Move Moves the active mark. Dividers Set dividers The dividers tool allows the user to draw and calculate the range and bearing between points on the main chart window. It is very useful in race planning or coastal navigation. The number of dividers (actually a range and bearing between two points) displayed is unlimited and they can be all cleared at once using Clear button or the right-click pop-up menu. From boat Set dividers given range and bearing. This tool can be used with running bearings on a mark to refine it's position. A W/L race is a good example of the use of this tool
The windward mark can be set from the range and bearing from the race committee using the Create WL course function. However this is only approximate and once rounded, the mark can be dragged to its correct position.
Before arriving at the mark, its position can be refined using this tool from different places on the race course - the actual mark position is the intersection of the divider lines drawn using this tool.
Clear Clears all dividers.

Sail panel

Polars
Polars See Polars. Sail chart Displays the active Sail chart. Sail list Allows the Sail list used in Exp to be edited. Testing Tests Displays test data stored in the database for selection to plot or exporting from Expedition. Also available with the Ctrl-T keyboard short-cut or from a polar edit window. See the sail test analysis help and Saving tests in the Stripchart help. Event list Expedition's event database. Set event Set an event. Note that only sails selected in Sail settings are displayed in the drop lists. Racing Race schedules Accesses Expeditions race schedule functions. Edit boats Edits boats used in race schedules and the handicap calculator. Handicap
Handicap calculator. Options Bsp + twa as targets Instructs Exp to use damped instrument values instead of targets to calculate laylines. Hold wind/current Often, especially in the pre-start, it may be desirable to fix the wind and/or current to set values. The hold button offers a quick way to hold the twd, tws, set or drift to user-defined values rather than from the instruments Exp can release these settings at the gun - See Release hold wind and current at start in Start settings.

Start panel

These tools can be useful at the start of any race and for windward/leeward style buoy races. Marks

Create W/L

This is the quickest way to configure a standard windward leeward course. It easily allows you to
configure a course where the leeward mark (or gate) is a bit upwind of the starting line. Set port

KVH Quadro

Web KVH no longer manufactures or supports their Quadro range of instruments, however a few documents may be found at www.kvh.com. Connection settings KVH Quadro instruments communicate using the NMEA 0183 protocol, so the default serial port settings are 4800, 8, N, 1. See the NMEA help for more information on the Nmea standard and interface. However, there are also several custom NMEA strings. Baud rate Data bits Parity Stop bits None 1
KVH Quadro does not send TWA or TWS, so Expedition needs to calculate them. Select these on the calibrati page. Output Select desired Nmea sentences to send back to your instrument system. KVH Quadro custom NMEA data Expedition automatically sends some basic performance data to KVH Quadro instruments. The following are available: Polar bsp %, Twa, Target twa, Target bsp, Vmg, Layline time, Layline distance, Vmc, Twa for optimum vmc, Mark range, Next mark twa, Sog, Twd, Mark bearing, Polar bsp.
KVH Quadro settings More advanced interface options are available by clicking on this button.

Lasers

Connection settings There are no standard NMEA sentences that support output from laser range finders. Expedition supports several models, including Laser Atlanta, Lasercraft XLRic and the Trimble Pro-XL/XR Laser Atlanta Baud rate Data bits Parity Stop bits Even 1 Lasercraft XLRic None 1
The laser may be connected to the PC's serial port or, if using a Bluetooth equipped laser, to a virtual bluetooth serial port. If the laser is being used to 'ping' another boat, it is recommended to set the connection to say 'boat 1' as all derived numbers are relative to boat 0.
Maretron SSC200 Solid State Rate/Gyro compass
Calibration and modification of compass settings can be accomplished with a Maretron display. This is not possible on many boats as the Maretron compass is used with another instrument system. Expedition therefore has functionality to perform functions normally performed by a dedicated Maretron display. Please read your Maretron manual. There is other functionality associated with the Maretron that could be implemented. If required, please contact Expedition. Web www.maretron.com Connection settings The Maretron SSC200 rate/gyro compass communicates using the NMEA 0183 protocol (or NMEA 2000 protocol), so the default serial port settings are 4800, 8, N, 1. See the NMEA help for more information on the Nmea standard and interface. However, there are also several custom NMEA strings. Baud rate Data bits Parity Stop bits None 1

Racing tools

Windward -leeward course creation Boat editing Calibration Grib file creation Handicap calculator Optimal routing Polars Sail chart and list Sail test analysis Race schedules What if? Start Settings Setting the line Start numbers
Create an AC, WL or quad course.
Available from the Create W/L course
button on the Start panel.
This function orients your race course around an existing starting line or committee boat.
Unless in the chartless start display mode, select the start line checkbox on the display settings page to show the start line. For any derived start numbers such as Time to line, you need to have a start polar loaded. Note that if you have already set the ends of the start line, they won't be reset by this operation. After setting up and loading a windward leeward course you can fine tune the position of the ends of the line with the Set port or Set starboard buttons. Fine tuning the starting line in this manner (after you have set up a course) will have no effect on the position of the other marks. Use the Set dividers given range and bearing tool for tips on fine-tuning the position of the top mark.
Leave marks to port Sets all created marks to be left to port. Rate of turn can also be used to more accurately calculate time and distance to laylines. Course axis Allows the course axis to be manually set in degrees magnetic. If the race committee has done a good job this will be aligned with the True Wind Direction. The Twd button updates the course axis with the current damped true wind direction from Exp. Start line length Estimate of the start line length in metres. This can be a guess as the ends can be pinged before or after creating the course. If the ends have already been pinged, this value has no effect. Start to leeward mark The distance in nautical miles between the start line and the leeward mark. You could then sail up to the gate/leeward mark and drag this buoy to its exact position. To place the leeward mark below the start line, enter a negative number here. Start to windward mark The distance in nautical miles to the top mark from the start line. Gate at leeward mark Select whether or not to have a gate to the left (looking upwind) of the leeward mark and its width. When the leeward mark is the active mark, laylines will also be drawn from this mark. Loop over course

Log file analysis As you use Expedition, you can collect your instrument data in log files. This data can be played back by LogPlayer or loaded into Stripchart , but you can also use it to create grib files of sea temperature, currents and/or depth.

Handicap calculator

The handicap calculator window is used to compare mark rounding and finish times with other boats using time correction factor (TCF) handicaps. Select the boats to compare to in the edit boats window. On longer races, it may be advisable to set the start time in the edit boats window. For shorter races, the start gun can be used.

Route optimisation

This is one of Expedition s most powerful and refined features. We have worked hard to hone this tool for accuracy. Expedition easily routes over complex courses with multiple GRIB fields containing both wind and current information. Exp has special features such as reverse isochrones that help the navigator/tactician judge the sensitivity of the calculated optimal route. It has features designed to help both the shore side study of an upcoming race (or a race underway that you are watching) and also the navigator/tactician in the middle of the race. As in any solution involving a computer program, be aware that the final result is only as good as the information/data provided to the program - Garbage in = garbage out! So it pays to work hard to make your polars reflect reality and get the very best and latest GRIB files. However, even with the most refined polars and fine mesh weather GRIB files, the prudent navigator will study the solution carefully and make adjustments based upon practical experience or intuition. Before using this tool, make sure you understand the Expedition's optimal routing settings, marks and courses and weather. Before performing a course optimisation 1. 2. Make sure all your settings in optimal routing settings are correctly configured. You have a wind GRIB file loaded that covers the area and time span needed to sail the course. You can check the extend last wind field box on the optimal routing tab if your GRIB doesn t quite cover the time frame needed to sail the course. 3. 4. 5. You have a polar loaded into Expedition. See the polars help. You have a course set up and selected as active. See mark management. It is also important that the correct destination mark is selected as active.
The optimal route is calculated by Expedition with a click on the Optimise button on the Optimal panel. A progress bar and cancel button are displayed while Expedition is computing the optimised course. To speed up the calculation you can make the resolution value larger and/or deselect Avoid C-Map land in the optimal routing settings. The optimisation may be cancelled at any point by clicking on the cancel button. After the calculation complete, the optimal path and other features such as isochrones that you selected for display on the optimal routing tab will be displayed on the chart.

