Sailing speed

Louis

Hello
Can anyone tell me if it’s possible to measure speed during sailing using Suunto 9 ?
Probably there is no Sailing mode but maybe another app can do that ?
I need quite big speed digits on the screen with quick GPS refreshing.

Thank you in advance.
Sailor

Egika

@Louis yes, there is a sailing mode in S9!
By default it has speed, avg speed (both in knots), distance and time.

Jamie BG

@Louis - if this is for dinghy racing/trips, it will provide a speed based on distance, however don’t forget that your speed through the water could be significantly different especially if the waves are large, and or there is a strong tide for or against you i.e. if there is a 7knt tide against you and you are only doing 9knts this will only show 2knts speed (not your true 9knts through water). It woud still remain useful in indicating if you speed has suddenly reduced/increased due to conditions re adjusting sails, tide, wind and or weed.
Depending on how serious you are you this is a really good option due to easy visibility and improved tracking:
https://www.velocitek.com/pages/speedpuck

if this is a backup for a yacht (otherwise assume you would just take it off the satnav) it might not be a good idea as I don’t think it would be sufficient for dead reckoning position. if that is the case you may want to consider an electormagnetic speed log/or and old school mechanical one (my preferance as assume if satnav goes, all the boats electricals have gone).

Louis

@Egika Thank you for Sailing mode confirmation
Do you have any experience using this mode ? I mean the accuracy, speed’s refreshing.
I guess you could also know if there is a 5 sec. counting down option ?
This function is necessary for sailing races.
Thanks

Saketo Nemo

@Louis said in Sailing speed:

counting down

You can starting counting down (timer) before start an activity

Egika

@Louis Yes, I have used it once. It has no specific features, just the mentioned data in nautical miles in knots instead of km and km/h.
Accuracy is super good, refresh is standard (1s?)
No other sailing specific features like extra count downs - you can just use the countdown before actually starting the recording.

The Suunto m9 once had all this sailing specifics plus GPS…
And now maybe S7 will handle recording and countdown at the same time (y)

Louis

@Jamie-BG Dear Jamie, your reply is very sailing one, I am impressed
I’d like to explain you then. I need sailing speed meter mainly to train for sailing races on Catamaran, Laser.
I’m aware about sailing speed difference on water and ground.
You are right, I need the speed readings for trimming sails, to be as fast as possible on current wind’s conditions.
I’ve met the Velocitek product in the past, it looks great, but I need sth small and the smartwatch sounds fine for me.
I’m a user of Suunto Core watch for few years and I am very happy of its quality but it’s time to change it and I am looking for sth which fulfill my sailing needs
I was afraid, Suunto 9 has no sailing mode but @Egika confirmed there is.
That is good news for me, because I’ve already started to look for another products, like Fenix 6.
Is there sth you could say about comparing S9 to F6 regarding the sailing, maps ?

Louis

@Egika Thank you for your specific and kind answers. Best sailing regards

Louis

@Egika There is a detail I’d like to ask you again about the speed in knots readings, are they decimal ? one tenth step or half ?

Jamie BG

Unfortunately S7 doesn’t include a countdown function within the fitness tracking app for this activity, which is a great pity.
The basic tracker view is very basic with heart rate zone reporting (like all activities), average nautical speed, nautical distance & Nautical speed, and duration.
However it is possible to create a custom view (or maybe even possible to edit the basic view - using beta and suggests its possible now), so that you can add screens, or change the amount of detail on the screen up to 6 fields or a graph or a lap table which could be very useful as it is quick and easy to set manual laps.
Can add a variety of options for:
distance / duration / heart rate / sea level pressure/ physiology optons / speed and pace .

S7 does have a countdown app that works quite well, and could be set at 5 minute intervals (like I used to do on my old casio watches) or any other interval - possible to have preset options so quick and easy to choose. Can be easy to launch as can set up to launch off watch face or could even use a countdown watch face. Tracker will run in the background and is easy to pull up activity tracker when required.

Biggest issue may be battery life, however you should get between 8-12 hours if using GPS only.

Jamie BG

@Louis I know the F6 has maps but not sure how useful as I don’t have one. Not sure on S9.

Have S7 and the maps will show where you have sailed, however unfortunately their is no heat map for sailing (perhaps this should be a request). There are no contour lines on the watch map (if there are may be too small to see properly) though the phone map does. Thus would be possible to work out potential wind paths and create potential routes off the back of that on the phone. Currently we can’t push routes to the S7 (has been requested), but it is possible use alternative 3rd party apps on the phone that may provide that solution.

Speed on S7 has 1 decimal point.

Fenr1r

@Louis The F6 Pro series will display (it might be picky) Marine maps you load, with soundings and symbols if available/compatible. The S9 has no such map but something resembling a situational awareness display showing your position (re POIs/Routes if enabled): DCRainmaker’s walkthru’ is slightly out of date but not much more so than the manual … and a bit more helpfully illustrated.

F6 Pro Marine map (800m scale)

S9 position (500m scale) (re active POI, showing breadcrumb trail of movement)

In case it matters to you re S9 (and possibly F6 Pro) - issue raised by another sailor, elsewhere:
When Exercising and/or Navigating to a route waypoint or discrete POI, you lose visible numerical compass bearings. The red arrow for N is what you get on the S9. (Bearings/heading not available in Exercise display fields, either, AFAIK.)

In route mode, distance to waypoint is displayed according to your pre-loaded route, rather than as a raven flies (if there’s a difference). Crossing your own route can cause problems for a while each time with the S9’s automatic route-direction detection.

Jamie BG

from my experience I don’t find the detail on the F6 necessary as in dinghies you really don’t need those levels of readings and or detail. I am assuming the catamaran is dinghy, as can’t see the point of your request if keelboat as would have these functions built in via equipment. Only possible one I could maybe see a use for it might be a Tornado or similar as their courses tend to be huge and marks tend to be completely out of sight.

Seeing tracks etc is far more valuable as based on prior tracks from prior legs of the same course would quickly be able to determine if too far or not far enough for wind shifts/currents/wind patterns based on previous passes. Aslo the ability to set multiple points at any one time (to mark the position of bouys/important features like wind holes etc).

Compass bearing - prefer to have that in the boat where i can see it at all times, especially on large offshore courses. Having to repeatedly glance down at watch isn’t ideal, would rather only do that to check/confirm speed, postion related to previous track occasionally as needed.

Fenr1r

@Jamie-BG said in Sailing speed:

request

I had a request?

suzzlo

I have done sailing once with my Spartan and this is the final information shown in SA

https://www.suunto.com/move/suzzlo/5d3ee4ab17683a5de7e37869

I hope this helps
BR