watching all the videos I couldn't help noticing that nary a one of them was wearing a harness anywhere on deck. Obviously they figure if they go overboard they are dead, period...
Bashing along at 20+ would be a lot of fun for about 1 hour! No more...Talk about a wet ride... And how many lines does it take to control those puppies? I swear one boat must have 20 lines coming back to the cockpit, on ONE side alone...
Vendee: December
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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winthrop fisher
- Posts: 837
- Joined: Feb 7th, '05, 17:52
- Location: Typhoon Wk 75 "Easy Rider" &
cd 22 "Easy Rider Sr" 84
Re: So here's a thought...
Russell wrote:Heck I dont care about catching up to the leaders, I would be happy to just catch up with my fellow CDers!Warren S wrote:Even though we cannot see the thousands of other competitors separating us from the leaders, still, we seem to be gaining on them ever so slowly (or at least holding our own) even though the "podium" leaders have all of the automatic gizmos, while we are hand sailing (with regular sleep hours and day jobs)!!
Oh and what is a "day job"? Is that related to that four letter word that starts with "W"?
hi
.......that sounds good to me as well.......winthrop
Ice gates and more
During a period of enforced leisure (i.e., waiting 45 minutes for Vendee wind changes to load), I actually looked at some of the "News" articles, which I usually ignore since they're usually A) sporadic and B) not that informative. But here's some interesting info (possibly OLD 'News' if you read this section regularly):
Two ways to tell if you've passed an ice gate successfully. First, the little goal-posts on each end will change from orange to green. Second, if you look at "My Profile" it has a list of buoys/stations you have passed. Or, third, like me, as you cross the marker line, you simply see a 'refresh' go from "You're losing, you're losing" to "1074 places gained"--I took that as a positive indicator.
Also, M. Destremau promises that they are taking steps to upgrade the hosting platform. However, it will take two weeks to implement.
Cheers,
Judith
Two ways to tell if you've passed an ice gate successfully. First, the little goal-posts on each end will change from orange to green. Second, if you look at "My Profile" it has a list of buoys/stations you have passed. Or, third, like me, as you cross the marker line, you simply see a 'refresh' go from "You're losing, you're losing" to "1074 places gained"--I took that as a positive indicator.
Also, M. Destremau promises that they are taking steps to upgrade the hosting platform. However, it will take two weeks to implement.
Cheers,
Judith
To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
The Winter’s Tale. Act iv. Sc. 4.
The Winter’s Tale. Act iv. Sc. 4.
Fickle winds
Is anyone else still awaiting the 5PM (EST) wind change? Seems to me the winds were due to shift some 2 and 1/2 hours ago.
Re: Fickle winds
They did. My longest wait time so far has been 45-60 minutes. I take it you've refreshed the page?MFC wrote:Is anyone else still awaiting the 5PM (EST) wind change? Seems to me the winds were due to shift some 2 and 1/2 hours ago.
To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
The Winter’s Tale. Act iv. Sc. 4.
The Winter’s Tale. Act iv. Sc. 4.
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John Vigor
- Posts: 608
- Joined: Aug 27th, '06, 15:58
- Contact:
I'm out of it
Well, farewell Virtual Vendée. I'm out of it. I've had some serious misgivings for some time about the ability of the software to cope with 250,000 skippers.
For nearly two weeks I have kept a very close watch on the figures posted for my boat and for two French "friends." They were obviously keen and knowledgeable sailors. It was all I could do keep up with them. They would fiddle and fiddle constantly until they had got the utmost tenth of a knot in the best possible direction.
As I write this, Brichou is doing 21.3 knots in 30.2 knots of wind. But the wind square she's in is marked 21.1 knots on the wind chart.
Similarly, Glop Glop 87 is doing 19 knots, also in 30.2 knots of wind. But her wind square, too, is marked 21.1 knots on the wind chart.
Rogiv, my boat, is in an adjacent square to the north. My square is marked 19.4 on the wind chart, and in my statistics box. I'm doing 14 knots.
There isn't a square with 30.2 knots of wind for hundreds of miles around. Meanwhile, they're both doing 6 or 7 knots more than me and presumably getting credit for it.
This is patently incorrect. Last night, as we were all approaching the ice gate from the south, I was 9 miles away from Brichou in the rankings. Ten minutes later, on the automatic update, I was 50 miles away from her. An hour later, it was back to a 9-mile difference. I actually measured my distance behind her with dividers on the screen. Each minute of latitude is one nautical mile, of course, and the white line across the ice gate is exactly 12 miles wide. And by this reckoning I was actually 9 miles behind, not 50.
And so it goes. I have been very skeptical of some messages that said I lost 80 places in the last 10 minutes while I was doing 21 knots to the south-east. I doubt that very much. I fancy there is a lot of garbage in, garbage out, going on.