Any notes or comments.

Polar file details When Expedition was installed it added some sample polars in the Expedition polars folder. Expedition polars are just text files, so can also be edited in any text editor such as Microsoft Notepad. Users often manipulate the data using Microsoft Excel - just make sure you save them in a *.txt file format. Take note of the format of these polars as any new ones that you create for your boat must be in a similar format. The Expedition polar format is very versatile. It does however have a few restrictions: The first column always contains the Tws values, Other columns are in pairs of Twa and Bsp (or heel etc), Twa must increase across a row, Tws must increase downwards, Normally we make the last column at 180 twa, For performance, navigation and start polars, Exp automatically determines which point is the target (maximum upwind or downwind vmg), Comments may be used in the polar file by adding a '!' character at the start of each comment line. Note that these comments aren't saved by Exp, so are only useful if you only edit your polars manually. There is no limit to the number of rows (True Wind Speed) or columns (True Wind Angle) that you can have in your polar, but you may find it easier to work with a simple polar like the sample ones. Polar percentage (%) This allows the polar to be scaled by any value. The default value is 100. Load This allows you to load a polar file (in *.txt format) from anywhere on your computer. Save and Save As These buttons allow you to save changes/edits that you have made to a polar file. It is highly recommended that you use Save As so you do not overwrite a valuable polar file. Comments may be used in the polar file by adding a '!' character at the start of each comment line. Note that these comments aren't saved by Exp, so are only useful if you only edit your polars manually. Converting a polar file from a 10m wind reference height to masthead height Many boat designer's polars are given for 10m winds, so the polars may need scaling. See Scale winds in the weather settings help for a formula to assist with this. Edit button Displays an edit polar dialog, which allows the polar to be graphically edited by simply dragging polar points.
Important note: Targets are defined as the point on a polar curve with the maximum VMG upwind or downwind. Editing a target point can cause it to have a lower VMG value than an adjacent point, which would then become the new target point and be the displayed in the up-wind and down-wind curves (below). For this reason, it not having polar points to close to the targets can make editing a lot easier. For example, if the target angle is 46 , consider using TWA values of 0, 46, 60. instead of 0, 46, 50, 60,. Tests Displays test data stored in the database for selection to plot on the polar edit window or exporting from Expedition. Tests to be displayed on the polar can be selected. Different views of the polar and target data are available: Polar Display polar curves on the familiar polar diagram. Select a polar curve for any wind-speed using the wind-speed drop-list on the top right. The polar curves at wind speeds above and below the selected polar curve will also be displayed to aid with editing. Upwind Display upwind target bsp, twa and vmg. Select whether to plot tests against bsp, twa or vmg from the drop-list. Downwind Display downwind target bsp, twa and vmg. Select whether to plot tests against bsp, twa or vmg from the drop-list. Polar radial Displays a radial (column) of the polar. To edit the target upwind/downwind polar points, select the upwind or downwind buttons for display. To edit reaching polar points, select the polar button. If you select the latter, then the drop down window on the upper right shows which wind speed polar curve is being displayed and allows you to move through the wind speed matrix to get to the curve or curves you want to edit. For Upwind, Downwind and Polar radial editing, the Black line is boat speed, the Blue line is TWA, and the Grey line is the calculated VMG. Tests saved from Stripchart will be displayed here. Using this feature you can drag a polar point to the middle of a cluster of tests and have a high degree of confidence that you have improved your polar. There are several controls to modify how these tests are displays: Normalised The tests displayed will not be for exactly the wind speed selected in most cases. This attempts to scale the test bsp for to the selected tws.

Tests For the upwind and downwind target displays, this selects whether to plot the tests by their bsp, vmg or twa values. Colour tests by sail By default, tests are displayed in red if the test tws less than that of the polar curve being edited and in blue if greater. Selecting this option colours the tests by the colour associated with the sail entered for that test. If editing upwind or downwind targets, tests are displayed in green if on starboard (twa > 0) or in red if on port (twa < 0). If the Vmg of the test is less than that of the polar curve, the test point will be hollow, else it will be drawn as a solid point. Tws drop-list This box is only accessible when you are displaying the individual polar curves. Select the wind speed for the polar curve to be displayed.
See the Sail panel help. Sail list
Edit the sail list database Whether on-board. This is to reduce the number of sail options displayed when editing the sail chart or setting events or tests , Sail name, Colour (as plotted in the edit polars window described in polars), Sail type, Any notes or comments.
Sail chart The sail chart loaded into Exp can be used for planning The Course pane will show the sail indicated by the sail chart for each course of the race, The optimal routing summary will list the sail indicated by the sail chart for each section of the optimised course.
The current TWA/TWS point is drawn on the sail chart as a circle. Also, TWA to the active mark and next leg are drawn on the sail chart as 'M' and 'N'. Editing The format of the sail chart file is a simple text table, with TWA across, TWS down and the name of each sail separated by tabs. See the sample file included with Expedition. The file is also easily editable in Excel. Use the Load and save buttons to select different sail charts. To edit the sail chart, simply right-click on any cell in the chart window and select the new sail from the pop-up menu. Sail colours can be changed by clicking on the Sails button or editing the sail list (as above). Polar view This option draws the sail chart in a polar format.
For advanced users, also see the sail test analysis help.

Sail test analysis

Available from the Analyse sail tests item on the Tools panel. See also Saving tests and Events in the Stripchart help. This is a very powerful feature, but does require a lot of work to get the most of it.
Tests Tests (periods of good, consistent data) are saved using the Stripchart program. Note that saving sail changes as Events in Expedition or Stripchart can make post race creation of tests a lot easier. The tests in the database can be viewed by clicking on the Tests button. With time, the number of tests stored in the database can become very large (hundreds or even thousands of tests) and impossible to manually draw conclusions from. Also, test data varies from day-to-day with changing conditions. So, Exp has automated functions to automatically draw some statistical conclusions as to what the polar and sail chart should look like based on the saved tests. These functions perform better with more test data available.

Race and Start settings

To obtain maximum benefit from Expedition's starting tools, there are several things that are needed to describe the boat. Boat length Enter the overall length (in metres) of your boat for proper scaling of Expedition s distance measurements. Expedition uses the boat length to present various numbers in boat lengths. The desired units are selected on the user settings page. Note that if you have nautical miles as the default units, most start distances will be displayed in boat lengths. Boat width Boat width in metres. Bow to GPS Enter the distance (in metres) from the bow to your GPS antenna. The distance from the GPS to the bow is required for precise calculation of time and distance to the line. This will fine tune the distance and time to start line calculations. GPS offset For multi-hulls, but not actually used anywhere yet.
Time to line includes ends and reaching. If this is selected, the time to line number will be the fastest way to the line, including to the ends or at the current reaching angle. If not selected, it will just be the upwind or downwind numbers. Switch display state at start Instruct Expedition to change display state files at the start. This occurs about 10s after the gun. Pre-start The display state file to use before the gun. Post-start The display state file to use after the gun. Release hold wind and current at start This de-selects these options. Hold wind and/or current Often, especially in the pre-start, it may be desirable to fix the wind and/or current to set values. Switch display state at start from Pre-start to Race
Switch display state at start from Pre -start to Race Switches the display state to the race display state at the gun. Show start line if no timer set Normally, the start timer determines whether the display shows the start line or the boat and the next mark when in Race display mode. However, if the start timer has not been set, this can be used to determine whether to show the course or the start line.
Use rate of turn in laylines If this option is selected, Exp will include the time and distance to turn to the opposite tack or gybe when calculating laylines. This is based on the rate of turn calibration table. Time and distance to each layline will be to the start of the tack or gybe. Acceleration Set in the calibration section. Units are knots per minute and are a function of true wind speed and true wind angle. If you only have one wind angle in the cal file, then it will just be a function of tws. Often the boat's speed will be less than target speed at any point in the pre-start. Expedition allows for acceleration when calculating time and distance to the line. Rate of turn Set in the calibration section. Units are degrees per second and are a function of boat speed. Expedition can include the time and distance required to turn the boat sail to the line. Ping marks at bow (else GPS) The default option when pinging a start (or other) mark is to set the mark at the bow. This assumes the distance between the GPS and the bow is entered correctly as below. If this is de-selected, the mark is assumed to be at the GPS.

