Beating corridor and laylines
The chart shows how far each board is worth extending. Sailing past the layline means covering metres that bring you no closer to the mark, and it is the mistake that gives away most time on a beat.
What used to go unseen
Until now, all a race left behind was the finishing order
With everyone’s positions saved every few seconds you can settle questions that used to be argued about in the bar with no evidence either way. These are the ones the viewer answers today.
Tracks coloured by boat speed
The same track, painted with what the GPS was reading along it. You can see at a glance where a boat stalled and where it took off, without reading a single graph.
Tacks and gybes counted
Every change of tack is marked on the chart. Tack often and you sail less distance but pay for it in speed each time; tack rarely and it is the other way round. With the number in front of you the argument stops being about opinions.
Two boats, side by side
Pick any two and see, leg by leg, where one pulled time out of the other and how many seconds went with it. The final gap is almost never made where people remember it.
Wind read from the fleet itself
The headings of every boat at once tell you where the wind is coming from better than any forecast: if half the fleet is on one tack and half on the other, the bisector is the wind.
Every leg, one by one
Each leg between marks with its time, its average speed and the extra metres over the straight line. This is where you see who sailed less to arrive in the same place.
38°
The boat pointing highest won
In race 2 at Cubelles the winning boat beat at an average of 38° off the wind. The other two managed 45° and 47°. You cannot see that from the beach, and the GPS measures it.
One thing we do NOT draw, and why
People often ask for the "ideal track" on the chart. On a beat in steady wind there is no such thing: every route that stays inside the laylines covers the same distance, whether you tack once or seven times. What changes the result is pointing higher, going faster, not overstanding the layline and not losing metres in each tack — and all of that we do measure. Drawing a line and calling it optimal would be inventing a precision the data does not have.