Thanks, after reading that I am rather ashamed I didnt realize that before...
I should have... been racing boats long enough LOL

Edit Looks fine 76T, although 'G' looks a little odd...

--- Last Edited by Aaron Gage at 2010-03-23 16:52:33 ---

Can the implementation, or atleast detail, of the new rounding 'rules' be explained?
I am in the Grey WHale Migration race, couldnt login for a few days and had my boat on a TWA course. Rounded 1st WP fine, but passd the 2nd to the west, so i have gone back south to round it properly, but it does not say 'Rounded' but still 'Pass NE'.

I have attatched screenshot to illustrate.

WHat should I have done here? Or is this an issue of implementation and WPs with very little course change (as with this WP)? I know how I (as a programmer) would have implemented the rule enforcement, so perhaps it is and needs some fine tuning as to Vector angles? ALthough you may have a completely different solution for enforcing proper mark rounding...

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Wasnt suggesting that.... Just a way to make more room if you happen to be on a tiny monitor. I completely undertand the reason they are there, just I didnt even notice them until I ran SOL in the Google Chrome browser (desktop shortcut to race page make it more convenient for the longer races), as along time ago I had installed an ad-block addin to my Firefox installation...

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Bookmark, or using a browser withg a tabbed interface, and opening the race in a new tab leaving the SOL Home page open in another?

Perhaps SOL won't like me posting this, but ad blockers as are available for firefox reduce the ads to small placeholder boxes. When I use Google Chrome to play SOL, I see the ads, and the 'sailing area' IS much reduced.
Maybe you could find something like this for your browser?

Again apologies, I lost net connection for a while,, here are modifications you requested.
Don't expect you had any shortage of races anyway

--- Last Edited by Aaron Gage at 2010-03-06 16:32:56 ---

Sorry been off busy for a bit...
I will make those changes, then upload them again, and scheduling doesnt matter to me, whenever they will best fit in with the overall schedule is up to the RC

I had an 'interesting' issue when I logged back in to the Channel Island Rumble race just now. As you can see in the screenshot, a number of things were wrong with the information displayed in the SOL client.
1 - My position was shown as it had been (exactly, course and all) a few (5ish?) hours prior
2 - My position in the fleet was displayed incorrectly and DTG was very wrong, even for the position it displayed me as having. I think it was showing the DTG from the most southerly point of my track as displayed??
3 - The last waypoint I had rounded indicated that I had not actually rounded it yet
4 - When I clicked on my name in the list of boats, my correct position was displayed

I managed to get things right again, by completely logging out of SOL, then back in and reload the client, but I thought I would let you know of this, as it may indicate some obscure bug in the client program...
Hope I am wrong and it was just some bad data delivered to my client

Jakob, there is an issue with the steering tool line, where it changes the length of the line shown on screen, depending on the zoom level. Some have commented that at maximum zoom it disapperas completely, but I have not personally seen this particular issue, only that it gets shorter with more zoom...

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Well, VMC = Velocity Made to Course recognising that course legs arent always directly up or down wind. IRL we all use this concept downwind when there is a local shift just prior: Sail the gybe that takes us closest to the mark. Or either upwind or downwind to tack on the headers (lifts downwind): coz VMC is decreased and increased on other tack/gybe.
So VMC is the component of your current velocity (being a vector with magnitude and direction) in the direction of you next most immediate waypoint/mark on your course, VMG is with respect to the wind direction. So, no it doesnt assume one is on a direct course, great circle or otherwise, to the next waypoint, but rather uses that direct course instead of the wind direction.

In a windward/leeward course set exactly to the wind VMC = VMG. If a shift has occured and you are on the favoured tack/gybe then VMC > VMG, converely on the unfavoured tack/gybe VMC < VMG.
If you can, say, reach directly to the next waypoint/mark then VMC = BS. And in the case where that firection is 90 degrees to the wind, VMG = 0.

Say the TWD is 0, but the heading to the mark is at 15. You're heading at 40degrees doing 10kn. Then VMG = cos(40-0) * 10 = 7.66kn, and VMC = cos(40-15) * 10 = 9.06kn.
Now say we footed off 5 degrees and our BS increased to 10.6kn. our VMG is now cos(45-0) * 10.6 = 7.49kn, our VMC is cos(45-15) * 10.6 = 9.18kn. So our VMG has decreased, but VMC has increased by footing off for more speed.
And to illustrate what you said about sailing directly to the next mark not always being optimal, imagine the heading to next mark IS 40 degrees above.
Sailing directly toward it, VMC = BS = 10kn (cos(0)=1). By footing to 45@10.6kn our VMC is cos(45-40) * 10.6 = 10.55kn, so we will get there faster heading 45, even though over a 30nm leg we will sail an extra 1nm approximately (the cosine(angle) function automatically accounts for extra distance, but assumes no manouvering penalty). So given performance penalaties for for tacks/gybes, the longer the leg the more the benefit will be, and if the leg is short enough you WILL still get there quicker going straight for it.
This is my understanding of the term VMC, again maybe I am missing something, then pls inform me of it.

Of course, on really long legs a straight line on the mercator map will not be the shortest distance no, but you can still calculate a fastest heading, convert it to a great circle heading, and slowly follow the circle.
And of course you can always pick an arbitrary point to calculate VMC to, like if you need to round a headland before you get to a waypoint, then use that instead. C can stand for any chosen course, but we usually like to sail the course set by the RC, so it is usually that which we choose to use (or deviations due to obstructions).

Yes, High performance dingies, some cats, and performance yachts will now always reach the leeward mark faster by tacking downwind. That is simply the concept of VMG put to practical use downwind (if vmg > at an angle off 180) And that is such a good thing! I hated the 'processional runs' in the Junior classes I sailed. Downwind is now the leg generally least understood, which can provide good opportunities for gains, but equally for losses.
I dont think I have yet seen a boat on SOL that doesnt benefit from tacking downwind...
IRL main trouble is determining the best angle downwind... We have developed excellent methods to do this upwind, but not down... Its easy when you have a nice polar and that is the only thing that contributes to performance... Add in to that handling, trim, wave surfing etc etc and its quickly gets very complicated. Not to mention some boats like the ones I sail, benefit more if you dont sail ANY straight line, but a snake course, up first to increase the apparent windspeed and swing it more toward the beam (even the bow), then head down to decrease distance sailed... Headache time!
High performance skiffs (18s, 49er etc) effectively never sail downwind, as the apparent wind is always coming from the bow, and this impacts handling and trim enormously...

Gettin too far off topic here, maybe we should start a 'Sailing Terms' Thread?