Tidal stream labels Draws the predicted drift as text label beside each current arrow.
Tidal stream offset Allows the tidal streams predictions to be shifted in time if they are early. For example, if you expect the tide to change 30 minutes before the models expect it to, enter 30. So that changing this value is a conscious decision each time you run Expedition, this value is not saved on exiting. So, it you restart Expedition, it will be reset to zero. Tide sources to use Select or deselect tide sources to use and display in Expedition. Expedition also runs faster when unnecessary tides sources are not selected. For example, when in the following locations: Europe Select Europe, if Winning Tides (Solent) is licensed, select this also, if either of the SHOM areas are, select these also, In New Zealand Select New Zealand. USA Select US West Coast or US East coast depending on location, Also, select the US Model area valid for your area.
US Models Most of the basic model areas are derived from observed data. Exceptions are the SHOM data and much of the NZ dataset. Expedition also includes a range of model datasets for the north-west Atlantic and north-east Pacific. Because of size, these are limited in extent, but we can add areas as they are requested. Winning tidal currents Expedition supports the Winning Tides tidal stream database for the Solent area. To use this dataset, it needs to be licensed (see Licences on the Application button). Contact Winning Tides for further information. SHOM tidal currents Expedition supports the SHOM tidal stream database for French coastal areas. To use these
datasets, they need to be licensed. Important note on model data The tidal currents from model predictions (the US models, NZ and SHOM models) are just that models. They may not show features in complicated situations or features of an inherently unpredictable nature. For example, the San Francisco model doesn't show the tide changing first inshore along the city
front. This is because the effect is mostly smaller than the resolution of the model. When racing there, we are interested in every extra of metre we can get out or into the tide. The SFPorts site is still the best source for current maps in San Francisco. The model does however give a good picture of the general flow and when changes happen. Xtides Expedition can also use the GNU Xtide software distribution global tidal station database available at http://www.flaterco.com/xtide/index.html or http://harmonics.unh.edu/xtide/files.html. Download the harmonics.txt file (it may be zipped) and select it using the Xtide button. Be aware that the file contains a large number stations and physically reading it may slow Expedition, so you may just want to copy the stations you are interested into your own file. This option is provided merely for user convenience. While while Expedition uses a significantly different technique of computing tides to Xtide, the results should be very similar.

Optimise first leg only If a multiple leg course, only optimise the first leg of the course or the leg to the active mark. Often this is all you are interested in and it can speed the calculation. Optimise along Great circle Sails the boat along the great circle path instead of doing any optimisation. This feature, especially useful when doing weather studies of an upcoming race, can also be useful to study the wind angles and time it would take if you sailed directly on the great circle route. Use tidal streams With this feature selected, the tidal streams from the tides.dat database (see tide settings) will be used in the route optimisation. This will override any current GRIB files so be very careful when selecting this feature.
The use of tidal streams slows course optimisation, so if you are using a custom grib file for currents, routing away from any tidal stream data or across ocean an ocean, it may pay to turn this off.
Tidal stream data is used in preference to grib current data where both are present. So for example in a Newport to Bermuda race, Expedition will use tidal stream predictions to start with then start using your grib data containing Gulf Stream information when you get away from land.
You need to select the tidal stream source to use on the tide settings page NOAA in the US, Exp diamonds in most other places or Winning Tides in the Solent.
Auto-resolution Instructs Expedition to automatically determine the resolution to use (see above). Display options Isochrones Isochrones are curves that indicate where a boat could sail to in a certain amount of time. Isochrones are calculated when Expedition calculates an optimal route and are displayed on the
main chart window if this box is selected. This is a useful tool to leave enabled. Depending on the length of the route, you will vary the time step for the drawn isochrones. For a 2000 mile race every 12 or 24 hours will usually suffice. For a 100 mile race, you might want them drawn every 2 hours or so. Optimal Path Draws the optimal path calculated. You pretty much always want this feature enabled. Winds on optimal course Draws expected wind barbs along the route. This is quite helpful in pre race planning when showing other crew members roughly what wind speeds and angles to expect but it adds to the screen clutter if you are also displaying a GRIB file s wind barbs. Previous optimal paths Draws previous optimal paths. This can be helpful when studying the difference between two different configurations or inputs such as GRIB files. Reverse Isochrones When selected, reverse isochrones are also drawn. This is a very useful tool for studying the sensitivity of a calculated optimal route. Reverse Isochrones use fancy math to work the optimal route backwards through the GRIB fields from finish to start. When displayed concurrently with forward isochrones you can more easily see the moments in a race when a particular side of the course or route is especially good or bad. Reverse isochrones are lines of points equidistant in time from the finish whereas isochrones are lines of points equidistant in time from the start. So, if another boat is on the same reverse isochrone as you, they should finish at the same time. Thus, the reverse isochrones can be used as a way of seeing who is ahead. However, their main use is in analysing the optimal route. The problem with the computer, is that (for example) when going upwind, it will reward a half degree right shift with an optimal course that goes all the way to the right hand side of the, when in fact it doesn't really matter where you go (and a prudent tactician might be more inclined to play the shifts going up the middle of the course). To get an idea of how critical the optimal course is, have a look at how parallel the forward and reverse isochrones are. You will see that there is a reverse isochrone that animates as well. (When you step forward along the optimal path using the forward or reverse buttons on the weather pane, the forward and reverse isochrones for the display time will be highlighted). If they are close together and parallel over a large distance along their length, then the optimal course isn't very critical, but if they are only close together over a small distance (i.e. have convex or nose shapes pointing at each other), then the optimal course is much more critical. In this instance a prudent navigator would need to have good reason to deviate much from this critical point. Another example is where the forward and reverse isochrones come close together in two different places, but in one you are 10 seconds ahead. The computer is going to suggest a track through the area that puts you 10 seconds ahead, whereas both routes are probably relevant. And you might have good reason to want to take the 10 second slower option if the slightly faster one passes closer to a high pressure ridge with big swells. Paths Draws all the possible paths (not just the fastest one) successful paths obtained whilst computing the optimal path. Usually you leave this button unchecked, but it is sometimes helpful for studying routes or to help understand options for other boats around you. Shade time sensitivity

This shades an area where the routing is within the specified number of minutes of the optimal path.

Other programs

Exp DLL LogPlayer Stripchart System Restore Dfw2Exp Nke2Exp PocketPC

Exp DLL

The ExpDLL.dll file is supplied to allow third party software to query Expedition data as well as to send data to Expedition. It is supplied with a header file that may be used to link to the DLL. As an aid to developers, the location of the Expedition program files folder is saved in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Expedition\Core\Location Note that any directions returned will be in degrees magnetic. The relevant lines in the header file are: extern "C" __declspec( dllimport ) void __stdcall SetExpVar(short id, double value, short iBoat); extern "C" __declspec( dllimport ) void __stdcall GetExpVar(short id, double* pValue, short iBoat); // set boat name, limited to 32 characters extern "C" __declspec( dllimport ) void __stdcall SetBoatName(short iBoat, char* pName); // set wx boat name data extern "C" __declspec( dllimport ) void __stdcall SetWxBoat(short iBoat, DATE utc, double lat, double lon, float twd, float tws); id Identifier of the parameter to pass. Common id values include:
Bsp Awa Aws Twa Tws Twd Leeway Set Drift Heading Air temperature Sea temperature Pressure Depth (m) Heel Trim Rudder Tab Forestay load Voltage Latitude Longitude CoG SoG
The value to pass to Expedition. iBoat The boat id. In most cases, this will be 0, but can be any value from 0 to 31 inclusive.
For GetExpVar, SetExpVar and SetBoatName, the allowable values are 0 to 7 inclusive. For SetWxBoat, the allowable range is 0 to 63 inclusive. pName The maximum size allowed for the boat name is 32 characters. Any more characters than this will be discarded.

