Find your fast.
A small box that reads the instruments already on your boat and learns your real polar: sail by sail, from the water you actually sail.
- Reads
- the instruments already on your boat
- Records
- every six seconds, online or not
- Learns
- your real polar, sail by sail
How it works
The boat always records. The cloud catches up when it can.
- 01
Plug in
Connect the supplied cable to your NMEA backbone. Signal K normalises every brand on the bus. Fifteen minutes at the nav station, no new displays.
2× NMEA 2000 · 1× NMEA 0183
“Nothing to replace. Nothing to learn. One cable, and the boat starts keeping notes.”
- 02
Sail
Every six seconds the box averages ~29 variables: wind, speed, heading, heel, depth, voltages. One tap records a sail change. Nothing waits on the internet.
6 s averages · works offline
“The link will drop. The log never does.”
- 03
Learn
Ashore, the data becomes your polar: observed target speeds for each sail, each wind strength, each angle, with the confidence behind every number.
Sail-specific · confidence shown
“Blank cells stay blank until the water has earned them.”
Plate II · Your polar
Observed, not borrowed.
Most polars come from a designer's velocity prediction and are never checked. Yours carries a sample count, a dispersion and a date behind every number, so you know exactly how much to trust it.
True wind speed
- Sails
- Main + J2
- Coverage
- 15/16 cells
- Samples
- 1,619
- Best observed
- 6.3 kn @ 100°
No borrowed VPP. No assumed polar. Target speeds appear only after real sailing supports them.
Hardware
Built for the nav station.
One sealed unit, one cable to your backbone. It listens to what the boat already knows, adds its own motion and power sensing, and keeps a 12-hour reserve so it reports even when the batteries are off.
Illustration. Beta units ship as a board in an off-the-shelf enclosure with a printed insert; the production casing follows.
- Compute
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5
- Marine I/O
- STM32F417 co-processor
- Inputs
- 2× NMEA 2000 · 1× NMEA 0183
- Sensing
- 9-axis IMU · tank levels · battery voltages
- Data broker
- Signal K on OpenPlotter
- Sampling
- 6-second averages · ~29 variables
- Power
- 12 V DC · 12-hour backup battery
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi · Ethernet · Starlink / cellular via boat network
- Updates
- Signed over-the-air updates
- Identity
- Per-device certificate · owner-only access
Apply
Apply in a minute. We're choosing 20-30 boats.
We're looking for sailors who actually go sailing, racers and cruisers alike, with NMEA instruments already aboard. Only your email is required; the rest helps us pick a good mix of boats.
What happens next
- 1You apply here. It takes about a minute.
- 2We email you straight away to confirm we have it.
- 3We choose boats and share terms and timing with them before anything ships.
- 4Selected boats get their box ahead of spring 2027.
FAQ
Straight answers before you apply.
Something we missed? Ask in the application form and we'll reply.
Apply for a test boxWhat does a test boat commit to?
Sailing the boat as you normally would with the box connected, and telling us honestly what works and what does not. Applying commits you to nothing: terms and timing are shared with the boats we choose before anything ships, and you can say no then.
When do test boxes ship?
Ahead of the spring 2027 season. We are choosing 20-30 boats, and the boats we pick hear the exact timing first.
Does it replace my instruments or displays?
No. TrimPolar listens to the NMEA 2000 / 0183 bus you already have. Your existing displays, autopilot and sensors keep working exactly as before. It adds logging, sail context and remote monitoring on top.
Do I need internet on the boat?
Not to sail, and not to record. The box logs locally and holds everything in an encrypted queue. When Starlink, cellular or marina Wi-Fi is back, it uploads in resumable batches and only deletes local copies once the cloud has acknowledged them.
What boats does it work with?
Any sailboat with NMEA 2000 or NMEA 0183 instruments: wind, speed, heading and GPS at minimum. Test boxes favour 30-50 ft cruiser-racers that get sailed regularly, because the polar needs miles.
Will it tell me how to trim?
Not in the first version. V1 shows what your boat actually does: observed target speeds by sail, wind speed and angle, with the confidence behind each cell. Recommendations come later, once the data supports them.
Who owns the data?
You do. Each boat has its own identity and certificate; access is owner-only. You can download or delete your data at any time. Anonymised polar contribution across boats is opt-in, never default.
What does it cost?
Applying is free. Pricing and terms for test boats are shared with the boats we choose before anything ships, so you decide with the numbers in front of you.