As Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s 75-foot silver bullet sluices between two yellow buoys at 40 knots, a digital timer appears in the bottom left corner of the Louis Vuitton Cup broadcast. The graphic flashes Omega’s logo and then starts counting up as soon as the boat’s transom creams past the buoy. Two deadbeat seconds later, the 75-footer of American Magic careens past the same mark at 36 knots in hot pursuit of the Italians.

The delta is a blink-and-miss-it 2 seconds, which is a heap of time in the Olympic and Paralympic events that Omega has “officially timed” since 1932, but in today’s America’s Cup races, 2 seconds is nothing. With millions of dollars and years spent obsessively developing the fastest boat possible, time is the one commodity these race teams can never have enough of in their pursuit of the oldest trophy in all of sport. When it comes to the Cup, time is indeed money.

The cliché comes to mind as my eyes are glued to the large-screen television inside AC75 Club hospitality suite overlooking Barcelona’s yacht-filled Marina Port Vell. The Louis Vuitton Cup race on screen is playing out in real time on Mediterranean racecourse a few miles away, and here in the Catalonian capital on this fine late September day, Omega representatives from Switzerland, who distinguish themselves during introductions as “HQs,” are hosting an eclectic group of luxury lifestyle and yachting journalists, as well as watch aficionados and collectors who speak eloquently and expertly of movements, calibers, escapements and the fine art of old-school mechanical watch making.

The zealots, I will soon learn, all have an utter disdain for quartz and anything with batteries and microchips for that matter.

We’ve been ushered in from Australia, Italy, England, the United States and elsewhere to experience the America’s Cup scene and the gastronomy of Barcelona, but first we are privy to the unveiling and the “touch-and-try” of Omega’s third official timepiece for this 37th edition of the America’s Cup. 

Lucien Jornod, Omega’s VP of Marketing and Head of Media Strategy chez Swatch Group, takes to the stage first and brings our attention to a tall display case covered with a crisp white cloth, concealing the new specimen. It’s what we’re here to see, he says, and it will be revealed in due time, but first, a bit of history: The America’s Cup dates back to 1851 (three years before Omega’s founding) as an invitational race around England’s Isle of Wight.

The radical schooner that won the race that day was owned by a syndicate of New York Yacht Club members and named, well, duh, America. The New York YC then defended the America’s Cup in the waters off New York and Rhode Island for 132 years before an Australia team staged the upset of all upsets in 1983, halting the longest winning streak in all of sport.

Omega’s association with the Cup itself, however, stretches back to 1995 when they partnered with a scrappy and clever team from New Zealand, which cleaned everyone’s clocks on the waters off San Diego. The two have been partners ever since, and Omega has been the regatta’s official timekeeper four times—in 2000, 2003, 2021 and 2024.

“Timing in sailing isn’t always about speed,” Jornod says in his opening remarks. “It’s about coordination, teamwork and agility, and the America’s Cup aligns with Omega’s values of precision, innovation, excellence and, of course, ocean heritage.”

While other luxury watch makers have their hands in the Cup of present—Tudor with a Swiss team and Panerai with the Italians—Omega gets top billing on the broadcast, on the water and on the streets of Barcelona where luxury watches are in high-demand by the city’s notorious pickpockets, says Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton, who eventually joins Jornod on stage.

“It’s an amazing city with wonderful people, but be careful,” he adds, raising his arm high and pointing to the $13,000 Seamaster Deep Black Planet Ocean ETNZ 600M on his wrist. “This is what they want.” 

The watch that Dalton sports is the first of three distinct America’s Cup branded watches for the 37th edition. The second is the stainless steel Seamaster Diver 300M ($6,500), distinguished by an undulating wave pattern on the white ceramic face, a blue rotating countdown bezel, a sapphire crystal case back with the regatta’s logo etched into it and the America’s Cup trophy—the “Auld Mug”— laser etched into the counterweight of the second hand.

A few of the watch journalists present thought it was odd enough that Omega would introduce three watches for one event, but when the reveal finally comes they’re gobsmacked.

Inside the display is the Seamaster Regatta—an “instrument” watch, and inside of it is—gasp—quartz. Equally shocking is the LCD display behind the face and its red and blue sweeping hands. Unenthusiastic claps from the collectors are telling, and later, when I query two of them for their honest opinions of the $7,500 watch, one simply shrugs his shoulders and says, “meh.”

During the touch-and-try session that follows, the Regatta’s young product manager, Daniel (he preferred not to provide his surname before checking with HQ), admits that the watch is not necessarily for savvy collectors who only value mechanical timepieces and squirrel them away in bank vaults.

“This is a niche product,” he says. “It’s really a tool watch, but also a very traditional watch. It’s not something completely crazy and is fully in the Omega DNA: the same principle and quality. It is so much more advanced than a traditional watch, which only has time and date.”