LogPlayer

From the Expedition menu folder on Windows' Start menu. LogPlayer lets you replay a log file. You can play back at real-time speed, in faster mode, restart or drag the slider to a position in the file.

Stripchart

Stripchart is a very powerful and easy to use program that graphs numbers, follows trends, computes averages and saves tests and events (notes). It is especially valuable for quickly and efficiently reviewing data from a race and calibrating instruments. To use Stripchart Make sure Expedition or LogPlayer is launched. StripChart will not receive any live instrument data unless Expedition is running and properly connected to the instruments. Note that advanced channels will not be graphed unless you have that option selected. Stripchart can use a lot of memory after a day or two of continual use. De-selecting 'advanced channels' can reduce this use. Display period Use the Time menu or toolbar buttons change the time scale displayed. Some time scales are only available from the Time menu to save space on the toolbar. Display frequency Select the display frequency from the Frequency menu. The display status bar. The default update frequency is 1Hz. Lower frequencies use less memory as Stripchart has to store less data. Cruising boats may be content with 0.5Hz (one sample every two seconds), while in short course races 2Hz or even 5Hz may be useful. Obviously collecting data at 5Hz uses 5 times the memory used as sampling at 1hz. Setting and saving configurations Set the number of channels to graph from the View menu. Right clicking on a channel s horizontal pane displays a pop-up menu Delete Enables any individual strip-chart to be removed. Edit Allows all attributes for that strip-chart top be edited. Move up Shuffles a strip-chart up. Move down Shuffles a strip-chart down. Set event Sets an event, see below. frequency is always displayed on the

Use the fastest possible memory card to store your charts on.

Dfw2Exp

Dfw2Exp is a utility that lets Expedition exchange data with Deckman for Windows. Sending data Any Expedition data can be sent to a WTP remote channel / function number using the control on the right hand side of Dfw2Exp. Simply click in the cell immediately to the right of the desired Expedition channel you wish to send data from and select the Remote channel from the pop-up list The channels need to be defined in the \data\690menu.d file on the WTP. Receiving data Dfw2Exp allows data defined in Dfw's j_varsxx.d file to be passed to Expedition. The default mappings are listed below. Any other Dfw channel defined in j_varsxx.d can be mapped to any Expedition User channel using the control on the left hand side of Dfw2Exp. Simply click in the cell immediately to the right of the desired Dfw channel and select the Expedition user channel from the pop-up list. Select 'Use Position Fix' to use boat position, CoG and SoG from Dfw. If you have a separate GPS input, deselect this. Note that data filed by Dfw2Exp isn't affected by Expedition calibration functions. The channels from j_varsxx.d that Expedition will automatically use are: Heel Boat speed AW_angle AW_speed Leeway Heading TW_Dirn TW_angle TW_speed Orig_TWS Mapped to Inst Cal Tws Orig_TWA Mapped to Inst Cal Twa Ext_SOG Ext_COG MCur_Rate MCur_Dir Depth (it is preferred Dfw outputs depth in metres. If not, units in Exp may be unreliable) Rudder Trim
Keel Forestay Seatemp Airtemp Trim_Tab S_APortDn Mapped to User0 S_APortUp Mapped to User1 S_AStbdDn Mapped to User2 S_AStbdUp Mapped to User3 The following are mapped to boat 1: O_Heel O_Boatspd O_TW_Dirn O_TW_angle O_TW_speed O_AWA O_AWS OBRng OBBrg OBGMW

Technical notes / help

This is where we put technical notes to resolve common problems as we experience or resolve them. 1. 2. 3. 4. LogPlayer won't open today's log file Mouse behaving unpredictably By Belkin USB to serial port adaptor doesn't work No Start numbers

Cross track error Current drift
Current drift speed in knots. If calibrated value. Current drift predicted

selected

under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and
Current drift speed in knots as predicted by diamonds, NOAA tides, Grib data, Winning tides or Local Knowledge tides. Current set Current set direction. If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Current set predicted Current set as predicted by diamonds, NOAA tides, Grib data, Winning tides or Local Knowledge tides. Date The current date & time and is stored internally in UTC. Delta target bsp The difference between the current boat speed and the target boat speed at the current true wind speed. Delta target twa The difference between the current true wind angle (see Twa) and the target wind angle at the current true wind speed. Depth Depth. If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Diff station Differential reference station ID. Distance to finish Distance to current mark and on to last mark in the active course. Downhaul load Load on the downhaul. Mapped on an instrument page from a linear channel in B&G &tc. Error code Forestay load Load on the forestay. Mapped on an instrument page from a linear channel in B&G &tc. Forestay length Length of the forestay. GPS age Age of differential GPS data, time in seconds since last SC104 type 1 or 9 update, null field when DGPS is not used
GPS antenna height Antenna altitude above geoid. GPS geo height Geoidal separation is the difference between the WGS-84 earth ellipsoid and mean sea level (geoid). Negative if mean sea level below ellipsoid. GPS number Number of satellites in view. GPS position fix 1 not available, 2 = 2D, 3 = 3D. GPS quality 2 GWD Ground wind direction. Wind direction over the surface of the earth. Twd is wind direction with respect to the surface of the water without regard to current set/drift. GWS Ground wind speed. Wind speed over the surface of the earth. Tws is wind speed with respect to the surface of the water with regard to current set/drift. fix not available. GPS fix. Differential fix.
Instrument Bsp, Twa & Tws Raw values received from the instruments. HDOP Horizontal dilution of precision in metres. Heading Compass heading. If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Heel Boat heel. Keel Angle Keel angle (for canting keels). Keel Height Keel height (for retracting keels). Oil Pressure
Oil pressure. RPM1 RPM2 Engine rpm. Latitude Layline bearing Bearing to the mark of the layline boat n is heading towards. Layline distance on port Distance to the starboard layline. Layline distance on starboard Distance to the port layline. Layline distance Distance to the layline boat n is heading towards. Layline port bearing Bearing to the mark along the port layline. Layline starboard bearing Bearing to the mark along the starboard layline. Layline time Time to the layline boat n is heading towards at the target speed and angle. Layline time on port Time to the starboard layline at the target speed and angle. Layline time on starboard Time to the port layline at the target speed and angle. Lay pred dist on starb Lay pred time on starb Lay pred bearing on port Lay pred dist on port Lay pred time on port Lay pred bearing on strb As above, but with predicted tidal stream at the mark. Leeway If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Log Bsp

Trim Fore -aft trim. Twa True wind angle includes leeway. If your instrument system calculates Twa to the centerline of the boat,
then Expedition will add the leeway value (if any) to that to generate Expedition s Twa. If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Twd True wind direction. If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Twd -90 True wind direction - 90 degrees. Twd +90 True wind direction + 90 degrees. Twd to lay mark Twd to lay the mark - what the wind direction would have to shift to in order to lay mark. Twd Period Period of the dominant wind shift. Tws True wind speed. If selected under calibration , will be Expedition's internally calculated and calibrated value. Tws Period Period of the dominant tws cycle. User0-19 Channels for custom use. Note: Dfw2Exp will use some of these and rename them. Ockam calibration values are mapped to user channels 10 to 18. Ockam User tag data may also be stored in User 0 to User 8.
VDOP Vertical dilution of precision in metres. Vmc Velocity made course Vmc% The fraction of the current vmc to the optimum polar vmc, expressed as a percentage. the component of sog towards the current mark.
Vmg Velocity made good Vmg% The fraction of the vmg to the target vmg, expressed as a percentage. Volts System voltage. Wind weight In the Ockam sense as a fraction. the component of bsp and leeway upwind or downwind.

