Imagine you’re a competitive sailboat racer, about to go into the richest and most storied of all sailing races with a squillion-dollar boat and a razor-sharp crew. Now imagine somebody hands you a device that can quite literally map out the wind activity up to a kilometer out in front of you, showing wind speed, direction and turbulence – and giving you the almost superatural ability to adjust your sails and take maximal advantage of a wind pattern before you even reach it. It’s almost an unfair advantage, isn’t it? Well, this is the situation that BMW Oracle Racing’s Russell Coutts finds himself in as the team gears up to take on defending champions Alinghi in the 2010 America’s Cup.
The device is called a Racer’s Edge laser wind sensor, and it’s built around a technology base that’s being used to optimize wind power generators. We caught up with Phil Rogers, CEO of Catch the Wind, Inc, to find out more.
Offered in 12″ (VESA, tilt, wall) and 15″ (VESA, tilt, wall) versions, a V-Panel can function as both a touchpanel control interface and flat panel HD display. A choice of either the Crestron DGE-1 or DGE-2 external graphics engine enable V-Panels to display both HD (HDMI/HDCP) and analogue video (VGA, component, and streaming media from online videos, digital media servers and Web cameras). V-Panels can also integrate VoIP communications, embedded PC applications, USB-HID control, onscreen annotation and whole house control, delivering a complete digital media, control and communication solution.
Well, the 2009 Monaco Yacht Show has drawn to a close with the sounding of the horns! Our impressions of this year’s show are mixed with many positive reviews from businesses and quite a few new builds being signed up during the show.
