I'm sure many VRTool users who use it in virtual regattas are also
real world sailors, and like to use it on board. On the other hand,
interaction with the demanding virtual regatta community
helped develop many features that put VRTool on par with other
sailing software packages: wind forecasts, weather routing,
track planning, leg calculator etc.
In order to feed actual sail boat data into VRTool, I added the GPS
interface (that was already available in Navigator software). This allows
receiving GPS device input on the PC serial port, using the NMEA interface.
However, there is a more powerful way to feed boat data into VRTool:
the new VRTool Sidekick app for iPhone (VSK). The iPhone has
a internal GPS and can act as a sailing calculator and data logger.
The idea is to keep the PC safe on the navigation table and the
iPhone at hand, communicating via local wireless network.
Features:
* Real time polar chart plot, with calculated speed and sail efficiency
* TWA, VMC, destination distance/course
* Best course/speed to destination
* Saves track points periodically - Send multiple points to VRTool in a single operation (using VRTool web server)
* Uses VRTool polar charts (XML format). Polars can be edited using VRTool Polar Studio
Below is a screenshot of VSK polar chart tab:
The GPS tab shows important sailing variables:
To know more about VSK features, check the User Manual (in PDF)
VSK is available on the AppStore