Other topics

Automatic Identification System (AIS) Ocens WeatherNet PredictWind SailDocs SHOM tidal currents

Inside the instrument system
Obviously, the raw information from the instruments is of limited use for many navigation problems. Fortunately, the instrument system (and computer) can make use of the raw data to provide a range of very useful information. True wind angle and speed At a basic level, the instrument system receives apparent wind angle and speed and speed. Using some basic mathematics, it then calculates true wind speed and true wind angle. Tws is the speed of the wind over the water (remember aws is the speed of the wind over the boat) and Twa is the angle of the wind to the boat's heading if the boat wasn't moving. These are some of the most useful numbers you can get from the instrument system. Your sail chart and boat polars will be in terms of these two numbers. Leeway As the boat sails through the water, it also slides sideways a little. If the boat has a heel sensor, then an approximate leeway can be calculated. Expedition, B&G and Ockam systems all do this in a bid to increase the accuracy of the wind triangle calculations. The commonly used equation is Leeway = k x heel / bsp^2
So, leeway increases as you heel more, but decreases as you go faster. Expedition and some instrument systems include leeway in Twa (so twa is relative to the boat's track through the water instead of its heading). This has important consequences for calculating laylines and is generally preferable. True wind direction If the boat has a compass, the instrument system can then add heading into the calculations and calculate the true wind direction. Twd is the direction, from north, the wind is coming from over the water. Current set and drift The GPS gives the boat's course over the ground (Cog) and speed over the ground (Sog). Since boat speed is relative to the water and we know the heading of the boat from the compass, then the instrument system can calculate the speed and direction of the water. The is the current set and drift. For obscure reasons, the current set is the direction the current is going to - this is the opposite sense to the way the true wind direction is described. Laylines In combination with your targets and polars, Expedition and high end instrument systems can use all this information to calculate laylines, polar speeds, time to laylines and many other numbers.
These calculations can be significantly enhanced by calibrating both the sensors and the derived numbers.

Calibration

These two numbers alternate on the display at the period as entered in the Alternating period (s) box.
1. Reaching 2. Upwind 3. Downwind
The alternating number will be one of the numbers selected in one of these three columns depending on the true wind angle. Twa from targets to display reaching number determines how far from the target angle to display the up-wind, down-wind or the reaching number.

For example:

Alternating period(s) This determines the period at which the numbers alternate at. Please note that some instrument systems (e.g. B&G 20/20 displays) will have problems and may lock-up if the alternating period is too short (e.g. less than 2-3 sec). Twa from targets to display reaching number This determines when to switch from display the up-wind, down-wind or reaching number. For example, if the target wind angle is 40 and, then with 10 degrees entered, Exp will display the upwind selection from zero to 50 degrees, then the reaching number at greater angles.

User settings

Use this page to control many functions in the system. Before using Expedition, you will want to look through this page and make sure the settings are to your liking. The User page also includes control over the logging of data. User database Much Expedition data is saved in a database - tests, sails, race position reports, events &tc. The database file can be copied to other computers or backed up.
By default, this file is called effil.mdb. The default name is sufficient for most purposes. However, if you sail on different boats if may be more convenient and safer to have a database file with a name unique to each boat. Any Expedition database (*.mdb) can also be selected just by dragging it onto the user settings page. Log Boats Here you can choose whether to log the data coming from your instrument system (your boat is normally boat 0) and even other boats or data sources if your system is so configured. So if you want to log your data (and it is usually a good idea to do so), then make sure the check box for boat 0 is checked. That will activate the logging. You can also select here the frequency of the data logging. By default, Expedition allows up to 16 boats in the full version and 2 in the PocketPC version. Log all channels For efficiency, Expedition does not log all channels by default. For most users this is all that is required, but it is desired to log User channels for example, the check Log all channels. Tip: For buoy racing, keep the logging frequency low, such as 1hz. For offshore racing, you may want to decrease the frequency (i.e. 0.5hz - 2 seconds between samples) so the log files dont get too large. Tip: If you want to log data, make sure you confirm that the logging check box for your boat is selected. The No Log warning will appear in the status bar if you are not logging boat 0. Tip: Expedition only logs select functions that are of use in instrument tuning, navigation and performance analysis. Take a look at a log file to see what functions are logged. Where does the logged data go? Data that is logged is saved in a folder (usually named Log0) located in the Expedition app data folder. This folder can be easily accessed by clicking on the Explore Expedition data folder item on the main menu. The data is saved in a simple comma delimited text file that is easily opened by many programs, including spread sheet programs like Microsoft Excel. The time stamp is either in UTC or local local time check box), but time, depending on what you have chosen (in the Display settings the second number logged is a Microsoft DATE type and is always in UTC for consistency. All data for a particular day is saved in a file that is named for the date it is logged. For consistency and for ocean racing, the date is calculated in UTC, so if you are logging data on a boat on the west coast of the USA (UTC 7 hours) when the local time clicks past 1700 Pacific Daylight time (0000 in UTC time) a new log file will be created and begin to be populated. If you close Expedition and re-launch it on the same day, the logged data will continue to be written to that days log file. Start-up Select Stripchart, LogPlayer or Dfw2Exp to start these applications when Expedition starts. Selecting Close all programs on exit closes these when Expedition is closed.

Channels settings

User channels Allows Expedition's user channels to be renamed. Note that in some situations (with Racing Bravo for example), this happens automatically. Precision is the number of digits displayed after the decimal point.

Damping

Sets damping for each Expedition var in seconds.
This is similar to the damping in most instrument systems. Entering a non-zero number (seconds) next to a particular variable (channel) dampens that variable.
Some instrument systems will output damped data to Expedition and others will output raw data. Obviously, if the instrument system is sending damped data, it may be undesirable to further dampen numbers in Expedition.
Targets, Polars, Layline and start line calculations use the damped values of Twd and Tws. It is recommended that you apply some reasonable damping to these functions. A good starting damping for both is 3-5 seconds for high end instrument systems and say 6-10s for simpler instrument systems. Tip: Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, you will normally only dampen Twd and Tws and leave all other functions at 0 seconds damping. Tip: You can display both raw (straight from the instruments) and damped values in number bars in the main chart window. The damped values will be underlined.

Start settings

To obtain maximum benefit from Expedition's starting tools, there are several things that are needed to describe the boat. Boat length Enter the overall length (in metres) of your boat for proper scaling of Expeditions distance measurements. Expedition uses the boat length to present various numbers in boat lengths. The desired units are selected on the user settings page. Note that if you have nautical miles as the default units, most start distances will be displayed in boat lengths. Boat width Boat width in metres. Bow to GPS Enter the distance (in metres) from the bow to your GPS antenna. The distance from the GPS to the bow is required for precise calculation of time and distance to the line. This will fine tune the distance and time to start line calculations.