It’s not often that Omega mashes digital and analog into one, so this, Daniel says, is a new bold addition to the Seamaster lineage. Its 46.57mm case is Grade 5 titanium and it does much more than tell time and date: there’s a moon phase indicator, a chronograph, a sailing log book, temperature gauge, accelerometer, three alarms, and of course, the regatta race functions.

There are four rubber pushers and a crown, so I quiz Daniel on how all the buttons work and how many presses it takes to get to the functions that sailors would use—primarily the countdown feature universally used for racing starts that countdown from 5 minutes. For the user keen to tap all of its functionality, there’s a 60-plus-page user manual online.

By rotating the rubber-gripped crown, Daniel explains, I can then page through functions on the digital display and press “P3” to go deeper into the menus, but it’s easiest to simply press the red pusher “P4” on the upper left that takes the user straight to the timer function once its preset. The same button starts and stops the countdown timer, and two short presses will sync it either up or down to the closest minute. There’s an audible countdown during the final 10 seconds (loud enough to be heard in the crowded AC37 suite) and then the timer automatically switches to and displays elapsed time.

A short press of the P4 button saves a time stamp, a function that sailors would use to record key moments in a race—say passing a mark of the course. These timestamps are recorded in the watch’s “sailing log,” but because it’s not a smart watch it cannot and does not connect to Bluetooth to output log data.

With the unveiling complete, probing questions asked, and social posts broadcast to the larger watch-media world, the group eventually saunters off to the AC75 Club’s terrace, spilling hushed opinions into champagne flutes and beer glasses. Off in the distance on this sun-kissed afternoon in Barcelona, the AC75s that we’ve also come to see are zooming back and forth across the horizon, playing their ancient analog sport onboard yachts laden with digital sophistication.

Many diehard America’s Cup fans of yesteryear despise the technical bastardization of their favorite sailing event and pine for a return to traditional sailing, much as I suspect the astute watch experts gazing at the boats with wonder and fascination will no doubt opine that the Regatta is the newborn digital bastard child of the Seamaster family.

But we are indeed living in a digital age and technology advances whether we like it or not. When a 2-second delta on the America’s Cup racecourse is worth millions, and it’s win or lose, the watchers will watch. For sailors with an appreciation for Cup nostalgia looking for a sharp-looking collectible timepiece, the Seamaster Regatta will serve many purposes: from a night on the town, to the club and to the racecourse, to simply being on time the old-fashioned way.

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American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson is now counting down the days until he and his teammates liftoff and cross the starting line of the Prada Cup in Auckland next winter as they make a run for the 36th America’s Cup Match. But he isn’t scratching off days on an old-fashioned wall calendar. No need, because the countdown is right there on his special edition Garmin MARQ Captain watch.

What does the “T-minus” countdown do when the first race day finally comes? “I guess it just rolls over to the next,” says Hutchinson who intends to defend the Cup in Newport, R.I., should the New York YC syndicate succeed in defeating two other challengers and then the defender, Emirates Team New Zealand.

There’s a lot of time between now and then, and the immediate focus as the team transitions its assets to New Zealand over the next two months is to stay fit and ready. For this, Hutchinson can also tap into his new MARQ Captain, engraved with the American Magic name on the

bezel and the specialized watch faces featuring the team’s logo—as if he needs a reminder.

The “luxury timepiece,” which certainly does a lot more than tell time, has two exclusively designed sailing-focused watch faces. The analog watch face prominently features the “T-minus” countdown to race day in Auckland, while the digital watch face features a silhouette of

Defiant, the team’s first of two AC75s. Granted, this is all window dressing on what is an incredibly powerful wrist-top tool loaded with the core features found on Garmin’s other fitness and life-hack watches. The MARQ Captain’s sailing-specific features include a preloaded “Sail Grinding” activity, that allows Hutchinson and his mates on Defiant’s grinding pedestals to stay on top of their power output, on land and in the “Penske Gym” (the nickname for their temporary shipping-container workout space).

According to Garmin, the American Magic edition includes three workouts designed by team trainers. Users can select between three workouts: “Race Simulation,” “Fitness Test” and “Intervals.” The watch includes multiple sensors that monitor overall health and wellness, such as the LED heart rate monitor (on the back face of the watch) and a Pulse Oximeter1. Post-activity, you can geek out on your training metrics and it will even guide you through your workout recovery to ensure you’re getting the most efficient training and not burning yourself out for no reason.

If grinding efficiency is less of a priority (yes, it’s OK to rely on your electric winches), dive deeper into the menus and tap into a plethora of functions: it’s preloaded with topographic maps and supports Garmin’s BlueChart coastal charts and GPS navigation, maritime profiles and

weather forecasts, including storm alerts, home port conditions and more. It is compatible with Garmin’s inReach® satellite communications for two-way comms and SOS functionality. Use the “tack assist” function to track headers and lifts and the time-to-burn starting assist and make yourself the go-to tactician you’ve always wanted to be. Sync it with your autopilot and your onboard Fusion radio and everything you need for a day or more of yachting is right there on your wrist. It’s a perfect on-watch companion.

