Sailing Simulators

[Snowgoose-1]

Are these the future for learning to sail ?

Or go sailing despite the weather ?

Sailaway III

 

[[70521]]

They have been around for years.

Personally, I prefer the real thing.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I didn't realise that you could go offshore.
Might round The Horn this weekend.

 

[[70521]]

I didn't realise that you could go offshore.
Might round The Horn this weekend.

About 10 years ago I did the Vendée Globe, setting the alarm for a sail change at silly o'clock in the morning did not impress my wife.

 

[Martin_J]

Or how about Sailonline... everyone has the same boat.. no having to pay for upgrades in order to sail faster...

Sailonline.org - Online Sailing

And others from ybw.com already using Sailonline..

Race Game Forum

It was through Sailonline and it's chat function that a group of us ended up meeting up and doing the Fastnet race a couple of times in real life a few years back..

It definitely gets you more into weather routing for long passages... and how to choose the preferential tack (and when to tack) when going to windward.. and in varying wind direction whether it's best to pinch a bit or free off for speed..

It's all experimental without having to leave your armchair (except for having to stay up late and get up in the early hours to catch the next forecast!)

 

[Martin_J]

And you end up devouring articles like these (written by a Sailonline competitor) which end up helping in real life sailing... where you can include things like 'wallying' in your passage planning skills..

Polar Diagrams – VMC

VMC Sailing in shifts

So maybe your can learn something.. although you could also spend a lot of time imagining you were just there irl (in real life)!

 

[capnsensible]

If there is one that simulates your two crew on a bumpy sea putting in the second reef whilst both getting soaked and one feeling seasick, it would be a winner.....or not.

But that was yesterday.

 

[Mark-1]

I tried "Top Sailor" for android a couple of years ago explicitly to try to get sailing to "click" with my daughter. (She'd have been about 9) It was cheap, but not free.

I specifically wanted her to understand the whole "steer up you go slower, steer down you go faster" balance. The game conveyed that really effectively. I've no idea if that clicked with her because of the game or because we spent a lot of time on the water at the same time. I suspect it helped.

I mildly enjoyed it as a game for a short time - clearly it's no kind of substitute for real sailing.

There's no doubt you could learn to sail with "Top Sailor". I've no idea what the alternatives are like.

 

[LittleSister]

Online simulators omit the physicality which is such an essential part of sailing.

I'm envisioning instead riding a bucking bronco while a fire hose is played on you, and trying to empty a wad of banknotes from your wallet before you're thrown off.

(A cheap dinghy might make a reasonable substitute.)

 

[dunedin]

Are these the future for learning to sail ?

Or go sailing despite the weather ?

Sailaway III

No

 

[benjenbav]

No

Having been a practising sailor for half a century or more (and practice hasn’t made perfect in my case) I think I might have a go at one of these.

If I do, my expectations are:

1 There will be no sense of jeopardy. Who cares if you stuff it on the rocks when you’re in the warm and dry and can just start over?

2 I’ll get bored quickly and spend time seeing just how fast I can stuff it on the rocks.

3 err, that’s it.

 

[billskip]

Online simulators omit the physicality which is such an essential part of sailing.

The throwing up over the side ?

 

[LittleSister]

The throwing up over the side ?

Your get bonus points for throwing up around the interior, and/or over crewmates.

 

[Bodach na mara]

Your get bonus points for throwing up around the interior, and/or over crewmates.

Real life situation. Heading for Ardlamont point in a south westerly when Grandson says "I feel sick." Grandson promptly throws up over Mother and Gran while Son-in-law throws up over Port side. Grandad (me) concentrates on looking at sails.

Now simulate that!

 

[Mark-1]

Real life situation. Heading for Ardlamont point in a south westerly when Grandson says "I feel sick." Grandson promptly throws up over Mother and Gran while Son-in-law throws up over Port side. Grandad (me) concentrates on looking at sails.

Now simulate that!

Last summer I had 7yo son+friend on board and 10yo daughter sailing in company in a Pico. Daughter had sailed off miles ahead out of range of her PMR radio. She looked to have sailed down wind and tide of our destination with little prospect of getting back. So 90pc of my focus is on her.

As that realization hit me I noticed we were sailing into shallow water and need to imminently tack. At that *exact* moment one boy caught a Bass and dragged it flapping into the boat for me to unhook and the other urgently told me he needed a wee which required me to immediately help him take his LJ off.

It always makes me chuckle that there is an assumption that there are two cases: Single handed or crewed. There's a third case where there are people on board actively detracting from the sensible running of the boat.