We built ChartedSails to enable more sailors to use data in their training and tuning routine. Every new feature is carefully designed to be easily accessible and intuitive to use.

If you are not recording yet, make sure to read our howto record sailing sessions guide.

Keep reading to learn about the key tools to analyze your sailing drills and regattas.

1. Navigate your replay

When you open a sailing session in ChartedSails you will find a large timeline at the bottom of your screen showing your speed (in Knots) over time. By moving your mouse over the graph you can easily see where the boats were at a given time and what was their speed and course at that time.

Click on the graph to move the playhead.

2. Control the playback

The Play button on the left of the graph launches the replay. Click on the replay speed to switch between different speeds.

3. Know your tail modes

ChartedSails can display boat tracks in different ways:

• Track colored as a function of speed

  

  This is the default mode if you have only one boat in your replay. The color scale is displayed on the side of the screen and is automatically adjusted to the maximum speed of your boat. In this mode, you can easily notice fast segments and slower segments. You can also very effectively look at tacks and gybes to see how long before the manoeuver you started losing speed and how fast you got back to your previous speed on the other tack.

• Full tail

  

  In this mode, each track is drawn in the color of the boat (see the boat cards in the top left corner to get the name of your boat). This makes it easy to compare trajectories and evaluate your tactical choices during a race. This is the default mode when you have multiple boats in a replay.

• Partial Tail

  

  In this mode, ChartedSails shows 10 minutes of sailing tracks for each boat. This makes it easier to look at long replays when boats have sailed over their tracks multiple times. Another way to deal with long tracks is to zoom on the part you are most interested in. Keep reading to learn how to do this!

4. Set up your wind

ChartedSails can help you measure the True Wind Angle and the Velocity Made Good so you can effectively compare different tacks. Without a precise source for wind, we rely on an estimate of the wind direction.

To set the wind direction on a session, click the 'Set Wind Direction` button and rotate the map using the compass until the wind is coming up from the top. It's usually very easy to find the wind direction just by looking at the tracks.

Once the wind direction is set, ChartedSails will show True Wind Angle and Velocity Made Good (your speed in the direction of the wind).

5. Use the time bracket tool for precise measurements

The big picture is interesting but you will often need to zoom in on specific moments to isolate a leg, a manoeuver or even a complete race and take measurements.

To zoom on the timeline, click on the graph and while keeping the mouse clicked, drag your mouse on the graph. As you drag the mouse, the tracks adjust to show precisely what you are selecting. When you are satisfied with your selection, release the mouse button. The timeline will zoom automatically to your selection.

If you need to adjust the selection, you can position the mouse on the beginning or end of the selection and adjust the edges. Finally, click on the X mark in the top right of the selection to close the active selection.

When a selection is active, the boat cards show average speed, total distance sailed, average true wind angle and average velocity made good for each boat.

Conclusion

Now that you know all the basic tools required to analyze your sailing sessions, we suggest you take a new look at your sessions or one of the demos available on the homepage and try answering the following questions:

• What is your typical tack-to-tack angle?
• Which boat sailed the shortest distance in the race?
• What is the best VMG you were able to sustain for at least a minute upwind? What was your true wind angle? And what was your boat speed? This can now become your target boat speed (for similar wind conditions).

If you have any questions, just hit the blue chat button or send us an email.