Vendee Globe

[chase]

Anne Freeman at 22° N, seems to be warming up a bit. Wind is 41° and 8 kts or so.

Just got a splinter in my lip from my carbon fiber flask, back to the helm!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Cap'n C of A.F.

[Judith]

Anne Freeman at 22° N, seems to be warming up a bit. Wind is 41° and 8 kts or so.

Just got a splinter in my lip from my carbon fiber flask, back to the helm!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Cap'n C of A.F.

You GO, Chase! Did you just start?

Oh, Lordy--now I gotta worry about YOU over-taking me too?? (Where's the winsome eyelash-batting emoticon when I REALLY need it!)

[Sea Owl]

Judith;

Have to ask - is your real boat named after The Mermaid of Zennor?

Russ

[TyTwo]

I don't know what the difference is, but this one has about 65K boats.

http://www.volvooceanracegame.org/play.php

I'm "Slowly Sideways"

Eric

[Roy J.]

Maybe all you guys already know this, but I learned from reading the news section of the site that the winds do not shift progressively over time in the virtual Vendee. They are reset every 12 hours at 1100 and 2300 GMT. It also seems that the predicted winds are actually delivered, but I am not entirely certain yet. Any cyber sailors with info on that?

And what about John Vigor's original point? Of the now 100,000 people registered and racing, how many are in the US? WOuld that begin to be evidence that there is a market justification for sponsoring US sailing again? Who will b e the next Dennis Conner or Ted Hood?

[BillNH]

I learned from reading the news section of the site that the winds do not shift progressively over time in the virtual Vendee. They are reset every 12 hours at 1100 and 2300 GMT. It also seems that the predicted winds are actually delivered, but I am not entirely certain yet. Any cyber sailors with info on that?

The grids reset every 12 hours, but as your boat progresses to a new location the winds that you see change. My experience has been that I see an "averaged" wind for the location in the grid block...

And no, the predicted winds do not always materialize. I think the current winds are tied into actual wind data, with the 12, 24 and 36 hour forecasts being just that - predicted, not guaranteed.

Bill
Open 60 WanderBird...

[Judith]

Judith;

Have to ask - is your real boat named after The Mermaid of Zennor?

Russ

Yes, indeed, that would be the one

[Jim_B]

windshifts are difinitely gradual. I can't decide if purchasing an auto polit is worth it..... when I can't sleep I get up and check the boat.... but now I'm getting to one of the 'good night sleep cycles' and the wind is coming around on the noise.

[Jim_B]

[Sea Owl]

I checked the "News" and found Aldabra (the "Western Pack" leader) just off Brazil, rather West of us. On the other hand, the "Eastern Pack" seems to be losing ground to us - I can see our pack and theirs on one screen now!

I guess that makes us the "Center Pack"!!

Maybe we will (as a group) prove that being a 'radical' - too far East or West - is not all that it could be!



Still LOTS of sailing to do, just to get to the first gate. Makes what the folks in the real world are doing even that much more impressive to experience even part of it "second hand" as we are....


Russ

[Roy J.]

I took a look at the real Vendee tracking website, and not one of the racers has taken a route as far east as our current leaders on the cyber sea. Thus I have great hopes for the middle course taken by classic CD sailors -- good luck team! Check it out http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en/

Roy

[Warren S]

The group of leaders are closer to south america than Africa as is Destremau, the guy that appears in the welcome message (and interestingly, whose yacht Destremau, has a star that when you mouse over it reveals a resume of his real life offshore races).

[wingreen]

... I'm in the game now, in about 100,000th place. What now? I'm looking at a blank screen w/ a target on it, supposedly my boat. Is everybody else so far over the horizon that I can't see them?

[Judith]

... I'm in the game now, in about 100,000th place. What now? I'm looking at a blank screen w/ a target on it, supposedly my boat. Is everybody else so far over the horizon that I can't see them?

It's that pesky curvature-of-the-earth thing. . .

Actually, you can exercise options, using square buttons along bottom right corner: "See friends/competitors," "My friends list," "Search." To find CD-ers (or anyone else), hit "Search" and enter boat name; boat and its track will show in the main screen. To the upper left, information will appear, regarding that boat, sail plan (the picture shows it), speed/progress, etc.

Just below boat info are some clickable bars, one of which lets you add that entrant as a friend. Once they're on your list, you'll be able to look them up from the Friends List button--that is, when the "friend" feature isn't glitching.

I suspect you've already figured out you can zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on your mouse. . .

What's the name of your virtual boat? And--good luck!

[Sea Owl]

All;

Looking ahead at wind patterns, in about a week when we close on the Tropic of Capricorn, there are low wind areas moving around from west to east. Prevalent winds will also shift, which may make it easier to take an easting than now.

What will be fun is whether we hit a 'window' with wind - or no wind - on our present dash south there, and how we react.

May force us west to avoid wind hole or go east and north.

Just something to think about as we get down there.....

....we must be doing something right, as we continue to climb in the rankings!



Russ