Tip: This is one of the advantages of Expeditions course optimisation tool. Once you have all your settings configured it only takes a couple clicks of the mouse to enter the latest GRIB file and run a new Optimum Route. Isochrones Isochrones are curves that indicate where a boat could sail to in a certain amount of time. Isochrones are calculated when Expedition calculates an optimal route and are displayed on the main chart window if this box is selected. This is a useful tool to leave enabled. Depending on the length of the route, you will vary the time step for the drawn isochrones. For a 2000 mile race every 12 or 24 hours will usually suffice. For a 100 mile race, you might want them drawn every 2 hours or so. Reverse Isochrones When selected, reverse isochrones are also drawn. This is a very useful tool for studying the sensitivity of a calculated optimal route. Reverse Isochrones use fancy math to work the optimal route backwards through the GRIB fields from finish to start. When displayed concurrently with forward isochrones you can more easily see the moments in a race when a particular side of the course or route is especially good or bad. Reverse isochrones are lines of points equidistant in time from the finish whereas isochrones are lines of points equidistant in time from the start. So, if another boat is on the same reverse isochrone as you, they should finish at the same time. Thus, the reverse isochrones can be used as a way of seeing who is ahead.
However, their main use is in analysing the optimal route. The problem with the computer, is that (for example) when going upwind, it will reward a half degree right shift with an optimal course that goes all the way to the right hand side of the, when in fact it doesn't really matter where you go (and a prudent tactician might be more inclined to play the shifts going up the middle of the course). To get an idea of how critical the optimal course is, have a look at how parallel the forward and reverse isochrones are. You will see that there is a reverse isochrone that animates as well. (When you step forward along the optimal path using the forward or reverse animation toolbar buttons, the forward and reverse isochrones for the display time will be highlighted). If they are close together and parallel over a large distance along their length, then the optimal course isn't very critical, but if they are only close together over a small distance (i.e. have convex or nose shapes pointing at each other), then the optimal course is much more critical. In this instance a prudent navigator would need to have good reason to deviate much from this critical point. Another example is where the forward and reverse isochrones come close together in two different places, but in one you are 10 seconds ahead. The computer is going to suggest a track through the area that puts you 10 seconds ahead, whereas both routes are probably relevant. And you might have good reason to want to take the 10 second slower option if the slightly faster one passes closer to a high pressure ridge with big swells. Tip: It is mentioned elsewhere, but it is really worthwhile to practice stepping forward through an optimised route whilst displaying cogent GRIB file information (maybe 2mb increment isobars and 3 knot increment wind speed contours). Also it can be helpful to use the weather tooltips toolbar button. This is a process that a good navigator/tactician will do many times in order to glean as much information on the upcoming course as possible from Expedition. Winds Draws expected wind barbs along the route. This is quite helpful in pre race planning when showing other crew members roughly what wind speeds and angles to expect but it adds to the screen clutter if you are also displaying a GRIB files wind barbs. Paths Draws all the possible paths (not just the fastest one) successful paths obtained whilst computing the optimal path. Usually you leave this button unchecked, but it is sometimes helpful for studying routes or to help understand options for other boats around you. Previous optimal paths Draws the previous optimal path. This can be helpful when studying the difference between two different configurations or inputs such as GRIB files. Tip: Expedition only remembers the last two optimal runs unless you check the output to mark database box. Tip: You can also save the details (course, wind, heading, finish time) of a particular optimal route by using the View optimum course table on the View menu or the View optimum course table toolbar button after running an optimal route. You can then save this information in a simple text file by clicking the Export button. Before a big race, you might want to run a daily optimal route calculation and email the graphic image of that route (see: To print out the chart window screen) and the text file of the optimal course table to your crew. Tip: Occasionally, the wind angles the routing software calculates and displays in its optimal course will be above your upwind target angles or below your downwind target angles. Effectively this means that the system has included at least one tack or gybe in that segment of time. Tip: When you have an intermediate turning mark in your course, there are times that the best or fastest routing solution is for the boat to pass the buoy at some distance not close aboard. Expeditions router has the power to allow for this situation if you configure all the marks in your active route correctly. They can be configured to be left to port, starboard or force the optimal route to go to the mark. Expeditions router will accurately follow the instructions for each waypoint/mark. This feature can also be used to avoid optimal routing scenarios that route over land by placing some interim waypoints in your course.

Next mark Use to make the next mark the active mark. The right arrow is a keyboard shortcut to next mark.
Man overboard See the Man overboard help.
Set dividers See the Dividers help.
Set dividers given range and bearing See the Dividers help.
Zoom out See the Chart use help.
Zoom in See the Chart use help.
Open best chart See the Chart use help.
Centre on boat See the Chart use help.
Centre ahead of boat See the Chart use help.
Centre on boat and active mark See the Chart use help.
Centre on boat, active mark and next mark See the Chart use help.

Centre on active leg

See the Chart use help.
Centre on active course See the Chart use help.
Race mode See the Chart use help.
Mouse click disable See the Chart use help.
Polars See the Polars help. Also available from the keyboard as Ctrl-P.
AIS Displays the AIS target display.
Events Creates a new event in the events database. Events can be useful to record sail changes or items of interest. This function is also available from Stripchart.
Weather and grib toolbar buttons For more information on the weather toolbar buttons, see the weather help.
Weather settings page This is a shortcut to the weather settings page, also available from the keyboard as Ctrl-W.
Weather tooltip Display a tooltip containing GRIB weather information at the mouse position.
Hide weather A convenient one-click control to globally turn the weather display on or off.
Steps the GRIB weather display backwards in time. The up arrow is a keyboard shortcut to this function.
Steps the GRIB weather display forward in time (The time is displayed in the upper left corner of the chart window). The down arrow is a keyboard shortcut to this function.
When selected/depressed, the weather animation steps over the time intervals of the GRIB file. (e.g. every 6 hours). If not selected/depressed, the animation steps are based on the time interval on the weather settings page and Expedition interpolates between the steps of the GRIB file.
Tip: This can also be toggled on or off using the space bar on the keyboard.
NOTE: Continuous animatiion with C-Map tides and currents showing is slow.
Animate weather Animates the weather display. Tip: Most users prefer stepping through the GRIB frame by frame but the animation looks very cool!
Sets the display time to any user-selectable time.
Sets the current drift rate for Grib file creation.
Accesses the Ocens WeatherNet system. Also available from the weather menu.

Optimal routing buttons

Optimal routing settings Compute optimal course Route whole fleet As for Compute optimum course but for the fleet at the last race schedule, using your performance polar. Note that Previous optimal paths needs to be selected to draw the other boats on the chart.

Optimal course table

Race buttons These tools can be useful at the start of any race and for windward/leeward style buoy races.
What if? See the What if? help
Hold wind Often, especially in the pre-start, it may be desirable to fix the wind and/or current to set values. The hold wind button offers a quick way to toggle the wind from the instruments to the What-if? values.
Hold current The hold current button offers a quick way to toggle the current from the instruments to the What-if? values.
Create W/L course toolbar button This button is the quickest way to configure a standard windward leeward course. It easily allows you to configure a course where the leeward mark (or gate) is a bit upwind of the starting line. It is designed to be used whilst underway with an instrument system plugged in but there is one way for you to practice with it on shore as described below. Click here for more details.
WL Display Display the dedicated start screen. This is an un-cluttered display mode with no charting and scaled to fit the start line to the screen. Both ends of the line as well as boat position are required for the start screen to be displayed.
Time to burn display Switches from time to go to the line, line ends etc to time to burn to the line etc.
Display times Select this to reduce the number of times displayed on the start line. This can reduce clutter/unnecessary information on the screen, especially for the final approach.
Toggle start range circles Toggle the start range circles on and off.
Toggle start range grid Toggle the start range grid on and off.
Laser port & starboard ends of line These buttons place the port or starboard end of the starting line at the position that you most recently pinged with the Laser gun when you click on ok to confirm.
Set port and starboard ends of line at boat These buttons set the right and left ends of the starting line at the position at either the GPS location or the bow depending on the user settings when you click on ok to confirm. Tip: When using these buttons to ping the ends of the line its best to be traveling rather slowly and holding a steady course to allow the GPS position to be as accurate as possible.

Rotate windward and leeward mark
These toolbar buttons do exactly that - rotate the marks to allow for a course change partway through the race. If the race committee announces a change in the axis of the windward mark when you are rounding the first leeward mark simply press rotate windward mark and enter the new axis/heading in the dialogue box that pops open and then click OK to accept your change. Keep in mind that with these course change buttons, the course rotates around the leeward mark (or the windward mark), not the starting line (unless you configured the course so the leeward mark is at the starting line. Tip: Unless the race committee is having a very good day, the marks will not be in exactly the right place. You can and should tweak their location based on your own observations. The great thing about Expeditions draw track feature (track on the display settings tab ) is that you dont need to be working on the computer at the very busy moment when you pass/round the mark. You can drag the marks to their actual position afterwards - when you have some free time. Simply center Expeditions main chart window around the mark (depress , do not select and zoom in to the buoy and your track/wake. Windward leeward course buoys are, by default, locked. So first you must unlock the mark by right mouse clicking on the mark and selecting unlock mark from the pup-up menu. Now the mark is drag-able using the left
mouse button. Simply drag it into the position indicated by your track/wake.
What if? See the help on What if? under the racing section of this help.
etc Start time numbers numbers The start time buttons are used to control Expeditions starting line functionality by setting the time to go before the start. Take note that the pre-start countdown starts when you select OK on the pop-up window that appears. Tip: The reason to set the start time is so you can use Expeditions time to burn feature. This number tells whether you are early or late to the starting line and by how much time. It can be displayed as a number box in the main chart window in the normal manner (select start time to burn from the numbers settings tab) and/or put out to the instruments on an Auxiliary Channel (Instruments item from the Main menu). You may also want to display the channel/number start time to gun to make sure you are in synch.
Set start time Sets the time to the gun to any number of minutes and seconds.
Set start time Sets the start time to any time.
Sync start time countdown Rounds the count-down timer (time to gun) to the nearest minute.

