Just out of curiosity, what instruments are needed to set a world sailing speed record now? Is just a gps enough? Ive seen 3 gps mentioned somewhere. The 500m courses seem to use video timing. I guess there is a differene between a gps team challenge or gps speed surfing record and a wssrc ratified record. Does anyone care?

Select to expand quote

Piv said..
Just out of curiosity, what instruments are needed to set a world sailing speed record now?

The Locofenix GT52 by Suunto

Select to expand quote

Piv said..
Does anyone care?

10's of people - each spending about $10K AUS - travel off to Luderitz each year for the past 9 yrs... I'd say yes.

So given we care. What is needed to set a wssrc record? Is there something special about the sunto GPS? Or will one gw52 be enough? Or do you have to get half a dozen blokes from wssrc in the right spot at the right time like the old fashioned days?

Best go go directly to the rules:

www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=item&item=RecordRules

Yep. The rules say spend a lot of cash to have the wssrc ratify an event or attempt and you can use video timing or approved gps which includes trimble and needs 5cm accuracy at 10hz which is probably differential gps and so on and on. So my gw52 or the suunto probably aint gonna cut the mustard. So it seems most of us can only set an unoffical gps team challenge or gps speedsurfing unofficial record. Looks like any event has to stump up about $10k plus timing gear to be official. All fair enough really. Thought it was a bit optimistic some one could set an official record ad hoc wearing a watch.

Select to expand quote

Piv said...
Yep. The rules say spend a lot of cash to have the wssrc ratify an event or attempt and you can use video timing or approved gps which includes trimble and needs 5cm accuracy at 10hz which is probably differential gps and so on and on. So my gw52 or the suunto probably aint gonna cut the mustard. So it seems most of us can only set an unoffical gps team challenge or gps speedsurfing unofficial record. Looks like any event has to stump up about $10k plus timing gear to be official. All fair enough really. Thought it was a bit optimistic some one could set an official record ad hoc wearing a watch.

I'm not sure about this question but anyone can set records...... But will other people recognise it. You could set the "Piv" Garmin 201 fastest 500m on a mistral equip record. It's then up to you to prove that it's has relevance as a record. The GPSSS group created a record division with set rules and an accurate gps system for people to chase records. The results are checked by the technical team and posted. No different to say the Guiness World Records and their rules and conditions.
GPSSS and WSSRC both have records which are set and recorded different ways. It's like saying apples are better than bananas.
What you want with any record is repeatable data, robust rules and conditions , accessibility and interest . The issue with WSSRC is that it is expensive to set up and run.
Having set a few records in my time I want them to only last 1 day. Then have someone break it the next day knowing that each record is real as we can make it.

Select to expand quote

Piv said..
Yep. The rules say spend a lot of cash to have the wssrc ratify an event or attempt and you can use video timing or approved gps which includes trimble and needs 5cm accuracy at 10hz which is probably differential gps and so on and on. So my gw52 or the suunto probably aint gonna cut the mustard. So it seems most of us can only set an unoffical gps team challenge or gps speedsurfing unofficial record. Looks like any event has to stump up about $10k plus timing gear to be official. All fair enough really. Thought it was a bit optimistic some one could set an official record ad hoc wearing a watch.

I know the Gt-31's are scarce, but I'm pretty sure they arn't selling for $5k each.

As Kato said, anyone can set a record - the question really only is, will others attempt to break it? Indeed that is why there are so many weird Guiness Book records, as sometimes the existing record keeping, doesn't fit the community needs.

So the windsurfing community set up their own system that was an alternative to WSSRC, mostly so that it didn't cost the Earth. A single Gt-31 is all that is needed to set a GPS record - the second device is required to verify that the first is accurate.

Thanks. Think I get it. Wssrc is concerned with the " traditional" 500m timed record. Other records set with GPS won't be recognised by wssrc but it seems that there is a fair community that has agreed they are still relevant. Sounds like a reasonable situation

Just to clarify. I like the gpsss approach.

Good to hear Piv. The WGPSSRC was set up in conjunction with GPS-SS specifically to cater to ordinary sailors who wanted to try for records and have records ratified at very low cost and in a very accessible way. A number of record categories are currently offered.

Unfortunately, the WSSRC record structure is set up in a way that, IMHO, actually discourages people from trying to break records by imposing a myriad of onerous conditions and very expensive fees and costs, and that is before taking into account the high cost of either timing gates or survey grade Trimble differential GPS (which would be almost impossible to carry on a windsurfer anyhow due to its physical size and locational requirements).

For WGPSSRC record claims, two identical GPS's are required to be used. The data from each is compared to establish that the difference between them is less than the error margin reported. If this is established, the results from both GPS are averaged and the error margin is subtracted from the average to get the 'claimed speed'. This effectively means we can be 99% certain that the sailor went at least the claimed speed which is the Record Speed.

Currently approved WGPSSRC GPS devices are identical pairs of either GT-31 (@1Hz) or GW-52 (@5Hz). (But not one of each).

We also have provision for approval of two UBlox based devices running at 10Hz or more, but there are no commercially available devices at the moment.

Thanks sailquick for a comprehensive reply.