Virtual Sailing - Sailonline - Race from Christmas to Christmas 2016
Rainbow Chaser
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: At home, mostly!
Posts: 608
Virtual Sailing - Sailonline - Race from Christmas to Christmas 2016
How about sailing the world from your armchair or computer desk? Learn how to navigate and use routing software during the "off season"... hone your sailing navigation skills in a wide variety of races and boats by racing for free on Sailonline armchair equivalent.
The most realistic sailing navsim online - Sailonline is often partnered with real yacht clubs/racing organisations (buddied races) and its Quarterly Calendar brings races in pretty much every ocean, sea or lake!
Some of us from PPRuNe race ocean races as a group - all very ad hoc and informal - identified by the addition of a PRU_ prefix to your user (boat) name in specific races.
NEXT PPRuNe FLOTILLA RACE
Registration for this race is already open so you can get practising right away!
PPRUNE FLOTILLA
PPRuNe Name ................ SOL Boatname
beaufort ........................... beaufort1
Blink182 ........................... golfsierrakilo
brockenspectre .................. RainbowChaser
Cazalet33 ......................... Whaler
Gordy .............................. MerryTime
India Four Two .................. Miss_Saigon
piperpa46 ........................ piperpa46
reflex ............................... reflex
SMT Member .................... VikingAhoy
steve757 .......................... truckie
Wodrick ............................ lyric
If you wish to join in, please just announce your registered Sailonline username (boatname) in this thread and as I am a volunteer OPS Admin in Sailonline, I can add PRU_ to your boatname.
This prefix has no impact on your username/boatname which will remain un-PRU-ed .... and, of course, as your password is encrypted, that will not be affected either.
Why not come and try your hand at virtual sailing - with wind forecasts from NOAA updating 4x a day and being released into the game every 10mins, this is the closest to realistic sailing windnav you are going to find!
The most realistic sailing navsim online - Sailonline is often partnered with real yacht clubs/racing organisations (buddied races) and its Quarterly Calendar brings races in pretty much every ocean, sea or lake!
Some of us from PPRuNe race ocean races as a group - all very ad hoc and informal - identified by the addition of a PRU_ prefix to your user (boat) name in specific races.
NEXT PPRuNe FLOTILLA RACE
Christmas to Christmas 2016
**Start: 3 December at 2000utc**
Hands up everyone! Who knew there were TWO Christmas Islands?! OK, maybe you have sailed this Sailonline course before, but this time the race area has been expanded to the south to make it possible to go through the Bass Strait and even south of Tasmania... so, it's time to get ready for the 2016 challenge of racing the 5,837nm between Christmas Island in the Pacific to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean!
Race #994
INFO by brainaid.de
OD65v3: Particulars
WX Updates: 0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
RANKING: OCCH-OCQ4-SUPSOL-SYC
**Start: 3 December at 2000utc**
Hands up everyone! Who knew there were TWO Christmas Islands?! OK, maybe you have sailed this Sailonline course before, but this time the race area has been expanded to the south to make it possible to go through the Bass Strait and even south of Tasmania... so, it's time to get ready for the 2016 challenge of racing the 5,837nm between Christmas Island in the Pacific to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean!
Race #994
INFO by brainaid.de
OD65v3: Particulars
WX Updates: 0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
RANKING: OCCH-OCQ4-SUPSOL-SYC
PPRUNE FLOTILLA
PPRuNe Name ................ SOL Boatname
beaufort ........................... beaufort1
Blink182 ........................... golfsierrakilo
brockenspectre .................. RainbowChaser
Cazalet33 ......................... Whaler
Gordy .............................. MerryTime
India Four Two .................. Miss_Saigon
piperpa46 ........................ piperpa46
reflex ............................... reflex
SMT Member .................... VikingAhoy
steve757 .......................... truckie
Wodrick ............................ lyric
If you wish to join in, please just announce your registered Sailonline username (boatname) in this thread and as I am a volunteer OPS Admin in Sailonline, I can add PRU_ to your boatname.
This prefix has no impact on your username/boatname which will remain un-PRU-ed .... and, of course, as your password is encrypted, that will not be affected either.
Why not come and try your hand at virtual sailing - with wind forecasts from NOAA updating 4x a day and being released into the game every 10mins, this is the closest to realistic sailing windnav you are going to find!
Last edited by brockenspectre; 26th Dec 2016 at 13:09.
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Saigon Vietnam
Posts: 5,941
Welcome from me too - Miss_Saigon.
As Wodrick says, it's addictive. I've had a lot of fun and learned quite a few things applicable to real life sailing.
If you want, you can ask brockenspectre (Rainbow Chaser) to add a temporary PRU prefix to your vessel's name.
It doesn't look as though you've started yet. Try putting 260 in the COG field and then click Send Command. I take that back - I see you have started.
You are a bit late for this race. Why not also try the "A3 2016 - Leg 5 - Brisbane to Hamilton Island" race, which starts in 35 minutes - 2000Z
As Wodrick says, it's addictive. I've had a lot of fun and learned quite a few things applicable to real life sailing.
If you want, you can ask brockenspectre (Rainbow Chaser) to add a temporary PRU prefix to your vessel's name.
It doesn't look as though you've started yet. Try putting 260 in the COG field and then click Send Command. I take that back - I see you have started.
