Electronic Coaching Assistant

   Not sure where best to post this.

Do you think there would be any demand for a device that accurately measures roll and pitch angle (and heading) and streams the readings via Bluetooth to a laptop/tablet on a coach boat (for live viewing and saved on SD card for training room debrief)?  I was thinking it could be useful for coaches to know exactly how much heel/trim their protégé is sailing with, e.g. 

 “Get that boat FLAT – you’ve got half a degree heel to leeward!”

“You should have pulled it over to 9.3 degrees during the roll tack, you idle SOB!”

“Shift your weight back, you need 2.3 degrees trim to get planning early!”

Coupled with a speedo it could be a handy way of determining best boat trim.  

It would be about the size and weight of a small match box, or iphone size if it needed a display for the sailor to see the numbers too.  

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Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Topic: Electronic Coaching Assistant Posted: 12 Sep 12 at 2:14pm
	Not sure where best to post this. Do you think there would be any demand for a device that accurately measures roll and pitch angle (and heading) and streams the readings via Bluetooth to a laptop/tablet on a coach boat (for live viewing and saved on SD card for training room debrief)? I was thinking it could be useful for coaches to know exactly how much heel/trim their protégé is sailing with, e.g. “Get that boat FLAT – you’ve got half a degree heel to leeward!” “You should have pulled it over to 9.3 degrees during the roll tack, you idle SOB!” “Shift your weight back, you need 2.3 degrees trim to get planning early!” Coupled with a speedo it could be a handy way of determining best boat trim. It would be about the size and weight of a small match box, or iphone size if it needed a display for the sailor to see the numbers too.

Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 11:24am
	Not that much interest in it then...

kevg Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Posting king Joined: 13 Dec 05 Location: Wrexham Online Status: Offline Posts: 120	Post Options Post Reply Quote kevg Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 11:43am
	I'd like a waterproof communication device. So you could calmly and clearly communicate with the person you are coaching/instructing on the water. Rather than yelling over the noise of wind/engine etc, blowing a whistle and random arm waving. (Everyone forgets what was said at the briefing!) Perhaps we could have a device for the sailor to wear e.g a small earpieces. Then have several channels so you could give individual feedback to each sailor. Could bluetoohn mobile phone technology do this?

Barty Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 16 Mar 04 Location: Scotland Online Status: Offline Posts: 240	Post Options Post Reply Quote Barty Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 12:23pm
	I came up with a design for something similar for instructors and coaches with 6 colour coded channels, ear pieces and mics and the ability to broadcast to all or individuals.......looking at the costs verses demand it was never going to be a winner!
	For Topper boats & spares in Scotland-highlandtopper.com

Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 12:33pm
	If the comms kit was kept one to one, it would be very simple and cheap. The roll/pitch device with bluetooth and software for the laptop would cost £300-350. It wouldn't take much to integrate with GPS to get speed, leeway angle etc too. Thought it might be useful to the Olympic circus, laser squaddies etc.

Oatsandbeans Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 19 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 382	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oatsandbeans Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 12:38pm
	I think this would be great. I've even bought all the bits to make one. It was going to be my project for the winter. I was going to base it an an Arduino platform. It all looks quite doable.

Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 12:57pm
	Nice one! Best of luck. It's definitely doable, as I have one on my desk.

Rupert Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 04 Location: Whitefriars sc Online Status: Offline Posts: 8956	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rupert Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 1:01pm
	I feel like I'm from the stone age... even using such a device would be problematical for me, but making one? Mind, do you remember the protractor devices with the weight on a string to show when you are upright?
	Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686

G.R.F. Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 10 Aug 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 4028	Post Options Post Reply Quote G.R.F. Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 1:15pm
	I find just a set of waterproof speakers and a looped tape of encouragement from the bread knife... "You're doing it all wrong!" Is sufficient.
	https://www.ease-distribution.com/

Oatsandbeans Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 19 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 382	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oatsandbeans Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 12 at 1:21pm
	I also thought that you could use a similar set up to help on 2 boat tuning. With 2 units one in each boat that would compare their performance and display the relative performance. So you could have it set up on say Vmg ( or any other parameter eg. Heel, pitch, ) and there would be a simple red orange green LED that would tell the helm how he was doing against the other boat. He would then modify his technique or set up to achieve as much green LED display. Also at the end of the session all the data from the 2boats performance could analysed in detail. The motorsport guys are masters at this , i'm sure that we could benefit from a more precise approach to boat tune and performance.