Status Bar

Unlike the toolbars, the status bar has no controls and is purely for information. Most of the displayed numbers relate to the cursor or chart. Use the Display 2 page on Settings to select which of the items listed below to display on the status bar. From left to right: Chart scale and zoom factor The published scale of the chart. In most cases, you will be using charts at real size, but you may wish to over-zoom or under zoom them. In which case, the zoom factor will be displayed to the left of the colon. Latitude and longitude The cursor position. Variation The magnetic variation at the cursor. Range and bearing

1. Log file analysis As you use Expedition, you can collect your instrument data in log files. This data can be played back by LogPlayer or loaded into Stripchart, but you can also use it to create grib files of sea temperature, currents and/or depth. 2. Create current graphically If you have an image of ocean temperatures or currents (for example, a Gulf-stream analysis chart), you can use Expedition to create a grib file based on the information in the image.
1. Import and geo-reference an image. 2. Select Create currents mode from the Analysis menu. This will direct Expedition to create a current vector wherever you click on the chart with the left mouse button. It will ask for a value of current drift. This should be entered in knots. Move the cursor around a line of constant current drift, clicking regularly or at important points. The current drift will be in the direction you are moving the cursor, so start upstream. You can't immediately click elsewhere on the chart to start another line of current points as the first and last points will have unintended sets. So, click on Current drift rate on the Analysis menu or click on the Drift rate button same) and then click on the chart as before. on the toolbar and enter the drift rate of the next series of points you intend to enter (they could be the
When all creation of current points is complete, click on Create currents mode from the Analysis menu to exit the current entry mode. Then, select Convert created currents to grib from the Analysis menu. You will then be asked for the bounds and resolution of the grib file you wish to create. The suggested bounds north, south, east and west bounds will be based on the data you entered earlier. The default resolution is 0.5 degrees, but it could be 0.1 or 1.0 degrees for example. Also, choose whether to give the current field a validity time (it could be a forecast for example) or make it a climatologically mean current. Finally, select a file name and location for the new grib file and click on OK.
You can now clear the manually entered currents by clicking on Clear created currents from the Analysis menu and load the new grib file (see the help on the weather settings page and the toolbar.
Hint: It can also be a good idea to enter zero knot currents along coastlines.

Route optimisation

This is one of Expeditions most powerful and refined features. We have worked hard to hone this tool for accuracy. Expedition easily routes over complex courses with multiple GRIB fields containing both wind and current information. It also has special features such as reverse isochrones that help the navigator/tactician judge the sensitivity of the calculated optimal route. It has features designed to help both the shore side study of an upcoming race (or a race underway that you are watching) and also the navigator/tactician in the middle of the race. But as in any solution involving a computer program, be aware that the final result is only as good as the information/data provided to the program - Garbage in = garbage out! So it pays to work hard to make your polars reflect reality and get the very best and latest GRIB files. However, even with the most refined polars and fine mesh weather GRIB files, the prudent navigator will study the solution carefully and make adjustments based upon practical experience or intuition. Expedition Performance Systems Ltd. can provide studies generated by the Expedition route optimiser using your polars and historical wind data from 1975 to 2004. More weather data is being added every year. A typical study will present the results from over 800 optimal route simulations and compare these with the great circle. Such a study can be very useful when selecting a sail inventory, optimising a yacht's rating or preparation for any offshore race or passage or even in the design phase. For more details and samples, see the Expedition web page.

Forecast times Select the forecast times to request. Clear Clears all selected times.
Default Selects default times to request. Parameters Select desired fields. If none of these are selected, the default is PRMSL and WIND. Note that the parameters selection has no effect if no forecast times are selected.

Sail test analysis

Available from the Analyse sail tests item on the Analysis menu or from the Ctrl+P keyboard shortcut. See also Tests on the Sail menu and Saving tests and Events in the Stripchart help. This is a very powerful feature, but does require a lot of work to get the most of it.
Tests Tests (periods of good, consistent data) are saved using the Stripchart program. Note that saving sail changes as Events can make post race creation of tests a lot easier. The tests in the database can be viewed from the Tests item on the Sail menu. With time, the number of tests stored in the database can become very large (hundreds or even thousands of tests) and impossible to manually draw conclusions from. Also, test data varies from day-to-day with changing conditions. So, Exp has automated functions to automatically draw some statistical conclusions as to what the polar and sail chart should look like based on the saved tests. These functions perform better with more test data available.
Analyse sail tests The first tab page in Sail and speed test analysis allows test data to be analysed for individual or subsets of sails. For example, all sails A2-1, A2-2 and A2-3 can be selected an the test data for these analysed. For example:
Note that it is a good idea to give the output file a short, descriptive name such as A2 in the example above as this name will be used in the final sail chart. Also, this function requires the boat's performance polar to be loaded in Exp. To actually perform the analysis, just click on the Process button. The output is a polar patch file for the sail or sails selected, which will be saved in the Tests folder in Expedition's data folder. There is a shortcut to the data folder on the main menu. Repeat the analysis process for all sail types to end up with a collection of polars for each sail type. On the test page accessed from the Tests item on the Sail menu, individual or all tests can be selected to be drawn on the edit polars window. Checking Only use selected tests directs Expedition to only use these selected tests in the analysis.
Build polar and sail chart The second tab page in Sail and speed test analysis allows selected analysis files from Analyse sail tests to be combined to give a sail chart and polar. Select sail analyses to be used by clicking on Add analysis files. Enter an output file name, then click on the Process button as in the example below.

See start settings for more options, including the option to specify the display state used before and after the start. In both cases:
The start line is displayed with the port end to the left of the screen and the starboard end to the right. Laylines are drawn from each end of the line. The time to each end is drawn at that end. Time to the nearest layline to an end is drawn on the chart. A bias line is drawn above the start line, indicating the favoured end. In the example below, the port end is favoured. The current heading is drawn as a dotted line. The GPS derived course of the ground is drawn as a solid black line. Turns to beat (or run) to the line are drawn as thin black lines. Note that turns that require near complete circles aren't drawn in order to keep the display uncluttered. In the example below, sailing to the line after a complete turn to starboard isn't drawn as it would be similar to the small turn upwind to sail on port and would confuse the display. The boat track will be drawn if selected on the display settings page. This can be very useful to reposition start marks if you sail around them. Many of these items stop being displayed 1 minute after the start to reduce screen clutter. Expedition draws numbers (like small number-bars) on the start line for times to the ends, the line etc. Clicking on the time to burn button on the toolbar makes these numbers time to burn numbers instead of actual times. Selecting the Display times button on the toolbar can reduce the number of these on screen numbers. Time to the port end is displayed at the top left of the screen. Time to starboard end is displayed at the top right of the screen. Distance below line, time to line, time to gun and time to burn are displayed at the top centre of the screen.
To obtain maximum benefit from Expedition's starting tools, there are several things that are needed to describe the boat. Boat length Enter the overall length (in metres) of your boat for proper scaling of Expeditions distance measurements.
Expedition uses the boat length to present various numbers in boat lengths. The desired units are selected on the user settings page. Note that if you have nautical miles as the default units, most start distances will be displayed in boat lengths. Boat width Boat width in metres. Bow to GPS Enter the distance (in metres) from the bow to your GPS antenna. The distance from the GPS to the bow is required for precise calculation of time and distance to the line. This will fine tune the distance and time to start line calculations.