You are a bit late for this race. Why not also try the "A3 2016 - Leg 5 - Brisbane to Hamilton Island" race, which starts in 35 minutes - 2000Z
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Saigon Vietnam
Posts: 5,941
An Opti is a great way to start sailing! Here's some nostalgia for you - an Opti race at Changi Sailing Club in 2015, abandoned half-way through for obvious reasons:
A couple of tips to get you started.
1. Click the Question Mark tab, Options and check Enable Both Predictors. You will then see the COG and TWA predictors for the next six hours. Of course, the TWA predictor may change radically at the next weather update!
2. Clicking the Compass icon on the left, puts a green course line on the map, which you can move around. When you click it, the course gets transferred to the box on the right.
Even better, if you double-click the Compass icon, the polar and courses and speeds are displayed on the map. Very useful.
A couple of tips to get you started.
1. Click the Question Mark tab, Options and check Enable Both Predictors. You will then see the COG and TWA predictors for the next six hours. Of course, the TWA predictor may change radically at the next weather update!
2. Clicking the Compass icon on the left, puts a green course line on the map, which you can move around. When you click it, the course gets transferred to the box on the right.
Even better, if you double-click the Compass icon, the polar and courses and speeds are displayed on the map. Very useful.
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Denmark
Posts: 47
I thoroughly enjoyed sailing, it was just that other things became more interesting. I have contemplated getting a 15-20ft boat to and start sailing again, the biggest issue is that the North Sea is not the most friendly place to be.
Thanks for the hints. I was going to ask if there is a way to program course changes based on waypoints rather than time only, but when I saw half the participants continue straight on after rounding Cowan Cowan light I came to the conclusion you have to calculate the time ahead. This is in the A3 2016 leg 5.
What happens if I hit land?
Thanks for the hints. I was going to ask if there is a way to program course changes based on waypoints rather than time only, but when I saw half the participants continue straight on after rounding Cowan Cowan light I came to the conclusion you have to calculate the time ahead. This is in the A3 2016 leg 5.
What happens if I hit land?
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Saigon Vietnam
Posts: 5,941
You can only set a delayed course based on time, but here's a trick to help.
Put a time in the "Delay for" value box, for example "1h48m". An orange dot will show up on the predicted track. Adjust the time until the orange dot is just past the mark, enter the desired course, click the "Delay for" check box and then click "Send Command".
This of course is only valid if the weather doesn't change before rounding the mark! To find the time of the next weather update, set the weather forecast slider to 12 hours. You will see tick marks at six-hour intervals, but there will be one unevenly spaced tick mark, which is the time of the next update.
To find the appropriate course, use the yellow Divider icon, to measure distance and bearing.
Finally, if you go aground, the TWA and your speed is set to zero. Just set a new course that will allow you to claw your way offshore. No damage, just wounded pride and lost time!
Put a time in the "Delay for" value box, for example "1h48m". An orange dot will show up on the predicted track. Adjust the time until the orange dot is just past the mark, enter the desired course, click the "Delay for" check box and then click "Send Command".
This of course is only valid if the weather doesn't change before rounding the mark! To find the time of the next weather update, set the weather forecast slider to 12 hours. You will see tick marks at six-hour intervals, but there will be one unevenly spaced tick mark, which is the time of the next update.
To find the appropriate course, use the yellow Divider icon, to measure distance and bearing.
Finally, if you go aground, the TWA and your speed is set to zero. Just set a new course that will allow you to claw your way offshore. No damage, just wounded pride and lost time!
Last edited by India Four Two; 11th Dec 2016 at 22:05.
Rainbow Chaser
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: At home, mostly!
Posts: 608
Welcome piperpa46 - I have added the prefix PRU_ to your username in the Christmas race but I see you are on the edge of the racing zone there so, in fairness, I will remove the prefix again so that the Christmas race isn't your first ocean race with PPRuNe Flotilla! It wouldn't be fair :-D
BUT we race as a PRU_ group in most long ocean races, and tend to keep an eye on each other in other races too!
There is a good Sailonline Manual, so please do check it out (it is linked from the Manual tab on the homepage). Lots of good info.
Many SOLers are sailors in reality (or have been) - inshore, offshore and ocean and we even have an America's Cup yacht designer who occasionally races.
Right now, in the Sydney to Hobart is a young professional sailor who was a regular real-life crew with one of our New Zealand SOLers so... there's a great overlap with reality.
This year we buddied with the Danish round Fyn race, the Silverudder Challenge, and I know it will be happening again next year too :-)
and now... here is where the flotilla is in the Christmas race:
BUT we race as a PRU_ group in most long ocean races, and tend to keep an eye on each other in other races too!
There is a good Sailonline Manual, so please do check it out (it is linked from the Manual tab on the homepage). Lots of good info.
Many SOLers are sailors in reality (or have been) - inshore, offshore and ocean and we even have an America's Cup yacht designer who occasionally races.
Right now, in the Sydney to Hobart is a young professional sailor who was a regular real-life crew with one of our New Zealand SOLers so... there's a great overlap with reality.
This year we buddied with the Danish round Fyn race, the Silverudder Challenge, and I know it will be happening again next year too :-)
and now... here is where the flotilla is in the Christmas race:
Last edited by brockenspectre; 28th Dec 2016 at 09:33.
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Saigon Vietnam
Posts: 5,941
Wodrick,
Thanks for the confirmation. I have posted a request for help on the Computer forum:
http://www.pprune.org/computer-inter...ml#post9624300
Thanks for the confirmation. I have posted a request for help on the Computer forum:
http://www.pprune.org/computer-inter...ml#post9624300
