Minimum Time Sailing Boat Path Algorithm

An iterative procedure to solve the nonlinear problem of fastest-path sailing vessel routing in an environment with variable winds and currents is proposed. In a vessel, primary control pointing (heading) (assuming that sails are chosen trimmed optimally). Sailing highly when considering environmental factors, such as currents, behavior boat, given weather conditions (i.e., polar diagrams predict how fast one can sail, vessel's relative true wind speed). The key algorithmic contribution this article algorithm for graphs nonconvex edge costs depend on weather, current, boat polars. illustrative scenario, idealized attributes, real-world parameters generated by numerical current prediction models, simulated tested compare proposed against open-source software validated active sailors. Preliminary results from simulation setups follows: 1) path comparable available; 2) exploiting often unused but significant impactor surface incorporating leeway into planning enables higher fidelity guidance faster shorter time) routes, comparing freely available baseline.