Windicator

[meboater]

Above is a picture of my windicator. It is new to me, and we have just used it on our 3 day shake down cruise of our Seaward 25. I am used to using a mechanical windvane, and was surprised had how I have come to depend on it.

Though not an expert on vector forces, I understand apparent wind, and that this measures apparent wind, as well as my angle to the apparent wind.

What confused me was that some of the readings didn't jibe with my expectaions. Sailing wing on wing, I expected to be much closer to 180 than I was. Also, spending time at around 20 apparent, whch at my speed and apparent wind speed, would put me at 33 to the true wind.

So- any tricks to these? Anything that makes them tend to give inaccurate readings?

We are sailing a boat very susceptable to side slip, and are trying to figure the baest sail managemnt for upwind sailing, and at what point pointing high is too high.

[dhays]

I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that your wind speed indicator said the wind speed was 20 knots and that when factoring in your boat speed you figure the wind was really 33 knots? Or were talking about wind angle?

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by dhays

I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that your wind speed indicator said the wind speed was 20 knots and that when factoring in your boat speed you figure the wind was really 33 knots? Or were talking about wind angle?

I thought he meant degrees, not windspeed.

[Faster]

There is likely a 'trim' adjustment on this instrument for you to fine tune it's reading.. eg, set yourself up at clearly head to wind, if the instrument reads some degrees off that you should be able to 'zero' out the error.

New to you.... but not brand new?

EDIT:
See page 17 of the manual linked below:

http://www.sailingseadragon.com/Manu...rineLX-360.pdf

[GaryHLucas]

Originally Posted by Faster

There is likely a 'trim' adjustment on this instrument for you to fine tune it's reading.. eg, set yourself up at clearly head to wind, if the instrument reads some degrees off that you should be able to 'zero' out the error.

New to you.... but not brand new?

EDIT:
See page 17 of the manual linked below:

http://www.sailingseadragon.com/Manu...rineLX-360.pdf

I looked at this link. This unit uses a really robust technology that should be very accurate and unlikely to fail. If you just motor around in a circle you should be able to verify it works correctly on all points of sail. I wouldn't be surprised that your percieved angle to the wind at the deck is quite different than at the mast head sender.

Gary H. Lucas

[meboater]

Originally Posted by GaryHLucas

I looked at this link. This unit uses a really robust technology that should be very accurate and unlikely to fail. If you just motor around in a circle you should be able to verify it works correctly on all points of sail. I wouldn't be surprised that your percieved angle to the wind at the deck is quite different than at the mast head sender.

Gary H. Lucas

Yup-
An excellent link.
I definitley trust that thing more than I trust me. Basically, I plan to use it to help me learn more about the new boat, and how to trim most effectively. Because some of the angles I was seeing felt different from the readings, I was looking for ways I might have screwed up, or common things that could cause an error.

Thanks for the input.