tack button or +1 +10 ?

[seandepagnier]

Personally I'd vote strongly for +1/+10, rather than a single dedicated button.

A tack is a major change of direction which the crew *must* be prepared for, so you really don't want it to be triggered by an accidental button press or raindrop.

Sean makes the opposite argument. He thinks +1/+10 could lead to accidental tacks but I don't quite understand why. My trusty Autohelm 3000 uses +1/+10, it's completely intuitive and I've never made an accidental tack.

Thanks or feedback.

The raindrop is in reference to touch screens.     I think I considered it accidental because the +1 and +10 buttons are right next to each other...    I think having to hold them for 1-2 seconds to initiate could be useful?

In any case,   I will definitely implement this option soon, but a tack button will still be possible option, and you can enable/disable these feature from the lcd/keypad web programming interface.

I also would vote for a +1/+10 and -1/-10 combination. And that only for tacking.

For jibing shorthanded, I think a preprogrammed manoeuvre could be troublesome. As shorthanded boat handling is not always fluent. The way we use it now, by pressing +/- 10 several times, gives more control.

What do you mean "only for tacking"    In compass/gps mode the pilot is unaware of wind direction generally so will tack the wrong way if instructed to.   By this measure, you can "jibe" 90 degrees using the tack feature if that makes sense and the pilot doesn't know the difference.

Or are you suggesting to read from a wind sensor if available and only tacking through the wind, and ignoring commands to jibe?  This could be an option as well...

Thanks for all the feedback.   It is not as simple as just picking a solution and implementing, I need to actually map out all the possible options.