For your land life, streaming music, contactless payments, daily activity tracking, sleep monitoring, and smart-phone notifications top the list of great functions. The rechargeable lithium battery is rated at 12 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and 28 hours in full-time GPS mode.

With a suggested retail price of $1,750.00, this special-edition watch is squarely on the top shelf of the luxury smartwatch case. But add up all its functionality and its connection to the sailors of American Magic as they enter the starting box in Auckland and you’ve got yourself the ultimate sailing watch that will be the envy of your mates at the yacht club bar.

Garmin.com/MARQ.

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A naked wrist is a lousy excuse for a bad start. Now, there are watches good for sailing and watches purpose-built for sailing, but the Garmin quatix 5 ($540 retail) is a watch for sailing and living. Two button presses get you to its sailing functions, and press three more to ping the line using the internal GPS (it’ll get your distance-to-line close, but don’t depend on it). It’s simple to sync, change minutes and restart a new sequence. After the start, find tacking angles, speed over ground, course over ground and more. Bluetooth to a Garmin instrument package and open a trove of options.

While I’ve yet to tap its arsenal of sailing tools, the quatix 5 has also made me a believer in the fitness-tracker fad. Pages show my heart rate, my steps, the weather and my stress level. It even tells me to get up and move if I’m idle at my desk for too long. I can log my races, runs, bike rides and ocean swims and analyze the heck out of them using the app on my phone.

There’s a library of free apps to load to it, but those that come with it are good to keep me honest, active and peeling off the starting line on time. You can stop searching for the best sailing watch because this is the one.

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Face it, if you’re going to get wet, you might as well be ready for it with a proper wetsuit. Don’t worry about how much that snug suit reveals because victory has no vanity. Performance on the water starts and ends with comfort, and for that we have Gill’s new FireCell Skiff Suit and Top. They’re slick looking on the outside, but turn them inside out to see the magic and intricacy of these 3.5mm made-for-sailing wetsuits. “FireCell” neoprene panels have a soft waffle construction that retains body heat in miniature pockets. Flexible panels are in every critical area, and all the seams are glued and blindstitched to prevent water entry and chafe. On the outside, abrasion-resistant panels on the knees and seat will take the abuse of kinetic dinghy sailing. The Race FireCell Top, with high-stretch neoprene that’s backed with a soft wicking liner, pairs perfectly with the Skiff Suit. Early season Frostbite Laser sailing in Newport, with 50-degree water and 40-degree air temps, confirms one thing: the FireCell creates an oven by the time you reach the weather mark. As the mercury drops, add a spray top and you’re good to go all season. $169-269 • gillmarine.com

MTI Lifejackets is a major player in recreational paddle sports and their foray into the sailing market is with the Vibe PFD. The Vibe is U.S. Coast Guard Type III, and while it’s designed primarily for whitewater standup paddle boarding, it’s a proper fit for sailing because the foam panels are sculpted in way that the bulk is low and focused around the side and back, not high on the chest. In other words, when tacking, jibing or ducking under the boom, there’s no battle of the bulge. The “Z-strap” system, as well as waist and shoulder adjustments provide excellent custom fit, although, the shoulder adjustment points should be covered to prevent snags. The straps need to be trimmed of excess tails as well. A large mesh front pocket will hold a lot (bars, tape, sunblock), and includes a tethered whistle. With reflective detailing, the Vibe is available in safety orange or blue, which makes this PFD perfect for the Opti kid to the sportboat stud. $95 • mtilifejackets.com Find a Retailer

Sperry’s 7 Seas deck shoe is the perfect footwear for any size boat. Water runs straight out through the vented soles, and the woven mesh is hydrophobic so it dries quickly. The heel offers excellent support,for running around the pointy-end, or roll tacking a dinghy. Slip on a neoprene sock and you’ll even be able to wear them with your drysuit when the weather takes a turn. You don’t need to sacrifice style for performance either, so go ahead and wear them straight to the regatta party after racing. $89.95 • www.sperry.com

What sets Henri Lloyd’s Freedom Jacket apart from its competitors is clear, literally. The jacket’s hood features the Optivision system with clear panels allowing sailors full visibility. Windproof and waterproof from the hem to the hood, the jacket has a thick and high fleece collar for warmth and a visor for full-face protection. Henri Lloyd Photoluminescent Reflectors absorb UV light (sunlight or artificial) and after dark they release energy to increase illumination. Snug cuffs and draining pockets ensure a dry experience. $295.00 • www.henrilloydonline.com

Whether you’re foiling at 40 knots or just know all too well why it’s called the boom, a sailing helmet offers crucial head protection. Zhik’s H1 helmet is a thin profile helmet that won’t make ducking under spars a challenge. Half-inch foam lining protects your most valuable asset, and internal channels allow for airflow to keep you cool, even on hot days. We put it to the test and found that of all the helmets we tried, the H1 came out ahead. $119 • www.zhik.com

