One device on board talks to the instruments. Every other phone and tablet on the boat's Wi-Fi can see the same data once they are in a boat group: the navigator's tablet at the chart table, the helm's phone on the mast, a crew phone in the cockpit.
A boat group works over the boat's own Wi-Fi. It needs no internet connection and no satellite airtime.
What the group shares
- Instruments. What any device reads from the boat's instruments reaches every device in the group.
- Weather. Forecasts the hub downloads are passed to the others over Wi-Fi, so the boat pays for each download once. See the hub below.
- Weather bulletins fetched for the route.
- Routes and waypoints. A route made or changed on one device appears on the others.
- The race course, when it changes on one device.
- Man overboard. A man-overboard alarm raised on any device alarms every device in the group, with the position.
Start a group on the first device
Use the device that stays on board and on power, usually the nav-station tablet.
- Open Boat. In Plan, press the Boat tab.
- Start the group. Under Devices on board, press Start a boat group on this device. The group is called On board.
Add a device with the QR code
- On the first device: under Devices on board, press Pair another device, then Show pairing QR code.
- On the new device: join the same Wi-Fi, open Boat, press Pair with a boat group, then Scan a pairing code, and point the camera at the code.
- On the first device: it asks whether to allow the new device, by name, to join. Press Allow.
- Done. The new device reads Joined On board.
Add a device with a six-digit code
Use this when the new device cannot scan, or the screens are too far apart.
- On the first device: press Pair another device, then Pair with a six-digit code.
- On the new device: press Pair with a boat group, then Join with a six-digit code. It finds the first device on the network by itself.
- Compare. Both screens show the same six digits. The first device asks whether the new device shows them. If they match, press Codes match on both. If they do not, press Different and start again: something else on the network answered.
See who is in the group
Under Devices on board, press Boat group. It lists every device in the group and which one is the Hub. This device says whether this one is the Hub or a Member.
Offwind picks the hub by itself, preferring a device on external power. If the hub leaves the network or its battery runs down, another device takes over within seconds.
Satellite transfers reads Left to the hub on every device but the hub. Over a satellite link, only the hub downloads weather, and the others get it from the hub over Wi-Fi. Download weather on the hub to share it.
Limits
- Every device must be on the same Wi-Fi network, with Local Network access allowed for Offwind. If pairing says the other device could not be reached, check both.
- A device signed in to a different Offwind account can join only if it is a member of the project the group was started for.
- Everyone in the group is trusted with everything the group shares. Pair only devices on your boat.
- Keep every device in the group on the same version of Offwind.