brice pryszo

Where does the name MaxSea come from?

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MacSea testingBrice Pryszo was born in Bayonne, a city in the south west of France, on March 12th, 1952. From an early age he discovered the joys of sailing in the Basque Country.

Driven by this passion, he participated in the creation of a new naval architecture specialization during his time spent studying at  École des Beaux-Arts (School or Fine Arts) in Paris (1972)

Upon completion of his studies, back in his native Basque country, he began his professional career by designing his first boat. The advent of the Personal Computer in 1984 made Brice aware of the huge technological future potential. He decided to embark on a new professional adventure involving the area of Maritime Navigation and Information.  He subsequently set up the company “Informatique et Mer” (literally “Computers and Sea”) on January 3, 1985.

Macintosh Lisa used for developmentThe company’s first investment was the purchase of the third Macintosh 128k ever sold in France, in the spring of 1984 (in addition to the Macintosh Lisa used for development). These revolutionary machines allowed the company to develop the software prototype MACSEA to be tested aboard “Crédit Agricole” in 1985. It was subsequently tested by Philippe Poupon and Eric Tabarly. The MACSEA software gradually became a reference in the sector of high-level competitive sailing.

Following this early success, the company began to focus on the commercial fishing industry by working with the fishermen of Port Hendaye (including Mr. Blanchot). The challenge of putting a computer on a fishing vessel in 1986 was huge! “Computers and Sea” succeeded to do so and of course, continued to grow by equipping more and more vessels abroad (especially in Northern Europe).

Third Macintosh 128k ever sold in FranceBetween 1996 and 1999, MACSEA abandoned the Mac platform, deciding to develop for the dominant Microsoft Windows platform instead. The company then became known as MaxSea.

“Computers and Sea” again changed its name to “MaxSea International” in 2001 as it began to expand globally and to have a name that was more “exportable”.

In 2013, MaxSea returned to its first love, Apple, by launching their first iPad application for MaxSea.

The MaxSea TimeZero App is available now!And so, the adventure continues…

Refer-a-friend and get MaxSea’s Routing Module for Free

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Refer-a-friend MaxSea Special Offer July to August 2012
Refer a friend and get our Routing Module for free

From July 2nd to August 31st 2012, refer a friend so you can both enjoy MaxSea Routing Module for free.

Here’s how it goes:

Sponsor

Refer your friends to MaxSea TimeZero Navigator.
Once a friend of yours buys a MaxSea TimeZero Navigator license, you will receive a free MaxSea Routing Module (cash-equivalent value of 299€).

Referrals

  1. Buy a MaxSea Navigator TimeZero license from 749€ by calling (0033)5.59.43.81.00 (dial #2 to contact Sales Department directly).
  2. When completing the order, you must give your sponsor’s license number, name and email address to our representatives.

You will both automatically receive your gift upon receipt of your friend´s order.

If you want to know more about this module, read this article from Brice Pryszo explaining how MaxSea’s marine weather routing module functions.

Or watch our demo video:

TIMEZERO Weather Routing explained by founder Brice Pryszo

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Here’s an explanation on TIMEZERO Routing Module given by the Group’s CEO and founder, Brice Pryszo.

In 1984, when I designed the “isochrones” routing algorithm method, the only existing routing solutions required the use of powerful shore-based computers which basically tested millions of routes to choose the best one. This required power and time then not available on board sail boats. The MaxSea routing algorithm was designed to be executed on a personal computer.

The very first time that I tested the TIMEZERO routing algorithm was during the Trans-Atlantic race “La Route de la Decouverte” with Philippe Jeantot onboard Credit Agricole. Philippe was late arriving at the Canary Islands due to equipment failure. The fleet leaders, 24 hours ahead, were sailing WSW in nice 10-15 Kt trade winds, south of a low pressure system (as any smart sailor would do).

Meanwhile, the TIMEZERO routing algorithm sent Credit Agricole NW, straight into unsettled weather and unstable wind, up to the cold front of a deep low pressure system. The first hours were not welcoming but behind the cold front, a 20 Kt North wind pushed the large catamaran at twice the speed of the remaining fleet fleet. Two days later, Credit Agricole was leading the race by several hundred miles. At that time no experienced navigator would have chosen such a solution!

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Another astonishing example of the power of routing occurred when we tried to optimize an Atlantic passage West to East with regular high pressure mid Atlantic. As any good sailor knows, routing should begin by passing around the high pressure using a northerly course. Instead of following the quiet sailing to the east, the routing plunged the course to the south, straight into the low pressure center. Before reaching ineffective wind, the routing jibbed the boat port into an increasing breeze perfect for reaching, making her route much faster than if she had taken the northern route with a downwind slog.

These two incidents had a major effect on sail boat racing results. Today, using routing is absolutely necessary to be competitive in ocean and long distance races. Routing has also proven to be great tool for cruisers because it greatly enhances safety and comfort. Routing can exploit user-defined characteristics and create what we call “cruising” or “safety” polar curves. Utilizing such polar curves the routing will do all it can to find a path which avoids strong wind. This is beneficial because strong wind is generally surrounded by medium wind in which the boat is faster allowing her to “escape”.

Finally, I have to say that the weather prediction centers are becoming much more efficient, and increasingly accurate data is now available. Some data is very good for “Longer Offshore Races” such as the Fastnet race. The “Arpege-Aladin” model from the French Meteorological Office takes in account land influences, has a 8 km x 8 km resolution grid and is relatively accurate for 36 or 48 hours. This makes it especially useful for offshore races other than ocean passages. We can expect major improvements in the near future, while organizations such as NOAA continue to work with new technologies.

Brice Pryszo, Founder and CEO of TIMEZERO’s GROUP