Amsterdam, the great world of accessories gathers at Mets for an intense three days where you can get a hands-on feel for all the new things we will find on board in the coming years. Our correspondent Alberto Cossu reports on this year’s “must-have” accessories, category by category.
THE GADGET.
What would you like for your boat? Everything and more: among the gadgets we touched Vaavud and realized what it can really do. A portable anemometer for iphone that perfectly indicates wind data and allows you to record the information by analyzing it over time.
ELECTRONICS
Astra Yacht, on the other hand, is a new and already important Italian company presenting at Mets its system for analyzing boat data that integrates with all on-board instruments and allows everything to be monitored from an iPhone. But not only that, they also have a useful app for learning how to better steer your boat. In fact, it tells you how you should adjust the sails. Electronics giants are on display. Garmin expands its world with new systems for fishing and sailing with Nexus instrumentation, while BandG unveils its new h5000 systems, the future for every racer and topsailig yacht. Simrad has launched Simrad NSS evo2, the new NS series of multifunctional navigation systems. New very bright screens with ability to handle more and more on-board entertainment.
PERSONAL CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES
Definitely Boarding Ring glasses are a card to play if you suffer from seasickness. Opinions on how they work are divided: some say they are miraculous and some say they have not benefited. And Scanstrut’s iPhone case, which you can also preview on our website Nauticplace.com
SAFETY
Monolite, from Fraser Optics, is certainly an interesting product, being the only monocular equipped with a gyro-stabilizer that can almost completely eliminate hand movements and tremors.
THE DAME
As for the coveted Dame award (the best accessory of the year), the prize went to Side Power with a stabilization system dedicated to powerboats. Among the products that received special mention, however, was Raymarine’s new Evolution autopilot with an aircraft-derived system for enhanced course stabilization.