Thanks to the YWB forums, I’ve been introduced to www.sailonline.org/. The site runs virtual yacht races using a simulator based on real locations and current weather forecasts. They also offer a sailing planner based on the same technology.
I didn’t register and start the current race (a figure-of-8 course in the Mediterranean, starting from Alicante and rounding the island of Formentera) until about 9 hours late, but it’s been eerily like some of my real-life experiences:
- After I switched off my PC, I realised that I’d set a course to round the marks in the reverse order. Since the course was still a valid option for the correct course, I went to bed.
- I’d set a delayed command to change course round what I thought was the first mark. Just as well that it wasn’t the real mark, because the wind dropped slightly more than expected. When I signed on again this morning, I found that I had turned about 2 nautical miles early and was now a third of the way down the next leg on a dead run in a failing breeze, having missed the buoy.
- In spite of all this, I was now in 374th position in a fleet of 480 boats, one of which had run aground in Tunisia during the night.
I’ll report on progress later today. I’m hooked.
