Announcing Swervetracker, the new waterski app

[OSSKI]

Hi ballers - I’ve been using the quiet winter months to develop an app - largely in a geeky quest for data on my own skiing – but I hope it’s something the rest of the waterski community can enjoy too.

 

Key features:

- Log a set easily in less than 60 seconds, including each pass, water temp, wind speed, driver, lake, zero off setting, ski, fin settings, and of course a log book of your personal notes.

 

- We have made extensive use of pre-populated fields to make this process FAST

 

- Review your progress across a range of charting and data analysis

 

- Set your own preference for kph/mph, ‘metres on’ or ‘feet off’, and Celsius or Fahrenheit

 

Following up soon, subject to interest:

- Set up handicapped leagues with your ski buddies to spur each other on!

 

It's great to share this with you all – I will upload a few teasers below - and wholeheartedly welcome your feedback / questions.

 

Swervetracker is now available at https://www.swervetracker.com/ - follow the instructions under 'download and install' to get an icon app on your home screen'

 

Owen Shirley

 

[OSSKI]

 

[OSSKI]

 

[OSSKI]

 

 

[OSSKI]

 

[jetpilotg4]

AWESOME !!!

 

[vtmecheng]

Cool. Have you thought about adding ski settings and Zero Off/Perfect Pass selections?

 

Edit: I see that all of these are included. Nice work!

[Roger]

Looks good! @vtmecheng - OP mentions inclusion of ZO settings.

[OSSKI]

Hi @vtmecheng - yes absolutely!

 

You can choose Zero Off and your setting on the system. You can select a default so you don't have to put it in every time (I haven't changed for years), but have the option to change every set if you're playing around with settings

 

[Wish]

how are you hosting/storing all the data if lets say 500 skiers use it over a period of 5 yrs??

[Chris Rossi]

Intrigued. I did not see it on ios. Is it only android right now?

[OSSKI]

@Wish that would be a cool problem to have!

 

Data is being stored in a 3rd party data center. "The cloud"! I expect volumes of data will be quite modest, and so I plan to fund cloud storage out of my own pocket for as long as that remains the case. The sport has given me so much and it would be cool to create something we all value to give back.

 

If it proves as popular as you suggest, frankly I would cross that bridge when we come to it - perhaps modest contributions towards running costs could help. Though with that many users it would be little more than a couple sets worth of gas per year I would think.

[OSSKI]

@Chris Rossi - it is not live yet, we are launching very soon on both devices.

 

Great to have all your feedback in the meantime - particularly on whether handicapped leagues with your buddies on Swervetracker would be of value?

[KRoundy]

This looks awesome. Is this for bouy-chasing only? What if I ski an open-water set? And - is there space for my comments? “Felt really good coming out of my offside today”, or “worked on where I was looking and it helped me pull through the wakes” or something along those lines.

[OSSKI]

@KRoundy - great question. The design has been centered around course skiing, but there's no reason you couldn't simply input the line length and speed of an off course set as perhaps just a single pass.

 

On notes, yes! There's a big section designed for typing in notes just like that. I think that's one of the most useful things - I've lost count of the number of times my own form has faded - and at such times you wonder has the water temp dropped? Is it my settings? Have conditions really been worse recently?

 

Swervetracker has been designed to make it easy to rule in (or out) those variables, as well as make it easy to find and revisit your notes from when you were skiing great - often the fix is inside those!

[KRoundy]

@OSSKI Cool! Sign me up! Wish I had it now. Already two sets into the 2020 ski season.

[503Kento]

Love the idea of handicapped competition with my ski crew!

[OSSKI]

@KRoundy thanks for your support! Will be available very soon!

 

In the meantime, if you want to note down when you ski and your scores etc, you'll be able to upload backdated info when Swervetracker launches

[OSSKI]

@503Kento great to hear, thanks for your support too!

 

Welcome any thoughts on the scoring system for the handicapped leagues - an annual league that just ranks by most improved vs prior year best score?

 

A system that gives points weekly (so also rewards consistency)?

 

Any reward for number of sets taken / buoys skied?!

 

I've been doing plenty of headscratching on what might be most fun!

[503Kento]

@osski I guess I’m envisioning a tour type format. Each day of skiing is a “tournament”. We do a cold off the dock set or sets for a score. Final score adjusted by handicap and a winner is declared. Each “tournament” adds to the tour score. At the end of the summer the tour winner is declared. The handicap needs to get adjusted as the tour continues so that things get more and more competitive.

