To make better sailing decisions, you want to understand the True Wind Speed, True Wind Direction, and the currents that affect your boat.
Knowing True Wind, you can keep track of wind shifts, derive laylines, and measure your sailing performance against your Polar Diagram. It may sound trivial to calculate True Wind accurately, but it is a complex process that involves a lot of math and fine-tuned calculations.
Orca's Sailing Processor handles these complex calculations, giving you accurate wind and current information to sail better.
What do I need for the Sailing Processor to work?
The Sailing Processor runs on your Orca Core. For it to work, you need:
An Orca Core with GPS reception and a calibrated compass
An NMEA 2000 Wind Sensor connected to your Orca Core
To get Speed and Direction of Currents, you also need a Speed Through Water sensor connected to your Orca Core.
If you do not have a Speed Through Water sensor, Orca will assume there are no currents in your area of sailing.
What environmental information will the Sailing Processor provide?
The Sailing Processor will provide the following information in Orca and on your NMEA 2000 network, which will also be available for other displays to show:
True Wind Speed
True Wind Direction
True Wind Angle
Back-calculated Apparent Wind Speed
Back-calculated Apparent Wind Angle
The Sailing Processor will also provide the following information in Orca (only available in Orca due to limitations in the NMEA 2000 standard):
Speed of Currents
Direction of Currents
What polar information will the Sailing Processor provide?
When you set a Polar Diagram, the Sailing Processor will use the True Wind information to calculate your Polar Performance targets. This information is only available in Orca due to limitations in the NMEA 2000 standard. The following information is available in Orca:
Polar Performance Percentage
Target Boat Speed
Target Run Angle
Target Beat Angle
Which calibrations are available in the Sailing Processor?
True Wind Direction Tacking can be calibrated via Main Menu > My Boat > Calibrate TWD.
Orca guides you through the calibration, which involves sailing upwind on starboard and port tack to measure the effect of True Wind Direction Tacking on your boat.
A TWD calibration run takes typically 5 minutes and should be done in an area with as small waves and currents as possible.
What other factors does the Sailing Processor compensate for?
The Sailing Processor automatically compensates for the following factors:
Heeling and mast motion is compensated for via the Orca Core's Motion Processor
A Wind Gradient formula is applied to scale True Wind Speed to 10 meters height for Polar Performance targets
Downwind Acceleration is compensated
Leeway is compensated
The Sailing Processor also applies dynamic filtering that delivers a balance between responsiveness and smoothness for all information.
For further details, see the Sailing Processor Blog Post.