Virtual Vendee Globe...

[skylark]

The doldrums are in place between the Canaries and the Equator, it will be difficult to keep up momentum, will have to watch windspeeds very closely and follow the highest wind path.

[Tim]

Hmm have to consider moving to the outside of the Canaries, there won't be anything right below them in 36 hrs

[Godot]

I'm sorta heading west of the canaries now (be there in 24 hours or so).  It is a frustrating course to take as I keep falling further behind in the standings.  Will I make it up?  Dunno.  I think I will still hit the doldrums (unless I keep turning further west which I don't think I have the nerve to do given what will happen to the short term standings); but maybe I will have some more options going further out and can gain back some lost miles.  Or, I'll just end up sailing further for no gain.  I've never really played on a scale this large, so it is a learning experience.

[skylark]

I'm going to try to pass close to Gran Canaria, not sure which side, probably the east side.  Then head west a bit to avoid a 0.5Kt windrose, maybe catch a beam reach for a little while, then follow the spinnaker along the coast of Africa to the Equator, when it looks like the wind should pick up again.  I may spend a day at 4 Kts.  Right now I have a good wind, we will see what happens in about 12 hours when I approach the Canaries.  Hopefully I am around the house when this all happens so I can steer it where I want to go.

[Tim]

I did not see where you could buy an engine  ;) There is some guy right below the islands right now moving 9.5 kn in a 7 kn wind  :o ::)

Upon further revue it looks as though there is some current action there

[Tim]

LOL I also just noticed a boat that had run into in island, who had payed for the auto pilot and other programmable upgrades! :D Must have been relying on them a little too much ;D

[dnice]

do we have to avoid collisions with other boats? I was assuming we had to,
but last night I saw the #2 and #3 boats in a T-Bone position on the chart, they were literally on top of each other, not just close..I also saw a boat into an island last night... thought maybe he just stopped for happy hour :)
I can understand avoiding the islands but I wonder... is turning off your radar the equivilant of having no other boats out there?... I mean, theres over 80,000 of these boats and so far I have seen maybe 30 on the chart.

I've had to alter course a few times to avoid running down continuous moon  ;D   should I just not worry about the other boats and stay my course?

Or maybe its just that the charts are not exactly accurate?

[Godot]

Given how many people are on the course, it would be a nightmare if they tried to deal with boat collisions.  I think they only show your friends plus a few random additional boats.  Besides, the scale we are looking at, two boats could look like they are right on top of each other but be miles apart.  I wouldn't worry about trying not to run into me, if I where you.

As to running into islands ... it does seem like there should at least be a penalty.  Are the boats able to sail right through the islands?  If that is the case I could drastically change my strategy and take a short cut right across Africa (after all, what is a continent but a really huge island?).  That would probably help my standings a bit.

[Tim]

I don't think you have to worry about other boats, like you said there are so many boats out there and they randomly show them on the screen.

LOL  Adam, It does appear that land masses stop boats.

[Tim]

Looks like you guys on the outside maintained some decent wind overnight, I'm just glad I did not run into the island  :D

[Bill NH]

Has anyone else logged in to find their boat DIW?  This has happened to me twice now.  Once I lost almost 5000 places overnight.  This morning I caught it within a short time and was able to get moving again before too much damage.  Happened when sailing about 170 to the wind both times. 

I was wishing for an autopilot last friday when I had to alter course through the Canaries right in the middle of a class I was teaching... >:(  Had to take a less than optimal route so I could delay the course change...

[Tim]

I have noticed a few DIWs but it has not happened to me yet while on watch. I did get shadowed by a boat yesterday though, sailing right on top of me, it had about 11 nts of wind and I had 8 >:( :D Which was funny because until I got the name of it I could not see it!

[skylark]

If the sail you selected is outside of its effective wind angle, you go dead in the water.

The Code 0 has the highest range of effective wind angle of the sails that I have used, from 41 to 180.  Might be a good sail to choose when winds are fluky and you won't be back to the computer to check for a while.