It’s hard to go wrong with anything from Helly Hansen, and these salopettes are no exception. The number one feature these bibs offer is breathability, despite being completely waterproof. No matter how hard you are on deck, or how far you are over the rail on a choppy day, sailors will stay warm and dry without sweating through them. While some salopettes have an overwhelming amount of fabric, the fit and cut of these pants are perfect. It’s also notable they have an adjustable hem, so whether you’re tall and lanky or petite, they can be adjusted to not drag the deck. $275 • www.hellyhansen.com

All the offshore personal safety gear you’ll have onboard for your next race is secondary to your tether. “Stay attached to stay alive,” is a motto to live by… World Sailing recently updated its offshore regulations for 2018 where all crew must now have a three-point safety line. Spinlock’s DW-STR/03 and DW-STR/3L safety lines both meet the new standard. They’ll be in high demand before next year’s Bermuda Race, so get one now. $160 • www.spinlock.co.uk

Accessories

Take it from Terry Hutchinson, hydration is critically important. Drinking enough water during a day of racing often goes overlooked, but can have a big impact on your energy levels. Hydroflask’s rugged, vacuum-sealed, stainless steel water bottles will keep your favorite race day drink cold and stand up to the beating of rolling around down below. Hydroflasks range in size from 12 to 64 oz, but our favorite is the 32oz – enough water to keep you quenched all day, and it won’t take up too much space. $39.95 • www.hydroflask.com

Every sailor should own a pair of Kaenon sunglasses. They’re rugged, stylish and come with an unbeatable warranty for when the saltwater takes its toll on your lenses. The Burnets – favorites of college sailors everywhere – are a top choice, with wide lenses that offer maximum protection, even for your peripherals. Pick from a variety of lenses to suit your needs (or style) and get out on the water. $239 • www.kaenon.com

If you’re looking for a great pair of sunglasses for that sailor that’s accident-prone, Smith’s Lowdowns will give you top quality performance without breaking the bank. The Lowdowns offer great protection, a wide field of vision, and won’t slip off your face; perfect for when you need to scan for puffs, or get caught off guard by the jibe. Smith has a variety of lens colors and styles for any condition. (Croakies sold separately) $69 – 169 • www.smithoptics.com

There are coolers, soft and hard, big and small, but for the cramped confines of a sportboat, the Yeti Hopper Flip 12 is the one you want. Yes, it’s $250 retail, which its critics say is overpriced for a soft cooler, but this thing is anything but soft. Built with rugged waterproof PVC and welded seams, it could very well be the last cooler you ever buy for your raceboat. Our test unit has endured a year of abuse, stored haphazardly in bilges, regatta after regatta and it’s no worse for the wear. Durable? Yes. Easy to open? Nope. But that’s the point. As advertised, the 10 x 11 x 12-inch Hopper kept our contents chilled from dock-off to post-race chilling, but the beefy leak-proof zipper isn’t meant to be opened and closed all day long. Fill the Hopper Flip before the race, using one frozen water bottle, open it once for a mid-day sandwich break, and again for the sail in to enjoy a six-pack of 12-ounce cold ones. $250 • www.yeti.com

For sailors that don’t take themselves too seriously during a night of beer can racing, having music on the boat is an essential part of practice, or racing around the buoys for fun. If you’re looking for a waterproof speaker that you’re guaranteed not to lose if you capsize, then the UE Boom 2 is ideal. The rechargeable speaker is about the size of a tall-boy beer can and has a metal ring on the top of it to clip or tie into the boat. While some speakers get muffled by wind and spray, the UE Boom 2 is loud enough. It has a durable exterior that even the most accident-prone sailor would take effort to break. It holds a charge for up to 15 hours and connects to any device via bluetooth. $180-200 • www.ultimateears.com

If you’re looking for book recommendations for your America’s Cup fanatic, we’ve got two that have passed our desks of late. First, Chasing the Cup: My America’s Cup Journey by Jimmy Spithill. If you’ve ever wondered what makes the talented ginger from Down Under so driven to win the America’s Cup (and then lose it to Team New Zealand in Bermuda), the revelation is in this memoir: he is a product of his upbringing: free-wheeling, rough and reckless, and always out to prove himself. The book journeys through his youth, his rise in the sport, and those who’ve opened doors for him. The narrative’s only shortcoming, however, the mere glimpses into the tight-knit inner world of his Cup campaigns. For this, there is Alan Sefton and Larry Keating’s new release: Exposed, the Dark Side of the America’s Cup. Two others currently on the editor’s nightstand: the fascinating and in depth The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, and Second Wind: A Sunfish Sailor, an Island, and the Voyage That Brought a Family Together by acclaimed author and Sailing World alum Nathaniel Philbrick.

