A Wind Direction Finder for Small Boats

My dad has been an avid small boat sailor his whole life and has shared his passion with me by taking me sailing many times.  Being a tinkerer, he continually improves his boat, changing cables, removing winches, adding lines, etc. to make sailing easier (and faster).  He recently sold his Coronado 15 and purchased a Holder 20, and as you might expect, many new alterations needed to be made from the get go.

A Holder 20 (not my dad's)

One such improvement was to address an issue all small boat sailors face: how to see the tiny wind vane atop the mast. Knowing the wind direction is crucial because it allows the sails to be set to best take advantage of the wind. The vane needs to be at the top of the mast, clear from interference from lines and sails, but this location is difficult to see being far away, in an awkward location, and more often than not - directly in the sun. (The wind vane in the above photo can be seen as a black speck above the mast)

There are existing systems that will transmit wind speed and direction data to a screen mounted in the cockpit of the boat. However, you've got to be prepared to fork out the cash. This entry level system from Tacktick (http://www.tacktick.com/products/145) costs £459.99... that's over $900 American! ...and cost prohibitive for many small boat sailors.

Enter the Arduino micro-controller solution. I proposed that a practical solution was feasible using an Arduino to detect wind direction and display it in the cockpit for a fraction of the cost of existing products. With my interested father as a corporate backer, I've set out to design and build said instrument.

The R&D for this project will be broken up into a couple stages. First, an appropriate sensor needs to be found that will output angular position over 360 degrees. The sensor shaft also needs to be able to continuously rotate so as not to provide faulty data after reaching an end stop (as would be the case with most potentiometers). After some online research, I found this device (http://www.usdigital.com/products/ma3/) from US Digital that should fit the bill. The sensor must then be mounted to the mast with an appropriate wind vane.

Second, the sensor must be connected to the Arduino (by a small cable through the mast) and a suitable program written to collect the incoming analog data and process it into a usable information. (Note: I imagine some form of averaging needs to be performed to reduce jitter and provide a more stable readout)

Lastly, a display needs to be made to make the wind direction information easily viewable. Ideally, I'll have an LCD screen showing wind direction relative to boat position, but as a simpler prototype I could create a ring of LEDs indicating wind direction.

Once a working system has been developed, further improvements could be made such as: wireless transmitting from wind vane to Arduino, powering the device via solar panel, adding a hot-wire anemometer, temperature gauge, or solid state magnetometer for additional nautical data.

I'd like be able to build the project for under $100 (nearly 1/10 the cost of the TackTick), but knowing how project costs quickly add up (see this blog entry), I think I'll double that and hope for the best. Either way, it should be a great solution! Stay tuned...

Opening the Time Capsule

Written December 31, 1999

Hi, I am Glenn Nicholson Langton.

I am in 7th grade now and just came back from a vacation in Hawaii with my family and Uncle Art and Grandma Owl.  I am really excited about the new millennium, century, score, decade, year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, and so on.  I will spend my time talking about the new millennium 2000!  I think the millennium will bring many new inventions and interesting things but I also think it will bring more sin and sad times.  Only the Lord knows what it will bring.  I am 12 years old, my brother Ryan is 15, I like food with cheese and buttery tastes, my favorite color is green (that is why the card is green), when I grow up I want to have a big house, a solar car, and I want to be a marine paratrooper who flys planes and does chemistry work (I do not know if this can be done).  I really like science and enjoy reading Boys Life, National Geographic World, and Tintin books.  I was the one who was interested in doing the time capsule.

In light of the Y2K, projections and reflections for the millennium and century. By: Ryan Langton

I think the new millennium will bring many changes in our way of life just as the previous one has.  These changes will affect some of the same areas of our lives as the previous changes have, including: transportation, science, technology, food, culture, and commerce.  With the right use, I think many new products can be put to work in a way that will benefit mankind. On the other hand, without guidance from our Lord Jesus Christ (meaning if man doesn't include him in the picture) I don't see a very bright future.  Personally, I have a hope for the future in Jesus Christ. I still wonder how anyone can live day by day without the hope of Jesus' return.  This is certainly something I look forward to in the future.  Earth is generally a nice place to live (at least for me), but heaven will be a whole lot better.

Until then, see ya later alligator!

What will the new century bring?  By: Stephen Langton

1. Loss of Privacy
2. A greater understanding of genetic code
3. Fewer story tellers and more listeners
4. Writing on paper will be less and less
5. New diseases will appear
6. God's word will continue to be shown to be true

By: Jeralynn Langton

A time capsule - what an interesting idea.  Four of us - thanks to God, will have time and eternity with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our family will spend eternity together! For now, we will enjoy being a family here and supporting each other as we use the skills and talents God has give us.

What does the future hold?  We can't be sure and that's a good thing. I think:

1) Stephen and I will like to camp even after Ryan and Glenn have moved out.
2) Stephen and I will live on Blackhawk St. for many, many years
3) Stephen and I will one day again own a dog
4) Stephen and I will one day manage the Bantles apartments in Burbank
5) Jeralynn will learn basic computer skills
6) Jeralynn will have organized a Girl Scout Troop #671 reunion by the time the capsule is opened
7) Ryan will pursue his love for herpetology and be a research writer
8) Glenn will change his major in college a couple of times before focusing in on something
9) LA will have an earthquake equal to that of 1994
10) California will have a homosexual governor
11) Vacations in space will be an option
12) Ways to test for deafness and operations to correct it will be done in the womb
13) There will be a mega vitamin that takes care of all nutritional and caloric needs
14) There will be no need for telephone wires
15) The butterfly population will suffer near extinction
16) Clothes will be laundered with super sonic sound to clean them
17) Most of the world will eat products made to "look like food" but it's really nutrients from the sea
18) People will be able to have an electronic chip implanted near the ear to be able to receive radio waves and "tune in" to their favorite stations
19) Doll faces and G.I. Joe figures will be made to look like the child who is the owner
20) Cloud seeding will be perfected and used world-wide to help eliminate droughts
21) Cars will be programmed to take the owner on a pre-determined route w/o driver controls on special rails

List of items in the capsule:

A shoe horn

WWJD bracelet

Leather bookmark

Four letters

Bag of postage stamps

Pen with ether bulb

Boys' Life magazine

Clothes pin

Peppermint candy

Three SoBe caps

Broken watch

DARE key chain

Four pogs

Cereal box magnet

1/2 a walnut shell (for making a toy boat)

Typewriter spacing ruler

Shell necklace

Four short biographies in a paper towel tube

Family Christmas photo from Hawaii

Four glass beads and a bird tag in a plastic container

Plastic heart with words: Grandma Bantle "Symbol of Spreading Love"

A French Family Visits America...

... is a children's book my grandmother recently had published.  I'm very proud of her hard work and success.  Here is a summary from the book's website:

Summer has just begun and Kristine is excited to plan her whole vacation. She is, however, surprised to see new neighbors as she awakes one bright morning. After observing how the new children played and talked, she decides to befriend them. The four kids seem to like the same toys as Kristine except that the children appear to need some help in using the toys. But how could Kristine help when she couldn’t speak French and the children could not speak English? A French Family Visits America delightfully follows how Kristine reaches out a helping hand to welcome Marianne, Benjamin, Camille, and Elise. From enjoying chocolate chip cookies to celebrating birthday parties, Easter, and Thanksgiving, readers will have a splendid time following the foreign children as they embrace American culture.

Find out more about Marjorie Bantle's book here: http://frenchchildreninusa.com/index.htm