But over and above my mistrust of the ability of the organizers to cope with the extraordinary data flow, I simply had to retire from the race because I was becoming obsessed. This has happened to me before, in the days when I raced one-design dinghies. We raced on Saturday afternoons, and by Friday my gut was in a knot.
My character changed on the race course -- for the worse, I regret to say. I ended up a national champion, and then gave up racing (well, racing dinghies, anyway) because the stress just wasn't worth it. And to save my marriage.
Similarly, I have been getting up at 1.30 a.m. for the past fortnight. I have been monitoring my virtual boat's position every half-hour or less. I become antsy and irritable when we go out to dinner and I can't check the computer. I disrupt my wife's sleep, I have trouble getting back to sleep again after the 2 a.m. wind change, and I have to fight the cat every night for my computer chair, which she thinks is her nightime bed by rights of occupation.
In the two weeks since I joined the race, I have advanced 18,867 places in the rankings, but I see no chance of catching any of my Cape Dory friends, let alone the forerunners. There is also something a little disturbing about the fact that you can put down cash to gain advantages from such things as automatic sail changes and autopilots. That's not in the spirit of sailing, though it is very French.
They say it's going to take two weeks to get the software running decently again. That's too long for me. I'm out of here. I have abandoned Rogiv on an easterly course and wish her well. I now look forward to my first decent night's sleep in two weeks.
Cheers,
John V.
For nearly two weeks I have kept a very close watch on the figures posted for my boat and for two French "friends." They were obviously keen and knowledgeable sailors. It was all I could do keep up with them. They would fiddle and fiddle constantly until they had got the utmost tenth of a knot in the best possible direction.
As I write this, Brichou is doing 21.3 knots in 30.2 knots of wind. But the wind square she's in is marked 21.1 knots on the wind chart.
Similarly, Glop Glop 87 is doing 19 knots, also in 30.2 knots of wind. But her wind square, too, is marked 21.1 knots on the wind chart.
Rogiv, my boat, is in an adjacent square to the north. My square is marked 19.4 on the wind chart, and in my statistics box. I'm doing 14 knots.
There isn't a square with 30.2 knots of wind for hundreds of miles around. Meanwhile, they're both doing 6 or 7 knots more than me and presumably getting credit for it.
This is patently incorrect. Last night, as we were all approaching the ice gate from the south, I was 9 miles away from Brichou in the rankings. Ten minutes later, on the automatic update, I was 50 miles away from her. An hour later, it was back to a 9-mile difference. I actually measured my distance behind her with dividers on the screen. Each minute of latitude is one nautical mile, of course, and the white line across the ice gate is exactly 12 miles wide. And by this reckoning I was actually 9 miles behind, not 50.
And so it goes. I have been very skeptical of some messages that said I lost 80 places in the last 10 minutes while I was doing 21 knots to the south-east. I doubt that very much. I fancy there is a lot of garbage in, garbage out, going on.
But over and above my mistrust of the ability of the organizers to cope with the extraordinary data flow, I simply had to retire from the race because I was becoming obsessed. This has happened to me before, in the days when I raced one-design dinghies. We raced on Saturday afternoons, and by Friday my gut was in a knot.
My character changed on the race course -- for the worse, I regret to say. I ended up a national champion, and then gave up racing (well, racing dinghies, anyway) because the stress just wasn't worth it. And to save my marriage.
Similarly, I have been getting up at 1.30 a.m. for the past fortnight. I have been monitoring my virtual boat's position every half-hour or less. I become antsy and irritable when we go out to dinner and I can't check the computer. I disrupt my wife's sleep, I have trouble getting back to sleep again after the 2 a.m. wind change, and I have to fight the cat every night for my computer chair, which she thinks is her nightime bed by rights of occupation.
In the two weeks since I joined the race, I have advanced 18,867 places in the rankings, but I see no chance of catching any of my Cape Dory friends, let alone the forerunners. There is also something a little disturbing about the fact that you can put down cash to gain advantages from such things as automatic sail changes and autopilots. That's not in the spirit of sailing, though it is very French.
They say it's going to take two weeks to get the software running decently again. That's too long for me. I'm out of here. I have abandoned Rogiv on an easterly course and wish her well. I now look forward to my first decent night's sleep in two weeks.
Cheers,
John V.
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nprice
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Nov 20th, '07, 11:20
- Location: Cape Dory Typhoon daysailor, "Pattie B Too" New Meadows River, ME.
John, I feel your pain. Fortunately being in England the changes occur at 10am and 10pm. However, there has just been a major wind shift at 9am here, 4am EST. Wingreen is dead in the water as I write. Looks to me like it is the shift that should have happened last night. Is anyone else keeping track of miles made good in 24 hours? Managed 386 yesterday which was 40 up on the previous day. Not sure if I can keep going for another 48 days though 
Nick Price
I think the morning wind change was done early
Hi Nick
I was up early for the morning wind change (which shouldn't be for half an hour yet).
I just noticed that the wind had changed already, though, and now my screen shows "Wind Charts from 2008-12-18 11h GMT+1".