The VIRB Ultra 30 shoots video in 4k at 30fps. But the video alone isn’t the most amazing feature the VIRB has to offer. On par with Garmin’s other products, the G-Metrix allows athletes to overlay gauges and graphs with race data, allow sailors to analyze angle, speed, boat drift, water depth, wind speed and acceleration.With the VIRB taking high-action video is easier than ever. The Garmin VIRB boasts a 1.75 inch display, and voice controls to start and stop recording or even take a picture. Without taking hands off the sheets or tiller, the VIRB does its thing while you do yours. Show off real time stats by having VIRB livestream your race or practice data to YouTube, for coaches, spectators and fans to stay in the moment. The VIRB has a range of accessories do you can mount the camera virtually anywhere, including on a drone. It is compatible with a variety of Garmin watches and GPS devices to maximize data input. Garmin also offers a 360 camera if you want to take your capture to the next level. $399.99 • www.garmin.com

This case first caught our eye when a teammate jumped into the pool after a day of sailing with her phone without hesitation. There are a lot of waterproof cases for iPhones on the market, but none as trustworthy as the Pelican Marine Case. Just like their line of hard cases, the Pelican iPhone case is sturdy and tough. There are no soft jelly pieces to rub off, or flimsy seals, it’s made up of five layers of protection that withstand more than six feet of water for 30 minutes. With a long history of creating military equipment, there’s no doubt Pelican can deliver to sailors too. $22-70 • www.pelican.com

Watches

Nixon has made a smart watch for people who want to get away from their tech and get on the water with more ease. The Ultratide goes beyond just the tides, offering current conditions like wave height, wind direction and speed, swell direction, and the temperatures of both the air and water. You also get Surfline’s general assessment in a tidy one-word note, like “Fair” or “Good”. Powered from the Ultratide/Surfline app on your iPhone, pick your forecast locations sync it once and you’re done. Surfline collects live data for over 2,700 locations around the world, so it’s rare they don’t have the spot you are looking for. Good look trying to smash this watch too, the stainless steel case and rubber coating are sporty and tough and it’s guaranteed to stay in place. The best part? Throw away your cables! You don’t have to charge it, for at least a year, then when it tells you the battery is low, send it to Nixon and they’ll replace the battery for free and service it to make sure the watch stays water-tight. $300 • www.nixon.com

If your tactician is numerically challenged, tackle the issue “header” on with the handy Tacking Master, a wrist-worn navigational organizer that helps visualize wind trends, tacking angles, and starting-line bias. This is no gimmicky device, but rather a useful tool used by pros and amateurs alike. In the pre-start, take a wind reading off your compass and rotate the top dial (it’s like writing the bearing on your deck), and the move the mark dial (small orange triangles) to the location given by the race committee. Then, turn the lock-down dial keep them in place. Color-coded guides then show starting line bias (after taking a bearing). As you sail the course, make adjustments to the dial to track wind shifts and mark locations. $75 • www.tackingmaster.com Buy It Now on Amazon

Hardware

Opening a Ropeye catalogue or browsing their inventory of rigging “gadgets” is like walking through the front door of the brand’s creator Jaanus Tamme’s brain. Hailed as one the most innovating and creative individuals in the sailing hardware business today, the Estonian engineer and his R&D team deliver clever pieces of kit that make you rethink your control systems and attachments. Ropeeye’s earliest offering is the through-deck carbon and Dyneema Loop padeye, but they’ve expanded into stunningly simple low-friction bearing-free blocks. Start at the small end with a 1,000-kilogram safe-working load U1 block (shown), recommended for sheets, runners or halyard turning blocks. $165 • www.ropeye.com

Ready to finally convert those fatigued metal shackles with the more modern “soft” variety? (Yes, it’s a good idea). Option No. 1: Go to the chandlery, buy a splicing kit and a few feet of Dyneema SK78, launch YouTube on the computer to learn how, and fumble for an hour perfecting your first few diamond knots. Option No. 2: type fisheriessupply.com into your browser and order a pair of factory-spliced D12 Soft Shackles (7mm). Trust us, option two is much easier. $35 • www.fisheriessupply.com

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Sailing Watch: Gill Regatta Master

The post Gill Regatta Master Watch appeared first on Sailing World.

Garmin Quatix Sailing Watch

Wouldn’t it be nice to have all sorts of GPS capabilities on your wrist? Yes it would, and with the Garmin Quatix GPS watch, there’s a GPS and much, much more. Be careful though. It could be highly distracting.

So what does the Quatix do?

First off, it does tell time, with large, sharp digits. The user can then easily page through functions by using the big blue button on the left side. Press it once and get a list of options: GPS, Tides, Tack Assist, Sail Race, Clock, Waypoints, Tracks, Routes, and Autopilot, too. Autopilot? Yep, you can use it as a remote control for your Garmin unit.

