Dream team! Patrik Måneskiöld is the navigator on Blur, Johan Barne is a guru when it comes to instruments and data analytics, and Martin Gadman runs Happy Yachting and is the one who installed the instruments with me. We spent an afternoon getting the calibration sorted.
Above all, I wanted to get Johan’s input on the process, and the best practices he uses when racing with the pros in TP52. He helped us find sensible starting values, but the biggest lesson was another one:
Instruments and calibration are not something you do once, and then everything works. Some things are enough to do once, or maybe once when you are in a new place, but if you want to get the wind values to be reliable, you have to work on this continuously. It’s the same as everything else in our sport.
There are probably those who put a tape on the jib sheet when you were out with the sailmaker, and do not change it because you are unsure. However, once you understand what happens when you adjust the jib cars, then it both becomes more fun and you’ll sail faster.
So it’s the same with calibration. You have to dare to adjust the values to make them work, and adjust back if it doesn’t. It isn’t dangerous.
The web interface on the H5000 is great for daring to do just that. No special software or difficult menu systems, but very straight forward.