Technology
Grand prix-level tactical tools... for everyone
With its RaceSense software and Atlas 2 instrument display, Vakaros is now offering sailing technology that was designed for the America’s Cup and SailGP to a much wider community of racing sailors
All of us have felt the tension that arises during a typical start sequence: the frenetic mental energy coupled with our helming and trimming to be exactly on the line where we want to be and at speed when the gun fires. It looks easy and intuitive to those who have years of experience and know their boat, their crew and the race conditions well. Yet for others without this carefully acquired and cultivated skillset starting can be quite a daunting task. This is where RaceSense and its Atlas 2 display platform from Vakaros can help by bringing affordable America’s Cup and SailGP-level technology to within reach of all of us. On big boats it’s quite typical to
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see a variety of clever tactical software tools used to provide critical information, such as time and distance to the line based on measured rates of progress. Yet when this information is layered among other considerations, such as your aggressive neighbours who also want the same place on the line, the need for clear and highly accurate information can be paramount: there is no room for uncertainty in the final seconds left to the start, for both the competitor and the race managers who are tasked with policing the start line. Only with the Atlas 2 dual band
L1 + L5 GNSS technology can the centimetre-scale spatial resolution to within tenths of a degree in
Above: Atlas 2 and Race- Sense are ideal for boats that demand very fast reaction times from their crews
accuracy be achieved to provide this critical information within the Race Sense software. Rather than an add on to an existing instrument system or an app on a phone, Atlas 2 was specifically designed and built for this purpose. ‘Phone apps are simply not designed for this purpose,’ says Todd Wilson, co-founder of Vakaros. ‘They chew up too much power, there are limitations on presenting information on their displays, and their network connections are not optimised to be reliable over the typical race areas out on the water.’ Being an active racer in
numerous competitive classes, Wilson knows from experience these limitations, and says it is for this
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