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Sure Path


lpskier
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Don’t be scared of it. This is mine trying to drive straight. With 20 cm error allowance at any buoy and 49cm cumulative, I believe I could learn to “help” the skier at each buoy and remain in tolerances. (Or “hurt” the skier if a bad attitude) l8ybsby0n005.png

Thus, the driving “games” can continue.

 

This is my 6th pass pulling a skier at 28 off.

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@Skirvind I would be interested in that too. Getting quite a few enquires asking for advice. The setup I tested and proved works was based on a NanoBeam, effectively a narrow beam of WiFi down the length of the course, and a Bullet in the boat. However, I know others have been successful with a big central omni with line of sight of the whole course. Then there is mesh.... almost too many options and not enough expertise out there :smile:
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This is a draft of my network setup, I piggyback the boat camera network by putting an access point in the boat and connecting the rover to it. I set it up with 2.4ghz not 5 ghz because the m5 bridge uses 5ghz and I don't want signal conflicts.
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Surepath for a non-techie:

The box arrived as planned straight from the UK. Very well packed and self-explanatory. Youtube video link was great too.

 

Setup: The unpacking of the box took more time than the actual setup of the system in the boat. It appears the majority of the kinks have been worked out and this is an established product.

 

We took a small mesh bag and loaded all the components in it then hung the bag on the pylon. We used a cell phone charge pack, about the size of a deck of playing cards, and put that in the mesh bag for the puck power source. This method made it a self contained system with no wires running in the boat.

 

Four days (Thursday – Sunday) I ran the system in our boat. For communication, we used an Iphone (Verizon) as the hotspot. Didn’t have any issues as we just made sure the system was ready to go for the next skier.

 

Overnight I charged the Iphone. We didn’t have to charge the Surepath phone or the battery pack for the GPS. Sunday evening I put everything to charge ready for weekday skiing.

Easy system to use from the setup side, especially from a non-techie person!

 

 

Driving perspective, within 3 sets it was worth every penny we spent on it!

 

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So it looks like Sure Path may be required not only in R tournaments but in L as well in the Southern Region only. Operative words: “May” and “Southern Region only.” In the short term, that means a little extra site expense this year, but it also means that we don’t need to plant a judge or driver in front of a TV screen watching boat path. Having been the guy in front of the screen many a time, I can say that’s a positive step. And I think it’s a huge help for drivers and skiers.

Lpskier

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@lpskier Correct. it's the Southern Regions goal to pass a 'rule' which makes using a Boat Path Measuring System (Sure-Path or others including Splash-Eye etc.) mandatory for class R events. It would make it mandatory for class L unless the tournament gets permission from the Chair of the TC committee and the EVP NOT to use it.

 

Due to the number of Class L/R tournaments in the Southern Region we feel this is necessary and will be helpful.

 

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Got my Sure Path the other day. Crazy fast delivery ( 3 1/2 days ). 1 email to James, 2 phone calls to Becky Lathrop, mapped 4 courses, off and running ! Super easy. Running off the Florida FDOT site. Opted for the upgrade antenna. James even pre loaded the FDOT info. ? Wife drove the boat through the course without a skier and had a green screen both times ( cumulative 5 ).

Big shout out to James!!!!

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@lpskier we are recommending a virtual base always now unless there is a problem. For FDOT this could be MSM4_iMAX or MSM4_VRS (note that the RTCM3_iMAX and RTCM3_VRS feeds are the same but do not include the Galileo constellation, ie GPS and GLONASS only. Ideally we want as many constellations as possible).
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@Rpc29 I learned very early on that putting the app on a personal phone was a very bad idea in that under Android or iOS no app has priority over the phone. In early testing it was very difficult to get the app to run uninterrupted by any other app that was allowed to popup notifications etc which is the last thing you want in a tournament. Furthermore, support for the system would become impossible without having control of how the phone was setup etc. Lastly, the supplied phone is quite a small part of the overall cost and therefore for me not worth the hassle in not supplying it.
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I drove Becky Lathrop's boat with this system a couple of weeks ago. I had no trouble staying within tolerance in the course (which with this system incudes the 55m buoys). What I found to be the most helpful is the breadcrumb playback which will show you where/when/how much you're picking up the skier.

 

In my opinion, this system will help a not so great driver get better very quickly. It will help an accomplished driver "fine tune" their driving. I liked what I saw and am looking forward to tournament season! Four of the skiers I drive for regularly, including @scoke, have purchased the system, so I'll get some good practice in before then :)

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Ran our Class C with Surepath last Sunday here in Miami. It was a real test session as it is not a requirement for Class C. We received the system just a week before the tournament so we were still ironing the kinks out. Took us an hour to get setup right for link to scoring software but we had that up and running. Using a Red Pocket SIM on ATT network and upgraded antenna as we have buildings and trees all around (great for the wind). Using FDOT as base station which is only 2 miles away.

 

Great for drivers as we had a lot of kids with large variation in speeds. The MC 2019 and Nautique 2020 we had also have very different driving characteristics.

 

Lots if happy faces for everyone involved. Was a great day. Come and ski a tournament in Miami!!

 

On another subject our favourite course here is an 8 ball (true 8 ball not overlapping). @Jtim3032 let's get it running for an 8 ball please ;-)

 

Cheers

Ali

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@Ali @skierjp Hate to quibble, but it’s easy to set up SP for an 8 ball course. Map the inside gates only (the entrance gates). Ignore the exit gates. It will work perfectly and there is nothing to be switched in the boat at the ends.

Lpskier

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@klindy @skierjp ... yes I think that is what @Ali is referring to. An overlapping 8 ball course is fine as @lpskier has described. For a non overlapping 8 ball course, it's the loss of data at B7 & B8 that is not dealt with at present.
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@Ali ... you have to have values for G3 & G4 but instead of the usual 6 buoy exit gates, map the other end entrance gates as if they were the 6 buoy exit gates, in other words a "long" course. When mapping for boat lane tracking purposes, the distance between entrance and exit gates doesn't matter because G3/G4 are first used to calculate a bearing from the entrance gates (G1/G2) for the boat to follow. Then of course G3/G4 are also the entrance gates in the reverse direction and a reverse bearing is used.
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My neighbor set up sure path today and we ran a few passes without a skier. Super cool. So my question would be, what would be the ideal boat path to stay within tolerance but work with the skier. How would that look on the final screen. We saw low negative numbers on buoy 1 3 5

And low positive numbers on 2 4 6. When we were right in the middle.

Thoughts?

 

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@jjackkrash if AT&T or T-Mobile have coverage at your site, go for that. Some customers have been able to get a Verizon SIM to work but others have had problems with the Red Pocket version. Regarding hotspotting to your personal phone in the boat, you could suck it and see...nothing to lose. And if that proves problematic, get the SIM. That said, having the rover independent of your own phone certainly has its advantages.
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I got the redpocket and AT&T. I figure between that and the Verizon hot spot as a backup I'll have it pretty well covered. I got the base station installed and working and we are going to map in the morning and give it a go--rain permitting. Me and my boy are pretty excited.
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Just a quick note about the gate for newbies to the system....the negative number at the gate would mean you are entering the course over on the 1 3 5 side....meaning you are away from the skier as they are about to turn into the course. So , if you're trying to help a little bit at the gate, you'll be a little negative at the gate, and a little positive at bouy 1.
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