Yesterday, Raymarine released version 4.6 of its software Lighthouse. Once again packing up plenty of features specifically for sailors.
The company introduced a bunch of high-end technologies to the sailing masses back in the days. To name a few: portable autopilot (some still functioning); Seatalk1 bus, opening the way for NMEA0183 and then N2K. With the Evolution autopilot a few years back, Alpha, Smart Wind and Lighthouse 4.5 last fall, Raymarine seems to be focusing once more on bringing grand prix technology within reach of the club racer. Exciting!
Lighthouse 4.5 released in September made possible for MFDs running it to act as a processor for the all new Alpha displays. It also came packed with features for sailors who want to have data complementing feel.
Raymarine Lighthouse 4.5 features for sailors
Polar management. CSS import + editor for manual adjustments. It is a big improvement on the previous polar management. I am holding my fingers crossed that one day, Lighthouse will have the capability to adjust (or suggest adjustments) based on data flowing through its hosting unit.
Evolution autopilot steer-to-wind from MFD.
Guided speed calibration procedure under sail. We are really looking forward to test this feature. We always struggled find a patch with nearly no current. Besides, it will be possible to calibrate separately on different tacks and angles, which is nice as it is not possible to have a paddle-wheel on the centreline of a J/80. And 2 paddle-wheels feels overkill.
Graphical wind shifts indicators. Certainly a nice-to-have feature, catching the eye and bringing focus on TWD changes.
Sail chart support and sail recommendation. It replaces the sail chart print inside the cockpit.
Better damping capabilities. I’d guess it will enhance Alpha experience?
Alpha integration. Obviously.
Several other features come with the release, but less relevant for us.
With Lighthouse 4.6, Raymarine stabilizes and builds on thr 4.5.
Some interesting features for sailors in 4.6
Next leg data. How many times dd we approach a rounding and hoped we could carry a sail from there? And how many times, we thought we could, prepared for it, just to find out that we were wrong? Clearly you don’t need to sail on the rumbling between the next 2 waypoints. And obviously the wind might be different. Nevertheless, without a navigator onboard, this is good “at-a-glance” information for making a better assessment.
Evolution autopilot steer-to-polar-target. Possibly useful racing solo or double-handed with a sleeping crew. In reality, I suspect you’d find the best angle for the conditions and let the autopilot steer to that angle, while you actively trim the kite. I’ll keep an open mind and look for use cases on the water.
Target wind angle. We’ll stick to a printed target reference table. But if we had extra screen-space, why not plot this info besides performance against polar? If anything else, it could be nice during training.
N2K data now available within Raymarine app. Now, now. This sounds promising. We’ll need to dig deeper. Can that data be captured via Wifi, without a router? Can we log it?
Opposite tack COG data. Once again valuable data “at a glance” for tactical decisions. Even though shores, water layering, waves and so on, need to be factored in.
A list of all 4.6 features here.
There are also a bunch of new features in leveraging AIS data. We’ll check them out soon.
We are looking forward to try it out on the water in the coming weeks. Especially combined with the new Alpha display. More to come…