Sailing – Regatta Timer
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I use the Suunto 9 to run and instead of my old Suunto Yachtsman I would like to use it for regatta sailing as well. But - unlike the Yachtsman - I cannot use the timer in such a way that it counts down 5 minutes to the start and then continues to count normally. That’s too bad. Wouldn’t it be great to change that?
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@zweizudrei I am not familiar with the usecase can you explain how it works ?
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The start is announced exactly 5 minutes, then 4 minutes and 1 minute in advance. Until then, you sail up and down in front of the start line (a sailboat cannot simply stop and stand still) in order to sail across the line as precisely as possible at the start signal. A good start is extremely important in a regatta. After the start, the time to finish is measured and calculated with a factor (yardstick) for different boat classes. The clock should count down from 5 minutes and, if possible, give a signal every minute until the start at 0 and then count normally up again until you set to stop yourself. This is exactly how the Suunto Yachtsman worked. But it is very old and will soon fall apart.
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Well, you can set a custom sport mode with laps set to time (1’)
So you start it at 5 min announcement and you’ll get a notification every minute.
You could also set a target (5’) to receive a notification when you’re half way and when you reach 100% (5’)Another option is to use intervals (5x1 min) with recovery time set to 0. You start the sailing activity, when the announcement is made you start intervals so you’ll get notifications every minute until intervals will be over. Then the activity will keep recording (as for the previous option)
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Thank you. I’ve tried both versions at home: yes, both work, if need be and maybe I’ll test one at the regatta tomorrow. Unfortunately, they are not really practicable because they count up - or am I making a mistake? The time before the start is extremely hectic! You don’t just sail up and down, but try to maneuver yourself into the best position with all (!) means, to sail out the opponents, there is wind and screams and sometimes break - in that situation the time has to run backwards to 0. (Regatta timers signal every minute and then at 30 seconds to start and at 20 seconds and from 10 seconds every second up to 0). The notification with sound is helpful, but it doesn’t have to be. But counting backwards to 0 and then recording to the goal (approx. 1 hour) should be. Is there a way to set this?
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@zweizudrei For windsurfing races I use the laps duration field. Once the 5min startsign goes off, I press the manual laps button on the watch. The laps duration field resets to 0:00 and counts up at that time.
I need to check it often because there is no audio warning as you already said, but it does the job for me -
@zweizudrei: I used to sail a lot and have done a couple of worlds in dinghies and raced a fair amount in keelboats too (from helming, to tatics to crewing - been there done it all and got the T-shirt).
Fully understand the count down and agree with you; what I am confused about is the count up once the race has started? Are you more referring to tracking the duration from the starting gun so you can see total time to complete race so that you can work out your handicap impact when racing multi-class (never been a major issue for me as most of the racing I have done is single class racing and or pursuit racing where your start includes your handicap)? if so I would think that you tracking from the pre-signal would be best and then just subtract the 5mins off your total time.
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@surfboomerang
i’m afraid i don’t understand how to set this? The start is probably similar to that of sailing - and you have one hand free to operate the clock immediately after the start? -
@Jamie-BG
thanks! Yes, I refer to the duration from start to finish because I am sailing both single class regattas and Yardstick where I need to calculate the handicap. Yes, tracking from pre-signal and then subtract the 5 min, would work. Still it would be so much nicer to count down to the start and then count up just like the old Suunto once had it … -
@zweizudrei I start the lap 5 min before the start. The datafield shows 0 min and counts up to 5 min. It doesn’t give any signals, but by looking at the watch during start, I can try to cross the startline at exactly 5 min. After start I don’t set the watch anymore until the finish.
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@zweizudrei - you need to get stronger hands - if helming you need to learn to be able to hold tiller/tiller extension and mainsheet in one hand…
if crewing you definitely should have a free hand.It is never going to be perfect, especially if you are having to tack or make adjustments for other boats as your cross the line, but in a lot of cases you should be fine.
But this is part of the reason why I used to use my method (subtract 5 mins). -
@Jamie-BG
it is tiller and both sheets, so stronger hands would indeed be good - so today I only used the normal timer again (which is good) and trusted the regatta team for taking the total time correctly. And maybe I’m looking for a good excuse for not being first today … -
@surfboomerang
thanks surfboomerang, but to start the laps duration field don’t I have to start the race first? I arranged the laps duration field on page 3 of my sailing training. But in order to get to page 3, must I not start the race first? Sorry for being confused. -
@zweizudrei
Not in my case… let me give you an example how I use the watch during windsurfing races with a 5 min startIets say we sail a race of 5 heats. All with a 5 min start.
The first start (5 min signal) will be at exactly 1:00 PM.My watch has some fields I use for windsurfing but one field is the Laps Duration field. Lets say that I have that field on my 3rd page.
What I will do in this situation is that I start a windsurf activity when I enter the water and I will sail to the start area. So my actiivty starts before 1:00 PM.I press the middle button of my S9 Baro until I an on page 3 with the Laps Duration field
On the 5 min start signal, I press the manual lap button which will reset the Laps Duration field to 0:00:00 and it will start counting towards 0:05:00. So I know I have to cross the start line on exactly 0:05:00. After that the watch keeps counting seconds during the race.Lets say it takes me 10 minutes to complete the course and cross the finish line Once I finish the Laps Duration field will show 0:15:00 and is still counting. On this point I have two options:
1: Press the manual laps button again to create an intermediate lap just for analyzing purposes
2: Leave the counter runningI press the manual laps button again on the 5 min start signal of the next heat which will reset the Laps Duration field to 0:00:00 and the process described above repeats all over until all 5 heats are finished.
After I leave the water, I stop the windsurf activity and that will finish the whole recording. -
thank you very much @surfboomerang for the detailed explanation!
Instead of laps, I had set up a page with intervals: set 5 intervals each 1 min and 0 recovery time. That was my fault.
So your lap 1 is the way to the start and the regatta field and lap 2 is the 5 minutes before the starting gun plus the entire race to the finish? At the finish line you manually stop lap 2 to create an intermediate lap and subtract 5 min, which is your race time. At least that’s how it works.
Warm greetings from sailing. -
@zweizudrei said in Sailing – Regatta Timer:
So your lap 1 is the way to the start and the regatta field and lap 2 is the 5 minutes before the starting gun plus the entire race to the finish? At the finish line you manually stop lap 2 to create an intermediate lap and subtract 5 min, which is your race time. At least that’s how it works
Correct.
If you are interested in race times, then you start lap 3 right after the finish. Your race time is then lap 2 (- 5 min).
If you’re not interested in the race time, you can leave lap 2 running until the 5 min start of the next race and then start lap 3. -
@zweizudrei In addition to normal countdown it should have an option to sync to desirable minute by pressing up and down button. As sometime the race comity signal are off.
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A sail racing timer has been added to the S+ store.
Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti
Blog: isazi's home
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@isazi Already available or after fw update? I can’t find it.
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@surfboomerang I can see one of them in the S+ store, under watersports, but I would not believe it works before the firmware update.
Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti
Blog: isazi's home
