What's the Best Sailing Watch / Race timer out there?

[LakeShark]

SO winter is coming and I have put the boats to bed for the season but I am already dreaming about next year (and working on a Christmas list). What's the best option for a sailing watch / race timer out there? I race most of the time on a Laser now and would like something that lets me set a 2 min countdown from the stat and then counts up course time. If possible I would also love something with GPS that I can ping the line and know time to burn etc. as well as track my races so that I can look at the data later to do better. It would be nice to evaluate tacking angles, how well I maintained my lane, etc. I also race a Catalina 22 Keel boat and would use the watch the same way there, but having a crew most of the time they watch the line and time for me.

So what say you racers? Is a smart watch the right way to go or something more basic like a Ronstan Clear start? I generally don't take my phone on the Laser for obvious reasons and have never owned a smart watch. Are they required to be tethered to the phone? Also what apps are racers using for this out there? I have used Race Qs a fair amount but they seemed to have abandoned all support and stopped with updates and things so i am not sure there a good long term solution anymore. Thanks in advance for any advice you all have in pointing me in the right direction.

 

[Davidasailor26]

I’m interested too. I use the race timer function on my B&G chartplotter for start line timing. It has start line functions to ping the line, but I don’t love the interface for that. I just set a waypoint to the favored end of the line and check the distance and time to waypoint functions there. Obviously none of that helps you on your laser or probably even on your Catalina 22. Wish I had a good Apple Watch based solution too.

I’ve played with iRegatta. Haven’t used it in a race but the dashboards aren’t bad. For data recording I just pull the NMEA logs off the B&G plotter and I can pull them into Google Earth afterward to see tracks and metrics.

 

[Apex]

i like the ronstan clearstart better than my garmin watch. Simple, easy, clear. Check for favored side of the course, THEN favored end. No need for fancy electronics there.
SAME SIZE as my Garmin: 2"

 

[PaulK]

The Ronstan is big and heavy. While the large screen makes the numbers easy to see, shifting between modes is clunky and not at all intuitive. A Timex Ironman is lighter, cheaper, and easier to use.

 

[LakeShark]

So I have tried the regular stop watches and looked at the ronstan line. For the price they want I just can’t take it as it’s really a glorified stop watch. That being said I am going ot go out and purchase an older Garmin Fenix style smart watch that I can use to not only keep track of the time but also track the race, give SOG, VMG, etc. Older models are only 30-40 more than the ronstan and provide substantially more helpful information. I’ll let you know how it goes.


Anyone else using a smart watch and have a favorite racing app other than Race Qs?