Looks like that early offshore tack paid off for you guys.  I am stuck in the doldrums playing the wind shifts.

[Godot]

We'll see.  The wind is dropping now.

[dnice]

This is highly addictive :)

Watching the boat 'Hurricane', he was the race leader since I joined, but now took a long tack offshore to find heavier winds, and lost almost 400 places... It'll be interesting to see if that pays off for him, since the guys he's competing with are all pretty close together and seem to have done this before :)

It looks like the 24hour wind predictions from yesterday are coming in a bit lighter, so I don't know if sailing towards the 36 hour predictions are a good idea...

I haven't found myself DIW yet, but I have watched my boat speed drop from 16kts to 8kts with no change in wind speed or direction. I guess they are accounting for alot of things we can't see. They mention stuff like sleep management, and accounting for being a singlehander and sail management.. so who knows what they are throwing at you.

[dnice]

Well so much for Hurricane  :'(

He's either completely lost, or completely relying on teh autopilot/windvane... same difference :)

[dnice]

This gives me a thought ...

Are there any suggestions for an ocean sailing simulator where I could simulate the Scoot? It would be interesting to play with strategy based on various forecasts.  Ideally, I'd be able to define a boat similar to my own (actually, ideally it would already have my boat simulated; but I think that is asking a bit much) and a start and end point.

posey yacht designs has simulators for several different occasions... they are expensive ($58), but I just noticed today, that they have free demo's available, and they have OSX versions (yay!!).. I'm gonna try one and see how it is.

[dnice]

This gives me a thought ...

Are there any suggestions for an ocean sailing simulator where I could simulate the Scoot? It would be interesting to play with strategy based on various forecasts.  Ideally, I'd be able to define a boat similar to my own (actually, ideally it would already have my boat simulated; but I think that is asking a bit much) and a start and end point.

posey yacht designs has simulators for several different occasions... they are expensive ($58), but I just noticed today, that they have free demo's available, and they have OSX versions (yay!!).. I'm gonna try one and see how it is.

Well its not worth the money thats for sure :/  It is however very good software, its a very accurate simulator and has too many options and actions to list. It really has everything, from adjusting the tension on the rig, to positioning the crew for balance and speed. But the interface is just simply too generic. It is not fun at all. I would much prefer something either in the realm of 'video game' or something as simple as this vendee race software.

Actually, after using this, I think I would definately prefer something similar to the vendee.... With a chart based view, and substantially tactical oriented...obviously alot more control and information than what we are seeing on this race...but similar.

As far as Posey's software goes; the demo only lasts about a minute for each scenario, the graphics and the entire interface in general, are so completely generic it makes the whole thing frustrating and boring.
On the other hand, it is very complete, very accurate, and well programmed (considering its TINY footprint and multi-platform design)... I can see it as a good learning tool, but then... why would anybody need to learn sailing in such detail on a computer?
It is definately not good for route simulation or tactical 'fun'.

Anyway, back to teh Vendee!!!

[skylark]

Dove and Moon are doing exactly what I want to do, cross the dotted yellow line then head 180.  I am losing thousands of rankplaces while cutting to the west. Oh well, I hope to make it up with one loooooooong tack down the coast of Africa. 

I would be interested in doing a virtual Scoot.  It should be a little more realistic, like getting buckets of water thrown at you and having to wake up every 15 minutes to look around.

[Godot]

I thought for awhile that I had a great angle down the coast of Africa, but then looked closer at the forecast.  Once again, light winds are in the way.  So I guess I'm going to tack further offshore again and thread through the Cape Verde islands and hope to avoid most of the light winds.  I wonder, though, if the extra distance is gonna kill me.  A funny thing, when I do something like this my position in the standings rapidly drops (and my nerve); but I do seem to make it back later.  This might be too much, though.  Ah, well.  Nothing for it but to give it a try.