[MBlohm]

@OSSKI I have a similar way of tracking my skiing in an excel sheet.

To see trends and my current shape I have some data points that I like a bit extra.

The overall (season) percentage of cleared passes for all line lengths.

The percentage of cleared passes the last 10 passes of all line lengths to see the trend compared to the overall.

I’m focusing a lot on stability instead of a high score without stability. That’s way this is more important to me.

It would be very nice if those figures are available in the app or if you could consider to add it.

Another feature that would be nice is the possibility to separate the statistics for practice and competitions.

Really good initiative it will help me and others a lot, will use it and are willing to pay for it as well. Even if my wanted figures aren’t there I will still use it to track everything at the lake to fill my excel sheet later on.

 

[BCM]

I can't wait to install. I'm liking the data visualization, I like how you combined score, wind, and water temp on one chart.

[santangelo]

@OSSKI look forward to seeing what you've developed.

 

If you need stock settings for skis, I have an API you can access to pull data (JSON format). Currently it has 856 stock settings for various manufacturers. Here is the API documentation: https://api.paulsantangelo.com/skis/

 

Currently, it's an open API, but I may add an API key in the future. It will also allow users to browse the data as HTML with a query parameter added to the URL string as indicated in the API docs.

 

This API accesses the same data used for the finDB mobile app:

finDB for IOS

finDB for Android

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Paul Santangelo

[OSSKI]

@MBlohm thanks for the feedback! There is a section where you can see data just like you describe: number of passes completed per line/speed, percentage completion rate, and even average number of buoys scored on each line/speed.

 

I really like your idea about a moving average on those data sets too. I won't be able to get that into V1 but definitely on my radar now for future development.

 

I'll be posting links when we're live. Making some final tweaks/testing now so will be one day next week. Hopefully as we get feedback then, I can prioritise developments to follow up with.

 

@santangelo wow that could be great, thank you. May well look to follow up with you on this for future development too.

 

@BCM thanks for the kind words! In case you were wondering about the triangles too - those are tournament sets

[OSSKI]

Swervetracker is now live: https://swervetracker.squarespace.com/

 

We've gone for a web app, so it will work across all android and iOS devices, as well as your PC.

 

I recommended hitting the 'download and install button' which will take you to instructions on how to get an app icon on your mobile home screen - that way whenever you hit that button, Swervetracker will open up just like any other app, as opposed to in a browser window.

 

Look forward to hearing all your feedback!

 

Owen

[jpattigr]

Downloaded and looks great!

 

One suggestion, add ski model / length as some people do ski more then one ski.

 

Thanks!

[503Kento]

Took a quick look, and it looks great. Only issue is see is that a web app requires an internet connection is required which might be an issue for some. Looking forward to getting better weather and no COVID-19

[mfjaegersr]

Niiiice @OSSKI !

 

Consider adding PP/Z-Box option for speed control; add z-Box settings too?

 

Can’t wait to ‘leave home’ and log a real set!

[teammalibu]

Did not see the+ setting for zero off

[Bill22]

Looks really nice. For from boot you have .25” adjustments. A lot of skiers move their boot 1/16” at a time (or small movement).

[skialex]

I’ve tried to log a set, a hypothetical one! Works great, can’t wait to use it in real life!

My ski is sensitive and I would love to have 1/16” option for boot placement but not a big issue though.

Got an icon front screen next to Fin DB!

[blakeyates]

@OSSKI , any thoughts of also showing the speed and line length American terminology? I still don't know the metric system like many others. Love what you're doing, though.

[Wish]

PP Classic

[lhoover]

blakeyates, just in case you don't get the American version on the app for whatever reason, allow me to give you a simple aid. One does not have to know the metric fractions, just memorize the whole numbers.

 

Metric is 18, 16, 14 for 15off, 22off, 28off, respectively. Note a reduction of 2 per length, starting with 18.

 

The next three in metric are 13, 12, 11, which goes with 32off, 35off, and 38off. Note a reduction of 1 per length.

 

Then 10, then 9 for 39off and 41off.

 

So let it flow, oh so natural.... 18, 16, 14 (15, 22, 28), then 13, 12, 11 (32, 35, 38),

then 10, 9 (39, 41).

 

Nate is about the only one who needs to differentiate the 2 nines (9.75 and 9.25)!! The rest of us mortals can read 9 as 41off.

 

As for speed, the differences are always in 3s, beginning at the top with 58K or 36mph. So the next tournament max is 55K, 52K, etc., corresponding with our American 34, 32, etc.

