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Profile for Dingo



Name Dingo
Email Address johnhockings@outlook.com
AvatarUsers avatar
Posts94
  • Dingo's BWR Manual
    Board » Technical Discussion
    I've written a short manual on the use of BWR for Sailonline. The key ingredient is that Kroppyer has kindly developed a little programme to convert the saved BWR routing as DCs suitable for Sailonline. I'll see if I can get it added to the Sailonline Links on their website.

    https://drive.google.com/.../1m00l23AL-Zm--B.../view...
  • Re: In Memoriam - Finn Møller Christensen
    Board » In memoriam
    You will be very much missed in these waters dear Finn.
  • Re: qtVlm thread
    Board » Technical Support
    One configuration setting which is useful to adjust is under the advanced tab. There you can adjust the amount of detail shown in coastlines. For more detailed routes near land it could be useful to raise the level of detail.
  • A QtVlm beginners tutorial
    Board » Technical Support
    Attached is the gist of the email I sent to Satori who has indicated he will tidy it up and post it somewhere when he has the chance. Meanwhile, this might help get a few more SOLers into QtVlm and routing in a fairly simple way with instructions which follow the normal sequence of routing using QtVlm for SOLing.

    I'll monitor for queries and suggestions and try to incorporate what I can into the tutorial as time permits.

  • Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
    Board » Technical Support
    Some further notes: we're using effectively NOAA .25 gfs not nam wips as the latter does not extend far enough east. However, my notes above referring you to Brainaids site is the best source for your grib updates to use in Expedition. These Brainaid gribs already contain the smoothing which is applied by the simulator so that there are not jumps between one grib update and the next.

    Re the html5, the simulator used flash, and now we are developing an html5 version so that we are ready when flash is no longer supported. If you press the Go To Race button, you will get the old flash-based simulator, and if you press the html5 button you will get the newer version. They both are suitable for use and give the same results, performance, etc.
  • Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
    Board » Technical Support
    Hi, I'll try to keep the answer simple so you can participate in the sailonline Bermuda simulation and route using Expedition. You can get your polar and the latest grib for the Sailonline Bermuda race from http://sol.brainaid.de/sailonline/toolbox

    Here you will find the latest weather updates (they come at approximately 16:30, 22:30, 04:30 and 10:30 UTC, and are always available from Brainaids under the Weather tab.

    You can also downlaod the Expediton polar for your chosen boat from the same site, using the Polar button. You can also get the waypoint co-ords from there, and also you can enter your steering commands there using the DC Editor button.

    You don't have to make any changes to the grib you download from Brainaids - it's ready to use without scaling etc.

    There are no currents in the simulator.

    If you want extra, you can also look at http://solfans.org/wxinspector/ where, if you log on using your boatname and password, you will find under the Optimal Angles button, your max upwind and downwind vmg angles for the current wind, for those times when Expedition gives you dotted routing solutions (outside max vmg values).

    Hope that helps and fair winds.
  • Re: DC Checker Releases
    Board » Technical Discussion
    Me too, I thought I was going mad searching the settings. Did discover a hundred other options I'd never looked at before though. :)
  • Re: DC Checker Releases
    Board » Technical Discussion
    Thanks Kipper.
    I get agreement in client, AGL, and raw nmea data in QT. It’s just the boats instruments that have integer TWS only. I think it’s therefore a QT problem or I have an incorrect setting somewhere. I will try a new load and see if I get the same then.
    Spoke to matai, there was a bug in last version, which he's now fixed..will be updated soon. meantime, the previous version works okay 5.9.7 P2.


    --- Last Edited by Dingo at 2020-05-02 08:02:52 ---

    --- Last Edited by Dingo at 2020-05-02 08:15:25 ---
  • QT decimal points in wind speed
    Board » Technical Discussion
    Same issue here, can you let us know if you find the solution? Cheers.

    I have the latest version. I noticed something strange. The wind is currently 7.238knts in AGL, 7.24 in SOL and 7 in qt. However, if I open the polar in qt (from boat settings or clicking on the compass) the TWS is shown as 7.00knts and then if I turn off nmea, it then shows 7.24 knts. I wish I could go back one version of qt to try it there.

    Edit: installed 5.9_7 P2 and have decimal points in instruments back.