The gold mine is the Sail Race page. As part of your pre-race routine, you can plug in the wind angle and your boat’s tacking angles, and then sail upwind. It records your headings on port and starboard and commits them to memory. Then, page down to the Start Line function to do your time and distance, too. Enter your bow offset, ping both ends of the line as waypoints, and save. Now you’re ready to race. Scroll to and activate the Sail Race function. In the display will be the countdown timer, distance from the line, as well as desired speed and burn time. Once the countdown finishes, the display automatically shows numerical lifts and headers.

Dig deeper and there’s an altimeter and a barometer, and when paired with a Garmin GNT10N NMEA transceiver, it can receive NMEA2000 data, such as wind speed and direction, and depth.

One complaint is that it can’t be locked in the Sail Race mode. On numerous occasions during my regatta test, I accidentally pressed the primary button, which stopped the countdown timer in the middle of the pre-start. Also, with the GPS running all day the battery will drain pretty fast. To charge the unit, the watch is placed in a USB charging dock (don’t leave home without it).

All in all, the Quatix is a great tool to stay engaged in a race, especially if you’re the type to second-guess the tactician all day long. Retail is $449, www.garmin.com

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A good sailing watch has a lot in common with a good crew: dependable, trustworthy, and necessary for the success of any practice, race, or regatta. As a dinghy sailor with a petite wrist, my preference has always been for smaller, more basic watches rather than those with extra sailing-specific functions. The Timex Ironman 30-Lap has been my watch of choice in recent years. It’s easy to start and reset the countdown, plus the option for a rolling countdown makes team race starts easy to follow. While I’ll always appreciate the simplicity of the Ironman, the following five watches made with sailing in mind are, well, better-suited for the purpose.

The Aquastar Match Race line immediately caught my eye with its visual display of the countdown using five small circles above the time. Every thirty seconds equals half a circle, and you’ll see the circles empty from left to right as the clock ticks down. The watch also gives you a double beep every minute and a single beep every second during the final 10 seconds. It was the quietest watch I tested (which can be a good thing if you don’t want a lot of noise in sequence). A double-click of the sync button rounds the clock down to the next minute, and the stopwatch starts after the gun. The Swiss import is simple with a single screen on the mineral crystal display. The back of the stainless steel case is engraved with the time zones for major cities—a perfect bonus for traveling. It was one of the smaller models of the group, but it’s also a little heavier because of the materials it’s made with. My model (9010) has a black rubber band, but the bands also come in navy, orange, and yellow in rubber, leather, and Velcro.

The Gill Regatta Master Watch II takes advantage of its large display in the last minute of the countdown, when the seconds remaining until the start take over the screen. If that visual isn’t enough, the countdown is also audible: It beeps every minute up until one minute, then every 10 seconds, then every second in the last 10. You can then program it to either start a timer or roll into the next start. One button will sync the watch down to the next minute or round to the nearest minute depending on your settings, and a double-click of another button resets the countdown. I was able to calibrate the watch’s compass easily after reading the manual and giving it a couple of tries. The compass has a backward bearing mode and a lock function to save coordinates. You can put the watch in power saving mode with a blank screen after racing. If you forget, you’ll get a low-battery warning when it’s time to recharge. This was the biggest wristwatch of the group (excluding the Ronstan ClearStart Race Timer). However, it was surprisingly lightweight.

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The U.K.-based Optimum Time offers a range of sailing-specific wristwatches designed with a "simple is good" philosophy. Their watches have different shapes (round or square), materials (stainless steel or plastic), and wrist straps (Velcro or rubber). Similar to other Optimum Time models, the OS224 that I tried has large digits and features a countdown and an alarm. The countdown is intuitive and gives you the option to roll into the next start afterwards or start a stopwatch. The sync feature drops the clock down to the next full minute with the push of a button. It was the loudest of the group. I silenced the countdown because there was a bit too much beeping involved for my liking (two beeps every second when you were 10 seconds from the start, and then three beeps every second from 5 seconds to the gun—on top of the normal warnings throughout the sequence). I liked the style and simplicity of this one, and as the smallest watch I tried, it fit me the best of the group.

The Ronstan ClearStart Race Timer is not a watch you would want to wear to the bar, but its oversized display is ideal for nailing the starting line on time, even if you forget your prescription sunglasses. The watch is a breeze to use with two modes: time and countdown. Just press the big red button to start the countdown (you can't miss it), and a push of the sync button will drop the countdown to the next minute. The timer has the same alarms as the OS224, but the tone of the timer is slightly deeper. (Optimum Time manufactures the watch for Ronstan and offers a similar "big yellow" OS 315 timer.) You can silence the alarms if you want, and you can also program it for rolling starts or to start a timer afterwards. A low-battery warning ensures you'll never miss a start. Even though it's huge, an elastic band pulls it tight to any size wrist. Plus you can rotate the display in its case to get a better viewing angle from your hiking straps; you can even mount it on your mast.

