Sailboat Support

[cjerome (Chris Jerome)]

Here is the video: https://youtu.be/2Tx8407xAXo?si=CUDC4nxBuVBiJU5_

It tacks OK port to starboard around 40 secs but thereafter fails repeatedly to tack back to port (until I switch it back to Manual). The mode indicator is at bottom right, windvane and boat speed at top center. I do realize my sail trim is not the greatest! Could be a factor…

[meholden (Mike Holden)]

Hi,

I can’t tell from your video, is your wind vane on the back of the boat? I had a similar tack then tack-back issue with my boat initially that I think is from the apparent wind the vane gets during rotation. Boats with the vane on the bow like Pete’s would get the opposite effect.

This video shows the motion, skip to 2:35 or so if you want to get right to it, or 9:45 where the GPS track is shown, does this look similar to what you saw?

N4N1 sails the bay part 1

I did fix this with a custom version of the code that forces the boat to sail to the compass heading after a tack long enough for the vane transient to settle before switching to following the vane upwind. See my post above to get to my fork with this fix and a mod to flatten the boat when bearing away:

Sailboat Support

I did update the code with Pete’s suggestions, and to create parameters I need for my sailboat. There is one new parameter for the ease on bear-away gain. I also made two tacking #defines from the code into parameters because my boat works better with different numbers. My vane is mounted on the back of the boat and the yaw-rate-induced errors in a tack need to be ignored for a while, so I set the timeout to 8 seconds and skip the tacking_accuracy test altogether by setting it to a negative nu…

I have a new parameter TACK_TIME that I set to 8000ms rather than the default 5000ms which is how long to stay in tacking mode before going to regular vane sailing. It replaces a hard-coded #define SAILBOAT_AUTO_TACKING_TIMEOUT_MS

I have another parameter TACK_ACQ that I set to -1 but it defaults to 10 degrees, a tack is considered complete when vehicle is within this many degrees of target tack angle. -1 forces a tack to always steer to the compass for TACK_TIME seconds so I get 8 seconds to settle the vane transient measurements. This parameter replaces a #define SAILBOAT_TACKING_ACCURACY_DEG

I was going to do a pull request to get these parameters and the heel parameters into the main code but want to test it a little more to make sure it’s bug-free.

[cjerome (Chris Jerome)]

Thanks so much for your response. I will dig into the details and get back to you. Would I have to compile the code from your fork? I can probably figure it out but not really in my comfort zone.

Your post reminded me that I was going to post info on my windvane in case others were interested. It is a mast top wind vane based on the AS5600 chip and only weighs 14g - see attached photo. I can provide details and the 3D print designs if anyone wants them.