    --- Last Edited by Dingo at 2020-05-02 06:27:48 ---

    --- Last Edited by Dingo at 2020-05-02 06:50:43 ---

    --- Last Edited by Dingo at 2020-05-02 07:12:37 ---
  • Re: qtVlm thread
    Board » Technical Support
    Hi Matai, I've been trying to disable the beep sounds associated with routing, simplifying and optimising. I tried turning them off in configuration/routes/beep when routing/simplification, but this did not stop them. In the end, I had to disable the Windows asterisks default sound to remove the beeps. Can you confirm? cheers, John

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Africa by Sea 2025 - Suez to Port Said


When Napoleon (briefly) occupied Egypt at the turn to the 19th C, he ordered his expedition’s Directeur des Ponts et Chaussées, Jacques-Marie Le Père, to evaluate the ancient, derelict, infilled course of a Ptolemaic canal connecting the Red Sea to the Nile via the Great Bitter Lake, versus a new canal to the Mediterranean directly. Neither were considered feasible – locks to climb a pauvre-surveyed 10m sea-level difference, or continuous dredging of the Nile, would both be equally financially prohibitive. Fifty years passed before the unlikeliness of Le Père’s survey finding was challenged and a French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez obtained a 99-year concession from the Khedive of Egypt, Said Pasha, to construct and operate a canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, much against the will of the Ottoman Sultan, Abdulmecid I (the Pasha’s nominal overlord), and the wishes of the (Irish) British prime minister, Lord Palmerston. The year was 1859, the very number of this race (planning, dear boy, planning!), which, despite the canal’s double-super-tanker gauge and lack of locks, is strictly prohibited IRL. 85nm in Fareast 28Rs to complete your circumnavigation of Africa!
Race #1859
INFOby brainaid.de
Fareast 28R PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - ABS
Race starts: Nov 12th 17:00 Registration will open soon
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Round Hong Kong TIMED Race 2025

This month’s TIMED race takes us to the hectic, bustling sea lanes of the South China Sea for a 118 nm race beginning and ending in Hong Kong rounding several of the 260 nearby islands along the way. The boat for this race is the South African built Cape 31. This is a TIMEDrace so you may RE-REGISTER HEREto try again after finishing a run. You will have 13 days and 11 hours to test your skill and decision making after the race opens.
Race #1964
INFOby brainaid.de
Cape 31 Particulars
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
TRQ4 - TRCH - SUPSOL - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
22 November at 23:00 UTC
Race starts: Nov 09th 12:00 Registration will open soon
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Red Eye - Frisian Isles Trophy 2025

For our final “Red Eye” race, we invite you to cross the Noord Zee to the Wadden Zee, where a 160nm course around a few sandy islands raced on SOL only once before in 2010 awaits you. We don’t have a replica of Erskine Childers’ Dulcibella in our boathouse, and in any case if we took her out, we might well contract more than one “Red Eye”, so instead we’ll race our very own riddle of the sands in Farr 400s!
Race #1848
INFOby brainaid.de
Farr 400 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - RED

RACE CLOSE: Tuesday,
November 11 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Nov 05th 12:00 Registration Open!
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Fernando de Noronha to Faroe 2025

The RWW Series concludes with a spectacular journey from Fernando de Noronha to the Faroe Islands, a legendary destination in the wild North Atlantic. Panning 4,100 nautical miles, this leg will be a true test of endurance, strategy, and sheer determination. Also the penultimate leg of the 2025 Ocean Championship, it’s your chance to prove your mettle against the sea, the wind, and yourself. We’ll be racing aboard the Ragamuffin 100, a vessel built for speed and challenge — demanding planning, precision and grit from every sailor on deck. Do you have what it takes to master the Northern Atlantic?.
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1960
INFO by brainaid.de
Ragamuffin 100 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: RWW - OCQ4 - OCCH - SUPSOL - SYC
Race starts: Nov 03rd 11:00 Registration Open!
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ORCV Melbourne to Devonport Race 2025

Welcome to the legendary Rudder Cup, Australia’s oldest and most storied yacht race—sailed for over 110 years across the challenging Bass Strait from Melbourne to Tasmania. Organized by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria, this 195nm classic tests sailors’ skill, strategy, and endurance against the unpredictable Southern Ocean. This year, our SOLers will be racing the timeless Swan 36, Nautor’s very first production yacht—a Sparkman & Stephens masterpiece renowned for her elegance, balance, and seaworthy performance. Get ready for a true ocean racing adventure!
Race #1951
INFO by brainaid.de
Swan 36 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
November 8 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Oct 31st 03:30 Registration Closed
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Sinbad by Balloon 2025 - Carnarvon to Dondra


From here, our home in Bharatavarṣa is now north west of us – said Sinbad to his fellow balloonists. Perhaps we can ride the wind first further north, and then catch the winds that every year bring the rain, perhaps not. It’s 2600nm and we could be aloft awhile, so, Master el-Quarters, victuals only, no sandbags, provisioning the giant hamper. It will be not a picnic!
Race #1886
INFOby brainaid.de
SOL Balloon PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - SBB
Race starts: Oct 15th 11:00 Registration Closed
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