The Suunto Regatta has everything you might need, and then some. The Finnish import features an audible sailing timer that gives you a double beep every full minute you're in sequence and every 10 seconds during the last minute, and then a beep every second during the last 10 seconds. Plus, 60 little bars run the perimeter of the display to give you a visual representation of the seconds left to the gun. You can sync the watch to the nearest minute with the click of a button, and the time of day shows below the countdown. After the start, the stopwatch automatically starts—there's no option for rolling starts. The watch also has a traditional countdown timer, three alarms, and a low battery warning. Taking advantage of the other goodies that come with the price tag requires a quick study of the 32-page manual. The electronic compass has a leveling bubble, a bearing tracking function, a rotating bezel ring, and marks on the display to help you find the favored end of the line. It's an average size compared to the others in the group, and it won't weigh down your wrist.

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GUSuunto368

I can’t tell you how many people have taken note of the Suunto Elementum Ventus sailing watch I’ve been racing with for the past few weeks. And it’s not just awe at seeing a $999 watch on the wrist of a guy whose shirt came from TJ Maxx—the Ventus is truly an eye-catching timepiece. Its purposeful look has caused more than a few fellow launch passengers to ask, “What’s that watch you’ve got there?”

Founded by Finnish engineer Tuomas Vohlonen in 1936, Suunto makes precision instruments for everything from orienteering to scuba diving. Most of the company’s sailing watches—including the Mariner, which I reviewed a few years back—have a techy look, but the Elementum Ventus packs advanced features like race timer, compass, and barometer into an elegant, stainless-steel case trimmed with three oversized buttons. The version I tested came fitted with a brown leather band, but you can choose from a variety of colors (black/grey) and materials (steel, rubber).

The buttons are the best thing about the watch. They’re large enough to manipulate with gloved fingers, and a convenient lock feature prevents you from accidentally stopping the timer in the middle of a starting sequence. Once you’ve activated the timer, engage the lock by hitting the top two buttons simultaneously; repeat to unlock. Another nice thing about the timer is its ability to sync to the nearest minute of a sequence—helpful for those instances when you’re a few seconds off on the five-minute gun and want to fine-tune at four minutes.

For all its complexities, the Elementum Ventus has a surprisingly intuitive control system. I was able to program the clock, alarm, and timer features without referencing the instruction manual, but it came in handy when calibrating the three-dimensional compass and discovering other tidbits like backlight and barometer history.

Some racers will see no need for a barometer on their sailing watch—and I’ll admit I’ve only used the feature in a gee-whiz sort of way—but the digital compass is something I’ve come to appreciate. Say I’m serving as rail meat and can’t see the boat’s instruments; aiming the top of the watch perpendicular to the rail lets me track the general tendency of the windshifts. Even better, say the race committee changes the course to the next mark to 345 degrees. Just rotate the watch until it reads 345, and you’ll know where to look for the mystery mark.

If all you’re looking for are the sailing features, Suunto’s Yachtsman ($349) or Regatta ($199) models—or any of the dozen racing watches we recently reviewed —might be your best option. But if you want a sailing watch that you can also wear with a suit, a watch you’ll want to wear every day, you might consider ponying up for the Elementum Ventus. Just be ready with answers when your neighbor points it out on the launch.

www.suunto.com

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GUSpeedWatch368

Walking the docks at the annual U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Md., it’s easy to get overwhelmed, not just by the crosseyed and painless masses at the Pusser’s pavilion, but by the sheer amount of stuff to see. I spent four days wandering this year’s show, and I still didn’t cover everything. Of the new gear I did see, here are a few picks that could be of particular interest to racers:

SpeedWatch by JDC

This jumbo-sized digital watch combines with an included impeller and wireless transmitter to provide real-time boatspeed and distance information as well as the usual countdown timer functions. The impeller mounts on the underside of the hull, or on a flip-up skeg attached to the transom, and connects to the wireless transmitter. Mounted opposite the impeller on the inside of the hull, the transmitter beams data directly to the watch. Because the system is self-powered and offers the option of a transom-mounted skeg, it’s ideal for use on Lasers and other ramp-launched dinghies. The SpeedWatch might not be class legal, but it could be a helpful practice tool. At $300, it might even make a fun holiday gift for the dinghy sailor on your list.
www.oceanequipment.com

Courtesy SCAD Technologies The Doubloon LED cabin light features touch control of power, dimming, and color.

Doubloon LED Lights by SCAD Technologies

Cabin lights might not excite you, but what about cabin lights with a hip, iPod influence? These advanced LED lights feature a touch-sensitive control integrated into the bezel. Tap the edge with one finger to turn on. Tap it with two fingers to turn off. Touch three fingers to change the color from bright white to soft red. Swirl your finger around the circumference to adjust brightness. Individual lights synchronize wirelessly with other lights set to the same frequency, so you can control all lights by adjusting any one of the controls. This wireless connectivity makes for simple installation, as you only have to connect one wire to each unit. These lightweight, energy-efficient, color-changing lights seem like a smart choice for distance racing. So far, only a prototype exists, but the Doubloon should go into full scale production soon.
www.sailorssolutions.com

