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Setting the markers before use
Sail close hauled on starboard tack with trim and
attention to steering as when racing.
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The picture shows the white pointer of the compass
and the two movable yellow markers. |
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Move the windward (right) yellow "best lift"
marker, until it seems to touch the pointer, as
shown in picture. |
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After a while you will probably get better lift
and the pointer goes behind the yellow
marker. |
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Again move the windward marker until it seems to
touch the pointer |
| By repeating the last two operations when needed
the windward 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
windward marker) you tack to port and adjust the
left yellow marker, now the windward marker (left
in picture) in the same way, to mark best lift on
port tack.
Later with no lift on port tack you tack to
starboard again and continue adjusting the
windward marker, and so on.
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As you may have noted it is always
the windward marker which is adjusted.
When the two yellow markers have been set to mark
best lift on their respective tack the compass is
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.
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The compass is adjusted without the need to
note figures and do calculations! And the method can
be used while racing!
Compare this with how the typical electronic
compass is set up, near the the bottom of this
page.
After the start you read the compass like this on
starboard tack
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When the pointer is at the windward marker you
sail in best lift. (That's the way you set
it.) |
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When the pointer is right between the two markers
the lift is zero. |
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When the pointer is at the leeward marker you sail
in worst header. |
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Animation shows starboard tack
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Now when you know the pointer positions for Best
lift, Zero lift and Worst header you can easily
judge the relative size of the lift or header for
other pointer positions. E.g.: Almost best lift.
Little lift. Small header.
You read the compass in the same way on port
tack. You have best lift when the pointer is at
the windward marker etc.
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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!
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| 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. |
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It means that the lift is
larger than before on this tack. The reason can be
that 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
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| 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 |
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markers by moving the windward marker to the new
position for best lift. Thereafter you move the
other marker 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. |
Compare with setting up of electronic compasses
The typical instruction for adjusting an
electronic compass suggest you sail close hauled on
both tacks and note the courses for the best lifts
and the worst headers. Thereafter you
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 maximum lift for
adjustment. This you can do while racing without
losing. |
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, other
tell you 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
as the set up you get most probably
is totally wrong, as it will be related to any |
wind direction between Best Lift and
Worst Header!
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. |
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