RTW with SOL

[Martin_J]

Welcome to the race.. There is still time to catch up. It's nice when you can only improve on places - and you're racing against Rockman at the moment!

Remember next time for the start - you can set a DC (Delayed Command) timed to activate in the hour leading up to the start. Then you will cross the start line as the gun goes.

 

[trevorr]

Magaz97...just joined the race...did I miss the start?

Only by a bit, you'll soon catch up. Welcome to SOLoholics.

Trev

 

[Dipper]

Magaz97...just joined the race...did I miss the start?

Yes but don't worry. It's leg 1 of Round the World!

If you need help to understand the game just ask.

 

[Magaz97]

Thanks...I take it this is a straight race to Gibraltar. Are there any way points on the way?

I see Bikedaft has started too, and looks to be behind me by a short way!?

 

[Martin_J]

It is straight to Gibraltar...

If there were marks to round then that straight line shown from start to finish would be shown rounding the marks. At each mark there is then a name and an arrow showing in which direction to round.

Not seen many here.. but in future races look out for SLIs..

?????? Sneaky Little Islands.. They only appear when you zoom right in and they are so easy to hit in the middle of the night.. or at any time when you're not on watch!

 

[Martin_J]

Magaz97

Not sure if you have seen it - but on the front page of the website there is a link to the manual.

I have not checked it out for over a year... but here's the link
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/624348/sailonline_manual_revised_v4.pdf

 

[Spyro]

Thanks...I take it this is a straight race to Gibraltar. Are there any way points on the way?

I see Bikedaft has started too, and looks to be behind me by a short way!?

F11 is a handy button for getting a full screen view.
When you click on the streer tab the VMG tool is very handy once you know what you're doing with it. As other say the DC is very handy for course changes when you need to sleep or work. I take it you have seen the difference in sailing TWA or to course,
Sorry if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs.

anything else just ask.

YBW_Booby_Trapper out

 

[Magaz97]

Got the CC and TWA thing kinda sussed, although I am sticking with CC at present. VMG and speed are the same at the moment, so I am guessing my performance is as good as its going to get, until I know a little more about what I am doing!

Still infront of BIKEDAFT, but Rockman is getting away from me.

Hope to catch you up soon.

Thanks

 

[Martin_J]

Magaz... you appear to be going rather dead downwind...

Whilst you are in steering mode - check out the black line that appears on the polar chart in between all the coloured lines. The black one is for your current wind speed.

If you head about 40 to 50 degrees off dead downwind you will see the boat speed will increase significantly.

If you actually want to sail dead downwind (which is about where we're going now) then you will find the best place to be on the polar is the 'lowest' visible point.. the lowest point visibly will give you the largest -ve VMG (velocity made good) towards the wind... which is the best when you're actually heading away from the wind.

If later we need to go to windward.. then it's the top of the polar curve for that windspeed that you need and that will give you the biggest +ve VMG.

This then needs tuning slightly if the course you actually need is not quite dead upwind or dead downwind. More on that later...

Any questions just shout... Rgds Martin ybw_mjm

 

[Magaz97]

Aha..a useful tol, thanks for the explanation, I was wondering how that worked. Thanks a lot.

 

[Dipper]

Still infront of BIKEDAFT, but Rockman is getting away from me

Thanks

Bikedaft hasn't started yet!

If you search for him in the boats tab and click on his name, you can see where he is. The same applies to all of us. If you type ybw into the search box you find all the ybw prefixed boats which is why we have used the prefix. It allows us to quickly see how other ybw forumites are doing.

Martin's right about sailing dead downwind. Click on the steer tab on the right then the compass rose on the left. As you move your cursor around your boat you will see what Martin is talking about.

Keep sailing. There's a long long way to go.

 

[Dipper]

Aha..a useful tol, thanks for the explanation, I was wondering how that worked. Thanks a lot.

Have you discovered the weather slider at the bottom of the screen? Drag the arrow across to advance the weather. This allows you to spot wind (or not) in advance and alter your course accordingly to sail towards it or around any flat spots.

The weather forecasts they use are real and are updated every so often - every six hours I think.

 

[Sanderling_]

Ok, so we are now nearing land. How far does one have to zoom in to find these SLIs?

Tony

 

[Dipper]

Ok, so we are now nearing land. How far does one have to zoom in to find these SLIs?

Tony

You can usually spot them but you do need to zoom most of the way in. They show up as a line which doesn't resolve into anything else at maximum zoom. If you are lucky you can sail through them providing the server doesn't update your boat at the wrong time.

The current route looks clear. There are some off-lying islands near the main islands but they aren't that sneaky.

 

[Martin_J]

Yes - the weather is issued every six hours. 4.30 and 10.30 (am and pm).

The new weather information is merged to the current weather information very gradually as well - otherwise when a new weather forecast was issued - you might see your heading line take a huge turn for the worse.

I also make use of the ruler.. to measure a course one way (the shortest) and then the long way (most wind) and from the distances measured you can get an idea on whether the longest/quickest route over ground will actually make enough speed to win over the shortest but slowest route.

 

[Abestea]

Looks like some of you guys are doing really well!!!

5 in the top 100 as i type with close racing between the top two YBWers!!

Well done and keep it up!!!

 

[Dipper]

Sanderling is no longer in stealth mode

He's added the ybw prefix.

 

[trevorr]

He's added the ybw prefix.

Just noticed so has magaz97.

Trev

 

[Martin_J]

I see that! ybw_Abestea next!

Not a lot of rest sailing round the world single handedly... but I guess if Ellen McArthur could do it then so can we!

Rgds ybw_mjm

 

[Dipper]

I see that! ybw_Abestea next!

Not a lot of rest sailing round the world single handedly... but I guess if Ellen McArthur could do it then so can we!

Rgds ybw_mjm

She didn't have to go and help her daughter decorate her new house all day. I didn't time the course change correctly for the wind shift but at least I'm not going very fast anyway.