Sail with New Freebooters

This is it. We were all teleported back, some from beyond the Canaries, and placed on the start line at 10:00 UTC. Any course we then set was used to launch us off the line at 11:00 UTC. This was an hour ahead of the actual race, and of the Official on line race, which gave those playing both games a chance to concentrate separately on each start.

I didn’t do much in the Official race except set the starting course and change it a couple of times over the next hour. Found the background music and wave/wind noise irritating, and missed the constant weather and course updates of Sail On Line. I did watch live TV coverage of the real start, which was exciting although it was odd hearing commentators dumbing down the language – referring to the Right Hand Side and Left Hand Side (just like that, carefully and slowly) of the windward leg, rather than port and starboard or even East & West.

It was also impressive seeing the crews that had been together a long time tacking at speeds reminiscent of battles up the Gurnard shore in Cowes Week. I didn’t expect blue water crews to do that. Will there be match racing in this class one day?

The good, stiff breeze gave us a lively start for a record fleet of over 600 boats in the Sail On Line race, too. At first, places changed hectically – but that is to be expected if you think about it. If you zoomed right in, you could see the server updating boat positions in rotation, and 600 boats started off level.

Once we were all settled in, the fleet fanned out slightly – some seeking maximum speed and others pursuing longer-term goals. A fair number of those concentrating on speed paid for it later, when they had to alter course for the first headland.

I haven’t really covered myself in glory – once the system settled down, I managed to climb up from somewhere inn the 300s to 76th (a personal best), then forgot the minus sign when keying in a True Wind Angle course (i.e. one that automatically follows any windshifts). This resulted in an involuntary gybe, and then having to gybe back to the intended course. Since the simulator slows the boat during tacks and gybes, then slowly builds up boat speed again, this meant I was down to 88% of optimum speed and took several minutes to regain full speed. This early on the race, with everyone neck and neck, that lost me a LOT of places.

Now, we are facing a long night and the arrival of a big hole – an unavoidable zone with very light, very variable winds. The Kiwis have just woken up, and will be awake for this phase, so I expect to see many of them gain a lot during the night. I’m wondering whether to leave my very noisy PC on during the night, so that if I get up to let dogs out or add more wood to the stove I’ll be able to check my progress – and perhaps get myself out of a sticky position. I’ll do my best to set Delayed Courses based on the forecasts, but I don’t expect to hold my current 152nd position.

I’m not taking this seriously enough to set alarms – I have a friend’s 60th birthday lunch to attend tomorrow.