I’m always being asked what the America’s Cup boats and VOR boats are using for instruments systems and if they differ much from what an average race boat will have on board. So, let’s answer the question, what do the teams use for instrument systems when cost is virtually no object and superior performance on the water the only goal? Also, do these systems have any relevance in what we laughingly call the “real world” of sailing.

Before we get into the details of the systems it’s fair to ask if the needs of these boats on the racecourse are really any different from those of a typical round the buoys or offshore racer? Not really, while sailing what we call the “big 4” remain king. How fast am I going? How hard is the wind blowing? Where is it coming from? Where am I in relation to the mark? Boatspeed, True Wind Speed, True Wind Direction and Nav Functions are all needed no matter what level we race.

Let’s get the “who uses what?” question out of the way first and then talk about what these systems encompass. In the America’s Cup 9 of 12 syndicates use B&G’s exclusive Wave Technology Processor, a.k.a. the WTP. The other three sail with a similar system known as Brava that was developed by a Spanish university team. All use an embedded PC processor and the robust and reliable B&G network for display with B&G wind sensors on the masthead. In the Volvo Ocean Race all 7 competitors are sailing with the B&G WTP processor.

Okay, what is different about WTP that makes it such a potent weapon in the information wars and why has it swept the competition off the board?

Think about the name, the Wave Technology Processor. It’s easy to imagine a masthead on a day with no wind, right, nothing moves. Now think about your masthead on a day with no wind but somehow lots of wave action, the top of the spar is whipping around and the wand and anemometer cups are moving with the waves and you have wildly varying angles and wind speed being created by the very motion of the spar. Literally, the WTP understands this motion and corrects out the variables created by the movement of the boat in the waves. How do it know you ask. Easy to say but tough to calculate, the WTP incorporates a three-axis gyro sensor to give it heel, pitch and roll information. It samples the wind data up to 100 times a second and then calculates what effect is created by wave motion on the masthead wind. Like I said, easy to say… The system then takes the wave-induced effects out of the equation with the result that you have a very stable virtual platform from which to measure your wind and build on your calculations. At the Am-cup level this gives the data collection guys the kind of base line they need to create highly accurate polars from their logged data.

So now that we have virtually instantaneous and extraordinarily stable wind calculations do we show them to the sailors any differently? Not really, on deck these machines look like they are running typical B&G Hercules kit with Full Function displays scattered around the cockpit and the ubiquitous 20/20 or 40/40 displays on the mast but the update rate in a WTP system is three times faster than a conventional Hercules system at 12 times a second. The menu structure emulates what you have probably all seen in an H2000 system.

There must be more to it than this eh’. There is, the flexibility of these processors that allows multiple inputs and complete control over what can be very esoteric custom calibration functions. For example a lot of these boats have their masthead units tested in a wind tunnel to verify their accuracy and although there is generally no statistical variance worthy of note they can write a calibration routine that corrects for even the slightest of difference between several masthead units being held as spares.

What about more prosaic calibration functions, are they significantly different from what we see in traditional grand prix level system? No, not really, the WTP uses the same type of wind matrix you are used to seeing in a Hercules or Hydra system because it works. One of the biggest challenges of an instrument system is dealing with what is known as upwash. Upwash is essentially the bending of the wind by the sail plan as it moves through the air and without correction for this your True Wind Direction can vary quite a bit from tack to tack. Empirically, upwash is calibrated out of the final TWD solution with individual settings throughout the range of wind speeds encountered and through 360 degrees. It may sound complicated but in practice most boats are so similar that a simple set of default corrections gets them well into the ballpark and some disciplined time on the water takes care of the rest. This method also takes care of mast twist and other wind speed or runner dependent variables almost automatically and gives the sailors ultimate control over their wind solution. Because it is well known that the upwash variable is not linier this system does not force the you to draw a straight line between two upwash “slope” points but lets the sailors selectively correct it out for maximum performance and accuracy.

What else? Because these systems are sampling and calculating so much faster than conventional hardware and also updating their displays at a much higher rate the data is extremely stable on the displays with no extra damping required. The result is that sailors get their numbers virtually in real time allowing them to make second by second decisions without taking the “deep breath” sometimes necessary to let the system stabilize after a tack or during a transition. The numbers only move when the situation changes. Speaking of situational changes, the WTP understands the difference between pre-start, upwind and downwind sailing and can be configured to show different data sets on the displays and will switch automatically depending on point of sail or sequence. For example, a display that shows a countdown timer before the start can switch to Apparent Wind Angle for the upwind leg and then to True Wind Angle on the run. Upwind, target speeds may shift to target angles downwind. The processor can be configured to show anything the sailors can dream up.

If you remember listening in to the cockpit chatter in the last cup finals on TV you heard some very definitive statements being made about time to the starting line or time and distance to laylines, and also as they approached a mark, discussions of what conditions would be experienced on the next leg of the course. The WTP equipped boats are all using B&G’s Deckman Tactical software to control their instrument systems and provide this level of sophisticated calculated tactical function to the afterguard.

With this system in use the navigator can provide split second details to the tactician at the starting line, he knows how far he is from any point on the line in terms of distance or time and after the start as they sail up the course he is constantly in touch with the laylines as the wind shifts and has this at his fingertips with on-screen graphics or tabular data as he chooses.

Data collection and usage is another area that the Am-Cup boats are way ahead of average programs. These boats are streaming data back to their tenders with telemetry for constant and detailed performance analysis. Rudder angle, boat speed, shroud loads, mast twist, winch loads, car position, acceleration, all the wind stuff you can think of. Anything, if it can be measured, turned into a voltage reference and might have some bearing on a boats performance it is being chopped up beamed out and fed into the polar calculations.

Trust me, Gyro Gearloose is alive and well at this level, I have held in my hand three sensors the size of cigarette packages that are wireless load cells incorporating three axis sensing devices that can be strapped to the corners of a sail to measure the exact force being generated in any condition or trim configuration. Is the force up, sideways or down, is it pulling the boat forward and how hard? All these things can be looked at, all the time.

So the last question to be answered is how close does this stuff get to those of us who have to live in the real world without “cost is no object” budgets. Surprisingly close in fact. Some of the lessons B&G has learned from participation at this level have already been incorporated into the latest generation of Hercules Main Processors that you have been sailing with and have used to win races for the last couple of years. The WTP itself is not only used at Americas Cup and VOR level but has become dominate in the TP52 fleet with most new programs going this route over the last generation in the Med especially. We even see it in the Farr 40 fleet in limited numbers. Half the Orma 60 Tri’s, most of the Mega Multihulls as such as B&Q or Cheyenne and virtually all of the 80’ and above maxi racing fleet are using this technology today.

However, another question is whether or not the average “rich owner” can buy into this level of sophistication or do you have to be one of the billionaires? Surprisingly when you scale one of these systems down, to TP52 size for example, with say 5 mast displays and a fairly typical configuration the difference between a conventional Hercules or other top end system and the WTP is not that great. About $25K USD or so for the hardware in what we think of as today’s top of the line grand prix instruments and a WTP based system coming in around $30K.

Before the discussion even starts, I know, all you really need is a Windex and maybe a compass. But remember this, unarguably, some of the best sailors in the world rely on this technology to make them even better and it isn’t because we force them to take it, or for that matter pay them to use it, no it’s on these boats for one reason, because it gets them around the race course faster. More races are won on wind shifts than any other factor.