gaps from systems which currently rely on user input (usually buy the navigator) to specify what sails are being used and when, which in a race situation can be delayed.


in the cloud via an app on iOS or Android mobiles or tablets. The virtually invisible electronic device simply sewn onto a sail above the clew patch. It is completely sealed, the sensors, battery and all electronic components potted in resin to ensure the harsh marine environment cannot affect its function.


The device shares data via Bluetooth, to an app on a iOS or Android device, which uses a data connection to store the accumulating data in the cloud. At its most basic functional level, the device is a tool for managing a sail inventory, storing the vital statistics of sails, with NFC chip to quickly identify a sail and view this information, then augmenting this info with GPS position of the mobile device to log the sails geographical location. An annual subscription service will make the sail usage data available to the owner, and this can be shared to other specified parties, which could be the sailmaker, the boat captain or the crewmember responsible for the sails, for example.


Spinlock hopes that the product will eventually be commonplace on sails of all types, becoming a ‘passport’ for the sail, recording all the manufacturing information and the sails usage over its lifetime. Providing a usage profile of a sail will provide a clear picture and some valuable data to a spectrum of interested parties.


48 | The Report • December 2018 • Issue 86


First and foremost, the information will be used by the owner or manager of a boat to manage and monitor the use of sails, in particular to create an accurate record of use which may potentially extend the life of some sails, by providing a better view on the sails actual use, in comparison to its age. At the performance end of the market, analysis of exported data will provide insight into the efficiency of tacks and also, when integrated with high end performance analysis software, will greatly increase the validity of the multitude of data streams that are being analysed, because it will pinpoint the precise moment a sail was ‘in-use’ eradicating the need to piece together and fill in the


But the manufacturers, Spinlock, are aiming firmly at the wider market, and not just the high-end superyacht or bg budget race campaigns. This is reflected in the development brief of the inventors, a tech company called SmartSail, which specifies that the device to be affordable for a much wider chunk of the market, and with a retail price of £150, which is a magnitude of 10 cheaper than the expectation of some prospective customers asked what they thought the cost might be.


Accumulated data could eventually provide valuable information to the designers and builders of the sails themselves, who have welcomed this technology. Deeper learning about the effects of use on the shape and condition of sails, across the range of fabric technologies used in sail making, will allow sailmakers to refine their products and offer a more accurate prediction of the lifecycle of a sail. Actual flogging and UV exposure data, and accurately recorded time that a sail has been flown, acquired from a Sail-Sense device, can be analysed alongside draft stripe analysis and hi-tech photographic sail-shape analysis methods, to


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