I’ve given you a link rather than embedding it, so that it’s still big enough for you to read.

For the experts, and those who knew how to research the history of round-the-world sailing race weather, it wasn’t difficult to choose the right general route from Gibraltar to Capetown, but many of us – including me – wasted time being tempted by short-term advantages on other routes. Some went too far the wrong way to recover at all.

The best route round the Cape and across to India looks far more difficult to judge. Wind systems appear more chaotic, with holes all over the place. However, I may be wrong. The right advice may be out there on the Web, but I just haven’t found it.

The great thing about the sailonline.org simulator is that the boats are automatically driven at their maximum speed for the direction in which they are pointed and the current wind velocity. You are at the navigator’s desk of a top-class racing boat, with an expert crew.

That means you can realistically play the game to win by sitting down at your computer two or three times a day for long enough to assess the situation and set course changes to take place at predefined times over the next few hours.

Only very rarely will a fast-changing critical weather pattern mean that the top few navigators will be setting alarm clocks to let them make decisions in the wee small hours.

Whether you treat it as a serious challenge or not, you will make new friends among real sailors all over the world in the chat window which is an integral part of this game. That is a big part of the enjoyment of playing, and why I intend to stay in the game as we accompany the real teams around the world.

Why not join us? First, register here . Then if you’re feeling kind, tell them I sent you, by typing yournewly-acquired login name (which becomes your boat name) into the body of this e-mail. . It’s free, and you’ll have time to practice if you register well before the race. Go for it.

I’ll be following up with one or two written posts. Meanwhile, I’m watching the storms build up over Linden Labs’ decision to retaliate against misuse of Second Life’s shared server Open Spaces by upping the price 66%. What I can’t understand is why they didn’t just take action against the abusers – they seem to be about to kill off flying and sailing, which were the sort of use these spaces were intended for.