What is DDS?

DDS stands for DataDrivenSailing, a project by Oliver Heisel aimed at enhancing sailing performance through effective use of data.

Why DDS? How does it differ from traditional sailing instruments?

There are already many excellent sailing devices available, some of which I use personally. However, combining and analyzing data from multiple instruments often becomes unnecessarily complicated. Most sailing instruments are designed with single-boat usage in mind, and therefore integrating data from multiple devices is rarely straightforward.

The complexity arises early on: Each device must be individually configured before sailing to ensure accurate and complete data recording. Afterwards, exporting data from each instrument in a training group requires significant manual effort. The biggest challenge is accurately synchronizing timestamps from different devices. Without synchronization via GPS, a real-time clock, or an internal relative timing system, aligning data correctly is nearly impossible.

Once data collection is complete, another problem emerges. After five hours on the water, real-time review of extensive video footage is impractical. Coaches typically have to spend hours manually searching for key moments instead of focusing directly on actionable insights.

When working with multiple boats, performance comparison becomes possible but introduces additional complexity. If one boat performs slower than another, pinpointing the exact reason requires more context, often video footage. While action cameras might seem like a solution, they come with significant limitations. Typical battery life lasts about 90 minutes, and an hour of footage results in roughly 45 GB of data. For instance, a four-hour session with four boats could generate around 720 GB of video footage, surpassing most laptop storage capacities.

Transferring large volumes of data also poses challenges. Even high-speed SD cards rarely reach their maximum transfer speeds, meaning that copying 720 GB can easily take up to two hours. Moreover, action camera timestamps are frequently inaccurate, causing issues when synchronizing clips recorded sequentially. Although GoPro offers a QR code-based timestamp synchronization, this requires manual setup every time the camera is switched on—impractical for efficient training sessions.

From an economic perspective, the sailing electronics market presents additional difficulties. The most profitable sector is yachts and larger boats, typically equipped with onboard 12V electrical systems. This equipment is often incompatible with dinghies, significantly narrowing the market. Designing electronics specifically for dinghies shrinks the potential customer base even further, leading to higher costs and pricing many sailors out of the market. Given that equipment upgrades usually happen only once every five years or so, profitability becomes even harder to achieve.

Sailing technology should be simpler to operate, quicker to process, and more accessible to every sailor. The main challenge isn't just collecting data but making it easy to use, without extensive effort spent on synchronization, transferring, and analysis. The right solution could revolutionize the way sailors train and analyze performance, making the process far more efficient and effective.

These were the challenges I identified and have addressed with DDS. 🚀