NEWS AND NOTES
Blue Water Sailing
June 10, 2009
NauticEd Releases NED – an interactive online sailing instructor
NauticEd again lived up to its tag line of being “The World’s Most Advanced Online Sailing Education” this week by unveiling it’s latest teaching tool – NED. NED is a very high tech interactive online sailing instructor whereby new and novice sailors can learn how the sails should be positioned for any wind direction. The player can:
* Turn the boat and watch the speed of the boat change with different wind angles
* Increase or decrease the speed of the wind
* Trim the jib sail and the main sail and watch the boat speed change with trim
* Gybe the boat
* Tack the boat
* Learn the points of sail
* Watch the boat's heel angle change with wind condition and angle
* Learn exactly how you should set the sail trim with the wind angle
The simulation is very realistic because the speed profile was extracted from a real speed polar plot diagram of a racer cruiser sailboat.
"This is fun!" says BWS Publisher, George Day.
Grant Headifen, the Educational Director for NauticEd developed NED. “It was just time” he said “For too long now instructors have been forced to rely upon blackboards and crude models made of plywood, dowel rods, sting, eyehooks, handkerchiefs and a fan to explain points of sail and how to set the sails for a particular wind direction. Now, students can simply log on to the Internet and play with the simulator to really get the feel of the wind and properly understand the dynamics. Instructors now can get the students out of the classroom and onto the water faster which is what every student wants. It’s a very exciting and useful free tool”.
Play it Today : www.NauticEd.org.
