Into the third dimension


It is a matter of time before the new generation of autopilots developed in France initially for shorthanded ocean racing filter into the mainstream. Remember too that the current algorithms used replicate human behaviour only as the baseline… Fred Augendre is both observer and customer


Developed in France, the new generation of pilots use algorithms that reproduce human behaviour: rather than blindly fol- lowing a fixed parameter, they move back and forth according to changes in real-time factors including heel angle and apparent wind. Intended for the niche market of singlehanded ocean racers, with pilots


46 SEAHORSE


recently allowed for many more crewed ocean races, they could very quickly interest a much wider market. ‘The autopilot steers better than I do, so


I let it take over most of the time.’ How often have we heard that statement at the finish of a singlehanded race? And yet… it’s not entirely untrue, as the robot knows neither fatigue nor moods, and ensures consistent, reliable performance, provided the boat is properly balanced under sail. But that’s not entirely true either, as


until relatively recently all that most pilots could do, with a few nuances, is to rigor- ously follow a ‘set point’: a compass course, or a wind angle. Unlike a human being, who constantly changes course according to the sea state, the boat’s trim, the heel and variations in wind strength. When it is necessary to take advantage of the slightest increase in the wind, or when it is necessary to know how to ‘attack’


downwind, a helmsman has still been more efficient than a pilot, as long as he is not cold, nor hungry, nor sleepy… nor afraid. Actually, many of the best single- handed racers have been taking the helm more often than they wanted to tell us. What if all that was in the past? Auto-


matic pilot technology is undergoing such a revolution that if today the skipper of an Imoca or an ocean-going multihull assures you that his autopilot steers better than him, it’s no longer ‘a way of speaking’. It’s an observation, a fact that you can accept as such, to the letter. These capabilities of the new pilots are


fascinating, as they bring the racing perfor- mance of ocean-going machines, when sailing singlehanded, to a level that has never been reached before. At a time when offshore racing is taking


advantage of every aspect of the foil tech- nology developed largely in the America’s


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