your sailing angle. This gets more and more important as you add smarter data (like #2) for the different points of sail on the course. Typical for instruments like this, you would have a separate display page for upwind, downwind, and reaching; that would automatically switch based on wind angle. That’s completely missing.

The good news is that the device obviously is under software control that is easily modified in the field, and indeed regular updates come pretty much once a month. So for right now we just keep waiting. In the interim, we’ve actually mounted a Salmon MAX below the Display 2 to make up for that lack of start functionality.

Ready to learn more? I take a deep dive into The ORCA Core and the importance of TRUE wind HERE.