Since it is now only 10:30 GMT+1 (or 4:30 am my time, EST/GMT-5), I surmise that they changed the wind chart early.
That's ok, I'm going back to bed now
I was up early for the morning wind change (which shouldn't be for half an hour yet).
I just noticed that the wind had changed already, though, and now my screen shows "Wind Charts from 2008-12-18 11h GMT+1".
Since it is now only 10:30 GMT+1 (or 4:30 am my time, EST/GMT-5), I surmise that they changed the wind chart early.
That's ok, I'm going back to bed now
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Roy J.
- Posts: 182
- Joined: Feb 7th, '05, 16:45
- Location: The fleet: Auburn CD-25, CD-28 #255 as yet unnamed Marblehead MA
Very disheartening
The breakdown of information quality, as they (ironically) try to ugrade the server capacity is really disheartening. I have lost 1000 places in the rankings, while maintaining a pretty good average speed toward the goals. Unless 1000's of boats ahead of me are doing 25 kts, I should have been able to keep up. Anyway, its a long race and Auburn has been as high as 1200 and as low as in the high five figures, so I will try to remember that sailing -- even virtual sailing perhaps -- is about the journey, not the arriving. Of course you should ask me again in about a week if my ego has been able to withstand the constant beating which has really resulted from a few bad decisions on the skipper's part..... 
Roy Jacobowitz
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Neil Gordon
- Posts: 4367
- Joined: Feb 5th, '05, 17:25
- Location: s/v LIQUIDITY, CD28. We sail from Marina Bay on Boston Harbor. Try us on channel 9.
- Contact:
Re: Very disheartening
It was worse for me. I approached the most recent ice gate and was dead onto the right side of the line. With the display showing me well past the gate and flag but with no validation, I assumed I missed the gate. I turned back and did a loop, losing about 6,000 places in the process. The next morning, the same display that the night before showed me past the mark showed that I had been just short of the mark, i.e., THE LINE MOVED IN THE DISPLAY.Roy J. wrote:The breakdown of information quality, ...
Anyway, there goes the 10,000 Euros. I'm resolved to clawing my way back through the ranks 100 places at a time.
(At least I haven't run aground yet, like some others of us.
I have spent several nights hove to, though.)Fair winds, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
Boston, MA
CDSOA member #698
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
Boston, MA
CDSOA member #698
Progress (and anomalies)
Well, I've made it up almost another 8,000 places (163,705th), but encountered the same sort of issues others have mentioned. Like BillNH, I ain't complaining, since I'm now doing 24 knots in 30 knots of wind.
This looked like an anomaly a few minutes ago, since the four wind arrows that boxed my position ranged from 11 to 14 knots. In the meanwhile, however, I see the winds have changed, and are now consistent with the reports I get for my boat.
So, it's a computer game, and it would have looked stupendous a few years ago Now it's fun, but not worth getting up early for.
Still fun, though...
This looked like an anomaly a few minutes ago, since the four wind arrows that boxed my position ranged from 11 to 14 knots. In the meanwhile, however, I see the winds have changed, and are now consistent with the reports I get for my boat.
So, it's a computer game, and it would have looked stupendous a few years ago Now it's fun, but not worth getting up early for.
Still fun, though...
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Neil Gordon
- Posts: 4367
- Joined: Feb 5th, '05, 17:25
- Location: s/v LIQUIDITY, CD28. We sail from Marina Bay on Boston Harbor. Try us on channel 9.
- Contact:
Re: Progress (and anomalies)
WHAT????? The boat's aren't real?Duncan wrote:So, it's a computer game, ...
Fair winds, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
Boston, MA
CDSOA member #698
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
Boston, MA
CDSOA member #698
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John Vigor
- Posts: 608
- Joined: Aug 27th, '06, 15:58
- Contact:
Re: Very disheartening
Roy, it was Robert Louis Stevenson who said "'Tis a far better thing to travel hopefully than to arrive," but that only counts when you're cruising. When you're racing, only one thing counts, and that's your position over the line.Roy J. wrote:The breakdown of information quality, as they (ironically) try to ugrade the server capacity is really disheartening. I have lost 1000 places in the rankings, while maintaining a pretty good average speed toward the goals. Unless 1000's of boats ahead of me are doing 25 kts, I should have been able to keep up. Anyway, its a long race and Auburn has been as high as 1200 and as low as in the high five figures, so I will try to remember that sailing -- even virtual sailing perhaps -- is about the journey, not the arriving. Of course you should ask me again in about a week if my ego has been able to withstand the constant beating which has really resulted from a few bad decisions on the skipper's part.....
I can't imagine why the race committee didn't cut off new entries when it became obvious they were going to be overwhelmed.
Sorry to hear you were robbed of 1,000 places. You've been doing brilliantly so far and it simply isn't fair to handicap you like that.
Cheers,
John Vigor
http://www.johnvigor.com