This page has been moved to   https://sites.google.com/site/compasssetupread2/

Sorry, no compasses made now. Possibly from around January or May 2012.

Setting up and reading the Ansar 2 tactical compass in oscillating wind shifts.

Inside the compass has white vertical pointers mounted at the edge of the compass card. When the boat changes course these pointers move sideways. The compass has three movable colored markers on its outside, yellow and red in the picture above.

When setting up the compass the two round markers (yellow in picture to the left) are set to mark Best Lift on each tack. The red marker is set between the round markers. To read the compass you just observe the position of the pointer with respect to the markers. Detailed description below.

 

>Price, specifications, how to select >There is plenty to gain from wind shifts >You need a compass! Benefits of Ansar compass no:  >2 and 4 The best! >2 with the cupola upwards. >1 >3 Set up and read: >Ansar 4. Simplest! >Ansar 2 >Automatic compensation for tacking angle, Ansar 4  >A comparison with electronic compasses >How to pay, prepayment only! >Warranty. >How to mount the compass >Background of compasses >The modification takes time >Compass manufacturer Silva's site >Small scale local distributors wanted! >Back to the compass home page   Email with comments, suggestions, questions or just to say hello. Note line below! At home or traveling? Sometimes I travel for weeks and can't always respond to email. Postal address & Telephone number. Modified July 2001. Counter: . My home page magazine articles, lectures.  The world's fastest skate sail, 120 km/h (75 MPH) is another of my top performance designs.  Copyright © 1996-2001 Anders Ansar. Permission is granted for reproduction provided that the whole document remains intact.

Setting the markers according to the wind shifts before use  Sail close hauled on starboard tack with trim and attention to steering as when racing.  Move the starboard green "best lift" marker,  until it seems to touch the pointer, as shown in picture.  After a while you will probably get better lift and the pointer goes behind the green marker, see picture. Move the green starboard marker again until it seems to touch the pointer, as the picture shows.  By repeating the last operation when needed the green marker will after a while indicate best lift.  When doing these adjustments and there is no lift on starboard tack (the pointer is away from the green marker) you tack to port and adjust the port green marker for best lift on port tack in the same way.  Later with no lift on port tack you tack to starboard again and continue adjusting, and so on.  After a while the two green markers have been set to mark best lift on their respective tack.  Finally set the red marker right between the the green markers and the compass is now ready to use.  This setting up takes in the order of half an hour because you must sail through several oscillations of the wind direction to get a fair set up as the oscillations are never uniform.  The compass is adjusted without the need to note figures and do calculations! And the method can be used while racing! A comparison with electronic compasses  The typical instruction for adjusting an electronic compass suggest you sail close hauled on both tacks and write down the best lifts and the worst  headers. Thereafter you have to calculate the average course on both tacks and enter these figures into the compass.  The instruction doesn't say how you get the new figures you need to enter when the mean wind direction changes while racing. The method that requires you to sail in the worst headers can certainly not be used if you want to win. The Ansar 2 compass, on the other hand, only requires sailing in best lift for adjustment. This you can do while racing without losing.  After the start you read the compass like this (on starboard tack) When the pointer is up against the best lift marker you sail with best lift. (That is the way you did set it.) When the pointer is just at the red marker the boat has been headed so far that you are sailing with zero lift, almost on the wrong tack.  When the pointer is well into the red marker (actually the same distance as between the red and green marker) you are sailing in the worst header, and you would normally tack.    When you know the pointer positions for Best lift, Zero lift and Worst header you can easily judge the lift or header size for other positions.  Reading the compass on port tack is equivalent, the only difference is that you use the port green "best lift" marker.  At a glance you see where the direction of the wind is between best  lift and worst header. No figures to note, read or compare! The compass signals if the average wind direction is shifting! Now let us say you have sailed once around the course and is starting on the second windward leg. When you look at the compass it looks like this: The pointer has gone beyond the best lift marker. You won't miss this if you just look at the compass now and then. It means that the lift is larger than before on this tack. The reason can be that the the mean wind direction is changing. Or it is just a larger best lift than before.  If you sail with an electronic compass you must keep notes of best lift and compare these with the current reading to se if the lift is better than before.  Readjusting the compass after the average wind direction has changed If you decide that the larger lift than before on one tack means that the average direction of the wind has changed you adjust the markers by moving the windward best lift green marker to the new position for best lift. Thereafter you move the other two markers the same distance in the same direction.  When the wind shifts are very large there could be a risk of using the wrong pointer. The compass has a system to ensure this doesn't happen. E.g. every other pointer is marked with a dot. And there is an indicator on the compass which is set to show or not to show a dot depending on if you are using a pointer with or without a dot. Setting up a tactical compass takes about half an hour!  Some manufacturers say you set their tactical compass by heading the boat into the wind and push a button on the compass or take a reading. Other manufacturers instruct the user to briefly sail close hauled, and push a button on the compass or take a reading.    That's a nice and quick method - but useless since the wind direction will be  anywhere when button is pushed or the reading taken.  To get the compass correctly set up you must take your time and observe several oscillations of the wind direction.    Here in northern Europe where I sail this usually takes at least half an hour.