 

There you have it, easy to memorize and apply.

 

You're welcome.

[Stefan]

@lhoover Great app!! Could you please add more steps for Boot Position? I miss 29,375 as an example?

[lhoover]

Sorry, no can do. You're on your own.

[GC_ski_scrub]

@lhoover , I believe 10.25m is 41off and 9.75m is 43off. As far as I know, no one has ever made it to 9.25m.

[lhoover]

GC, you are correct; my bad. It's the two tens that are 39 and 41. So it goes 18, 16, 14, then 13, 12, 11, then 10.75 and 10.25. Nate and a few bother with 9.75.

 

Thanks for the correction.

[OSSKI]

Thanks for all the feedback! Please keep it coming, all super helpful. On some of the points mentioned so far;

 

Boot positioning - yes not having smaller increments is definitely an oversight, thanks for flagging @Bill22 @skialex will see to that

 

Preferences - @blakeyates when you register you can choose your preferences for MPH or KPH / feet off or metres on / Fahrenheit or Celsius etc and that is remembered to save you converting each time from whichever you happen to 'think in'.

 

Speed control - @mfjaegersr @Wish thanks for the thoughts on PP. Its been a long time since I've skied behind / driven with PP, and to be frank I've not kept up with all the revisions and retro-fit options which have come out since. In an ideal world what list of options would there be for the various permutations of PP today? I'm sure we can do something about that.

[mfjaegersr]

@OSSKI - The PP/Z upgrade affords all the ZeroOff options just like you have listed already; a simple PP/Z-A1, -B2, etc. would be a perfect. Pass. (Groan)

 

[Stefan]

@OSSKI Great app!! Could you please add more steps for Boot Position? I miss 29,375 as an example?

 

@lhoover I tought you were behind the app, sorry.

[Bill22]

Anyone else having trouble saving their default preferences?

 

I was able to save the first 5 settings (up to rope length). The section with lake, boat, only blinks on the screen and will not let me enter anything.

 

It’s a great app and I am sure you’ll get these minor bugs worked out.

 

Using iPhone with iOS 13.4.

[OSSKI]

@Bill22 - you need to click the little blue pencil to enter the data first (the drop down will be empty until you've input your boat / lake etc)

 

If that's not the issue, would be great if you're able to send me a message with any screenshots and we can take a look.

 

Thanks again for the feedback,

 

Owen

[Bill22]

Hello Owen,

 

When I log a set everything works fine.

 

In the screenshot below, is the default section to select default settings that will auto fill for every set?

 

For example, if I ski 90 % of my sets at the same lake, same boat, same driver.

 

Thanks,

 

 

I posted instead of a DM in case others have the same question.

[Cfootin]

This will be awesome. I can’t wait to get in the water and start tracking. Will this app be available at the App Store or will we need to download as previously discussed?

Thanks for your efforts.

[503Kento]

Logging some test sets and it occurs to me that it would be faster when entering passes that it default to the prior pass instead of the system default. Also, if the prior pass was complete perhaps it could increment the speed and/or line length.

 

Thanks for your efforts looking forward to logging real performance.

[OSSKI]

Hi guys, thanks again for all your thoughts and support.

 

@Bill22 Exactly - by clicking that little blue pencil you can add default(s) boat, driver, lake as I've assumed most skiers will ski with the same most of the time. However, every time you log a set you still have the option to change the default (for the occasions it's different), and any driver (or lake or boat) you add in the future will appear in your drop down list thereafter.

 

@Cfootin It is a web app so not available in the app store, but if you simply save the page to your home screen (simple instructions on www.swervetracker.com only takes 10 seconds) then you will have an icon just like a native app, and it will open fullscreen just like a native app.

 

@503Kento That's a great idea. Although I do love tapping through the rope colors! You're right though it would make it a touch faster. Something to add to the list!

 

 

[epnault]

Thanks for doing this for the sport. Any idea when the iOS app will be ready versus the web portal

[Stefan]

@OSSKI could you add more steps for Binding Placement or maybe option to input manual values? Goes for Dft also, can't fit Denali settings there, max Dft is 0,80?

Great app!!

[Jmoski]

My suggestion on units would be to have one preference setting of English or Metric, and use that to drive what you display to the user vs. how you choose to store it behind the scenes. I would be surprised if someone wants speed in MPH but rope length using Metric lengths.

 

By doing it this way the user can toggle back and forth if they choose. This would have been handy for me in Feb when I skied at Club med - all of the boat drivers were European and hence I was retraining myself to use the metric equivalents.