sailonline - nerdy sailing game

[hamfist]

Have you ever tried this ?

http://www.sailonline.org/

I thought it would be shit. A bit pedestrian.

But I really enjoy it. It's not really something you sit there and play. It's more like an online chess tournament  where you dip in, check the forecast and adjust your course then bugger off and check on it later.

There's a 'race' on there starting tomorrow afternoon around the Canary Islands and I'm going to have a go, it's my first try so I'll probably sink.

[syntaxerror]

No, come on, this isn't fun.

[Hollow]

Sounds about as much fun as Desert Bus.

[mook]

doesn't hamfist live in switzerland? gone all crazy from the landlockedness that's all.

[hamfist]

I reckon you're right I need bodies of water. Big ones. Bigger than lakes.

Anyway - white hot news from the race. I started off well, moved up to 32nd position out of about 192 boats. I set a plan which used true wind angle to get the most speed out of the boat to achieve that. Then rounding the first marker was due to happen in the night, and I'm fucked if I'm getting out of bed for it.

So I made a set of delayed heading changes to get around it, but they turned out to be much more coarse than what the proper sailors did and I drifted back to about 77th place. I'm now taking a different track to most other boats to gain speed and I think the wind is drifting in my favour - by the next marker I should have caught the pack.  Currently up to 63rd...

[hamfist]

I mean look at that wide squared off rounding of Hierro - what a sea-twat. Now I'm on a curved track as I gain about 0.8kt over the straight track, then I gotta whip up between Gomera and Tenerife. That's into wind and will be slow going for everyone.

The boat can go much faster than this but by travelling about 90' in a different direction.

See - it's a slow burning strategy game. The only prostitutes to murder are the ones in your boat, and you need them to hoist the mainsail.

[mook]

way too ted heathy for me

[Dex Sawash]

I used to play at SoL all the time. Wake up every 4 hours for the new wx and that. Got pretty good at waking up for 7 minutes at 0400[nb]drink plenty of water before bed[/nb]. Started waking up before my alarm by a few minutes. Never very good at the game, just enjoyed playing and the chat.

Don't really play anymore, pop in to the chat now and then. I don't sail big boats or offshore IRL anymore, I just day race dinghies now and I lost interest in playing the SoL format.

I liked Sailx for short course tactical sim, havent played that forever either.

[hamfist]

and I thought I was the only one. Thank goodness for you Dex !

I finished 53rd of 200+ boats which I guess wasn't too bad. I didn't do any getting up, just tried to be pragmatic and reasonably cautious about rounding islands etc during the night with pre programmed heading changes.

Makes me want to sail for real though and I plan to do that later in the summer. I'll take a course or something and learn in a little dinghy to try and really get to grips with the basics.

Any suggestions Dex about the best way to do that ?

[mook]

FUCKING HELL I WILL BEAT YOU ALL AT SAILING.


when the next one?








I WILL WIN... after all it's just floating and stuff really, how the fuck hard can it be!











I WILL WIN.

[Dex Sawash]

Community sailing programs are usually a bargain if there are any of them around you.
They are set up to get beginners going. Can also find a local sailing club and email them to make yourself available as crew. Somebody needs crew.

Ask in the chat in SoL or post in the forum there for local tips. Someone there can point you in the right direction.

Is there a public park pond with boat rentals near you? Just go do it.

You will learn faster in a racing environment once you have the basics. You have other boats around to gauge your performance and it forces you to sail in conditions where you may just head home if you were just mucking about.
I really like to race and almost never just go out and sail about a bit for fun.

[Dex Sawash]

Saw you were back in UK in another thread,. Get yourself on a boat son.

[hamfist]

Dax - I will. I really will. I was recently an old man and my family decided to treat me to a sailing course as a birthday present.