AIVAnet

Sailboat racers get a heads-up display to call their own

4 April 2014 02:00

It’s not easy to track the progress of a racing sailboat — you don’t always have the free time (or free hands) to check a compass or run across the deck. Keeping tabs on a watercraft should be much less of a chore in the future, though, as Afterguard has released a heads-up display system for high-speed sailors. The gear relays speed, wind vectors and other boat data from a central unit to any crew member wearing a pair of Recon Instruments glasses, letting a team focus on outrunning the competition rather than getting its bearings. Afterguard isn’t cheap at $2,499 for a complete system ($1,899 during April), but you couldn’t even get a sailing HUD before now unless you were an America’s Cup racer; this makes the technology available to a much wider audience.