1 Received Line Signal Detector (Data Carrier Detect) 2 Received Data 3 Transmit Data 4 Data Terminal Ready 5 Signal Ground 6 Data Set Ready 7 Request To Send 8 Clear To Send 9 Ring Indicator

Networking

Available from the Connections item on the instruments menu or the ctrl-i key stroke. Expedition can talk to other versions of Expedition (including PocketPC versions) or to any supported instrument system over a network using the TCP or UDP network protocols. By default, Expedition has one network connection available. If more than one network connection is required, this can be changed from the Number of network connections on the Instruments menu. Broadcasting data Expedition can broadcast selected data to all other computers on your local network, including PocketPCs, using the UDP. On a Network page, Select Expedition from the instrument drop-list. Deselect the TCP checkbox. Select the Broadcast checkbox. Select a port between 1024 and 65535 to broadcast to. Ports below this are assigned for common services, so you shouldnt use these. Ockam instruments use port 5005 for example. From the System button, select the desired Expedition channels to broadcast. Obviously, you should not select the same item to be both sent and received on the same PC.
Receiving broadcast data To receive Expedition data broadcast by another PC. On a Network page, Select Expedition from the instrument drop-list. Deselect the TCP checkbox. Select the Broadcast checkbox. Select a port to receive data on. This is the port number as set above to broadcast the data on. From the System button, select the desired Expedition channels to receive. Obviously, you should not select the same item to be both sent and received on the same PC.
Expedition data exchange between specific computers Expedition data can also be exchanged between any two computers rather than the whole network. On a Network page, Select Expedition from the instrument drop-list. Select or deselect the TCP checkbox, depending whether TCP or UDP communications are preferred. In some circumstances, UDP is a better option. This selection must be the same on the other computer. Deselect the the Broadcast checkbox. Select a port to receive and send data on. From the System button, select the desired Expedition channels to send and receive. Obviously, you should not select the same item to be both sent and received on the same PC.
Receiving instrument data Expedition can receive data via a network from Expedition on another computer or any supported instrument system. On a Network page, All controls behave as for serial ports. Select the instrument system to receive data from and the port to connect to. If using a TCP connection Enable the TCP checkbox and enter a port number and network address of the other computer (for example, "192.168.1.1") to connect to. If using a UDP connection to send to a specific IP address (for example, Koden radar). Deselect the Broadcast checkbox. Enter the port number and network address (for example, "192.168.1.1") to connect to.

n channel. Expedition uses Ockam's user tag 9 for its own purposes, so this is not available for use. Auxiliary channels Here you can map Ockam auxiliary channels 0, 1, 2 and 3 (such as Forestay load) to Expedition system channels. Limit output (black RS232) Slows output sent to older black RS232 interfaces. Ockam user tag data Ockam User tag data may also be stored in User0-8. Ockam user tag 9 is used by Expedition internally and is not available for other use. Instrument system wiring and set up B&G and Ockam recommended serial port wiring Ockam RS232 gnd RS232 Tx RS232 Rx Jumper Jumper 7 black 3 green 2 blue 7 to 8 DB4 to to 8 DB4 to to 20
While the normal PC hardware might well run with just Tx, Rx and Ground connected, some driver software will wait forever for one of the handshaking lines to go to the correct level. Depending on the signal state it might sometimes work, other times it might not. The reliable solution is to loop back the handshake lines if they are not used. When the lines are handshake looped, the RTS output from the PC immediately activates the CTS input so the PC effectively controls its own handshaking. DB9 pins 1 Received Line Signal Detector (Data Carrier Detect) 2 Received Data 3 Transmit Data 4 Data Terminal Ready 5 Signal Ground 6 Data Set Ready 7 Request To Send 8 Clear To Send 9 Ring Indicator Ockam instrument set up The default Expedition settings for Ockam are 9600, 8, N, 1 to suit the T1. Older Ockam systems are often set to 4800, 8, N, 1. To set the Ockam RS232 interface to 9600, 8, N, 1, set switch A to 4 and switch B to D. To set the Ockam RS232 interface to 4800, 8, N, 1, set both switches A and B to 9.
System By clicking on the System button or from the Ockam item on the Instruments menu, further Ockam functions are available. Calibration Expedition can download (to PC) and upload (from PC) calibration values from/to your Ockam instrument system. Linear calibration values Exp can send to the Ockam T1: Leeway Bsp Bsp offset Twa Tws Awa Aws Upwash Heading Wind weight Mast height
Auto cals Expedition can send automatic calibration values to the instruments. These are derived from Expedition's calibration tables or linear calibration values. Select which auto-cal values to send by using the appropriate check-boxes. Auto-cal values Exp can send to the Ockam T1: Leeway Bsp Twa Tws Aws Upwash Upwash slope

APB BWC DPT GLL HDG HDM MTW MWD MWV RMB RMC RSA VDR VHW VTG VWR VWT XTE ZDA ZTG
Autopilot sentence 'B' Bearing and distance to Waypoint Depth Geographic position latitude and longitude Heading deviation & variation Heading magnetic Water temperature TWD and TWS TWA, TWS, AWA and AWS Recommended minimum navigation information Recommended Mmnimum navigation information Rudder sensor angle Set and drift BSP and HDG CoG and SoG AWA and AWS TWA and TWS Cross track error Time & date UTC & time to destination waypoint

B&G Hydra

Connection settings
Hydra (690, 790, H1000, H2000 & H3000) instruments communicate using the NMEA 0183 protocol, so the default serial port settings are 4800, 8, N, 1. See the Nmea help for more information on the Nmea standard and interface. However, there are also several custom NMEA strings. Wiring to connect a H1000 to a PC's serial port: H1000 Colour DBNMEA Tx (+) Blue NMEA TX (-) Green NMEA RX (+) Red 5 Output Select desired Nmea sentences to send back to your instrument system. Hydra custom Nmea data Note: This functionality does not work for H3000 processors as of 30 June 2007. B&G is intending to fix the bug. Expedition automatically sends some basic performance data to hydra instruments. However, you need a v9.0 NMEA FFD for this sentence support in H2000. The following are available: PERFORM POL SPD (kt) POL PERF (%) LAYLINE distance (nm) LAYLINE time hh/mm, Exp sends Time to Gun in the pre-start WIND TARG AWA (Expedition outputs Target Twa to this channel instead of Target Awa) NAVIGATE TARG HDG NL (near layline) TARG HDG FL (far layline) Not yet implemented: WAYPOINT - DIST TSL WAYPOINT - TIME TSL HR/MS

eg 4a)

B&G H690 (690, 790 and 2000 performance processors with older B&G software
This instrument connection setting is designed for connection to older B&G performance processors, for example with B&G version 4a software. If you have a performance processor with a later version of the B&G software (later than 4a), select B&G H2000 instruments. For further documentation, see the B&G H2000 documentation.
B&G H2000 (690, 790 and 2000 performance processors with newer B&G

software)

Note If you have a performance processor with an older version of the B&G software (eg 4a), select B&G H690 instruments. Connection settings Expedition defaults to 9600, 7, E, 1 when the H2000 instrument system is selected (6.2 on the FFD).
B&G 690, 790 and 2000 Baud rate Data bits Parity Stop bits Even 1
Note: Occasionally, you may find 2 stop bits works best with B&G. Wake Each time a Hercules system is turned on, it has to be instructed what data to send by Expedition. Normally, this happens automatically. This button forces all the wake-up commands to be immediately resent to the instruments. External channels This is highly useful if you want to send some of Expeditions numbers/data to your instrument system for display on deck. For example you might want to display target speed when sailing a windward leeward course, or polar percentage when sailing a reaching course. There are ten external channels available for this purpose. Simply choose the desired channel and select the number/function from the drop down menu. Note that you can also select one of Expeditions Alternating Channels here. For more on Expeditions calculations and data see the help on operating the numbers tab page. Selecting the damped check-box next to any external channel will cause damped data to be output. Linear channels Hercules linear channels 1 to 10 (such as Forestay load) can be mapped to Expedition system channels. System Accesses the interface to instrument polars, calibration values and tables. Expedition can exchange polars and calibration values with the instrument system. This is a very useful function for backing up calibration values. A Hercules system only allows a maximum of 10 wind speed rows in the polar. If your performance polar in Expedition ( polars tool) contains more 10 wind speed rows, then those values will be sent to the instruments, else the upload to the instruments interpolates and defaults to the true wind speeds: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 25 & 30kt. Tip: Depending on the version of the instrument system, it occasionally takes several 'uploads' or 'downloads' for Expedition to accurately send or retrieve the full polar.