New Canadian product: SailTimer masthead instrument

Mar 12, 2020

The Wind Instrument RB™ is our newest model, which has a Removable Battery in the nose cone, where it serves as a counter-balance.

SailTimer Inc. made the first masthead anemometer that could transmit to smartphones and tablets. It can work with (A) all of the interesting new apps on Android/iOS and also (B) with NMEA marine electronics like MFDs.

This is the first anemometer designed for sailboats; the innovative blade shape maintains equal wind speed accuracy when sailing heeled over (unlike standard cup, ultrasonic and propeller anemometers). The wind cups turn into propellers as the boat heels.

The wireless wind data is sent to apps in a smartphone/tablet, where all combinations of True and Apparent Wind Direction, Angle and Speed are available (in Magnetic North and True North reference), since the smartphone has an excellent GPS in it.

The SailTimer Wind Instrument™ transmits on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is a revolutionary new transmission format. It is the first wireless format that can be supported solely by small solar panels, without needing wiring or to be plugged into a wall. Bluetooth uses digital transmissions (unlike systems that use analog radio transmissions and cannot transmit to smartphones/tablets and apps.)

Better features and lower price ($549.99). You can get the Wind Instrument and accessories from multiple vendors at Walmart.com, Amazon.com and now at Best Buy Canada (USA to follow), or directly from the company.

Lots of innovations

The Wind Instrument works with lots of great apps on iOS and Android The MID Wifi app can show True and Apparent Wind Angle on the same display. The blue area gets wider if the wind is more variable.

Wireless, so easier to install because no wires to run down the mast. For boats of all sizes. Solar-powered, so will generate its own renewable power indefinitely. That’s great for small boats, because no 12-volt battery is required. There is a digital compass built right in to the wind direction arrow, so unlike traditional anemometers that only sense wind angle relative to the bow of the boat, the SailTimer can detect wind direction as well as wind angle and wind speed.

A Canadian company, SAILTIMER INC.

Nova Scotia based SailTimer Inc. was founded in 2005 because of a problem with sailboat navigation. If you bought an expensive GPS chartplotter and wanted to know how long it would take to get to a waypoint, the chartplotter (even now) did not account for your tacking distances. That is obviously wrong: sailboats tack to a waypoint, unlike vehicles, aircraft and power boats. But no GPS chartplotter accounts for the tacking distances. The SailTimer™ tacking software solved this problem.
All sailors need wind data though, so in order to make the tacking functions work better in the smartphone apps, around 2011 the company started making the first masthead anemometer that could transmit to smartphones. The company also has the SailTimer Air Link™, an accessory that can receive the Bluetooth transmissions and connect to NMEA wiring to send the wireless data to a GPS chartplotter/Multi-Function Display.