Autopilot settings

[hjsmuc]

I have a question regarding the AP. Is it correct that NAV to a waypoint requires HDG to be also active and that SAIL needs to be off to direct the ship to the next waypoint? I have observed that if I keep SAIL on, the ship will not follow the course to the next waypoint. I sometimes also have an issue with just keeping HDG with SAIL. Is it intended to not use autosail with the AP? Thanks and happy sailing to everyone.

[CoachTom]

NAV and HDG do not have to be active at the same time. If you are sailing (engine off), Autosail is on (either the SAIL button on the AP or the AUTO SAIL button on the Sails panel), and the wind is coming from more or less the same direction as your NAV bearing (DTK), the AP will calculate the highest possible angle that your ship can sail into the wind (based on [upwind_angle] in the // user preferences section of vehicle.cfg) and will not sail higher. Either turn the engine on or turn Autosail off and your ship will come around to the DTK. Depending on the wind angle, your boat will also slow down considerably and your sails will luff. This is all real-world sailing. When you have sailed so far on one upwind_angle that your DTK coincides with the upwind_angle on the opposite side of your ship's bow, the AP will automatically turn you ("tack") toward your intended destination.

If you feel that a particular ship is set up to sail too far off the wind, you can try tweaking upwind_angle in the Properties tab of the Vehicle Design tool in the program. If for some reason you are seeing your ship sailing away from you DTK or desired heading with either Autosail off or the engine on, this is probably a bug (although my VSNG 8.5.5 AP won't reproduce it) and should be reported to Ilan.

[hjsmuc]

Thanks a lot. That's what I had thought first, but didn't believe that it was so realistically implemented. As my favourite ship is the Aurore, her limited upwind capabilities make for some tricky tacking.