Wrap Pins by Johnson Marine Hardware

Does this scenario sound familiar? It’s seconds before your starting sequence, you’ve barely finished adjusting the rig, and now you’re frantically trying to tie the little line between the two turnbuckles before the gun goes off. Enter Wrap Pin, the stunningly simple solution to this pre-race nightmare. It’s just a strip of Velcro with an embedded cotter pin. Insert cotter pin into turnbuckle, wrap Velro to secure. It’s quick, reliable, and foolproof.
$7.75, www.csjohnson.com

MP3 Jacket by Gul

Word on the street is that Gul is developing a coastal jacket with an iPod controller integrated into the sleeve. Future versions could also feature speakers embedded in the hood. I can’t say when the jacket will go into production (in fact, I’m not sure it even has a name yet), but I saw a prototype, and it seemed pretty slick– the audio components are subtly incorporated in a fully capable foul-weather jacket. Aside from the novelty of having built-in tunes, the prospect of connecting the system with an iPhone or VHF radio gives this jacket exciting potential.
www.gul.com

“Gear Up” from our October 22, 2008, /SW eNewsletter/

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GUSuunto368

When SW conducted a massive watch test last year, I proclaimed my favorite to be Momentum’s SLK ti Chronograph, a small timepiece with bare-bones functions that I could operate without consulting the manual.

After the test, my colleague Tony Bessinger encouraged me to spend some time evaluating a far more advanced watch, the Suunto Mariner. Designed specifically for sailboat racing, the Mariner sports a digital compass, barometer, thermometer, rotating bezel, and several memory-intensive features that give Suunto every right to refer to the device as a “wristop computer.”

I swallowed my pride and read the owner’s manual front to back (no easy feat considering the tome is translated into eight languages). The Mariner has four main modes, Time, Sailing Timer, Compass, and Barometer. Each of these modes has up to five sub modes. For instance, beneath the time and date display in Time mode are sub modes for three alarms, a stopwatch, a basic countdown timer, and dual time. Compass mode has a sub mode for tracking your bearing over time. A Barometer sub mode shows you changes in pressure for the previous four days. Bottom line, to get your $275 worth out of this watch, you’ll need to get cozy with the owner’s manual.

While the manual showed me precisely how to use the Mariner, it has taken a season of sailing with it on my wrist to determine which functions were actually useful on the racecourse. The rotating compass bezel is great for determining the favored end of the starting line without relying on your failing arithmetic. Here’s how it works: take a wind reading; rotate the bezel so that the wind direction lies at 12 o’clock; as you reach down the line, find the bearing to the pin; if that bearing falls precisely at 9 o’clock, the line’s square; if the bearing is “later” than 9 o’clock, the pin’s favored; earlier, the boat’s favored. The bezel is difficult to rotate with the tips of your fingers–especially once it gets crusted with salt–but I’ve found it rotates easily if you press the palm of your hand on the face of the watch and rotate your hand.

Of course, as with any racing watch, the most critical function of the Mariner is to tell you how much time until the gun. In Sailing Timer mode, the watch displays both the time of day and a countdown timer. I like having this split screen when sailing around before the start. At a glance, I can tell how long I have until the race committee is supposed to start its sequence and I can verify that I have my timer ready to catch the five-minute gun. Once in sequence, the timer beeps at logical intervals, so you don’t necessarily have to look down at the watch every fifteen seconds. If you were late on the five-minute gun, you can catch the four-minute gun by pressing the sync button, which restarts the timer at the nearest minute. As a fail-safe against accidental deactivation, it takes two firm presses of the start/stop button to halt the countdown. After the start, the countdown timer automatically starts counting up, allowing you to record and recall split times in the Sailing Timer Memory sub mode. This feature might be helpful for tracking waypoints in a distance race or figuring out corrected time in PHRF, but I doubt I’ll ever use it.

Also falling into the doubt-I’ll-ever-use-it category are the Mariner’s barometer and compass functions. The barometer is accurate– I verified it against the numbers provided by the weatherman– but fairly useless for round-the-buoys racing. Similarly, the compass is accurate enough, but without duct-taping it to the deck, I don’t see how you’d use it for tactical purposes. (I did employ it for “You sure we’re on 95 North?” purposes the other day.) The Bearing Tracking sub mode allows you to “lock in” a bearing for future comparison– a function we duplicated on the Shields last Wednesday using a Sharpie and the backside of a bottle of sunscreen.

While the Mariner may have a few superfluous sub modes, on the whole it is an excellent watch for sailboat racing. Key features like countdown timer are easy to reach and easy to use, so you don’t find yourself stuck in Sea Level Pressure sub mode with 30 seconds to go. Water resistant to 100 feet, the watch has a large display, a comfortable, “elastomer” band, and an indigo backlight that will let you read the owner’s manual late into the night.

www.suunto.fi

Note: Suunto no longer produces the Mariner, but retailiers like Team One Newport and Amazon still carry the watch at prices well below the original MSRP.

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