Hi-- since I moved to Lebanon, I have not successfully been able to use the web client. When I go to a race, it will only partially load the information I need- sometimes I get weather, sometimes I get boats but almost never at the same time.

I'm sure it has something to do with the incredibly slow internet speeds here which, as best as I can average, are as follows:

Ping: between 200-400 ms
Download: between .5 and 2 Mega BITS /sec.
Upload around .2 Mbs. Actual performance means my DL speeds are never higher than 45 Kilobytes/sec

Don't know much about this but I guess there is UL/DL timing issues as the client/server gathers and disseminates race information.

Any help to be had? I think there is supposed to be a country wide system upgrade but who knows when, and I REALLY REALLY want to do the World race.

--- Last Edited by Blue Magic at 2011-11-01 05:55:44 ---

Not to whine or anything, but why was the time allotted to each race in this series so short? I had to take 3 DNFs because the leg I was on evaporated. Now I know that server space might be an issue, but really, Leg 6 was pulled before leg 5. It's a shorter race with less map and weather to load so shouldn't it be the one to stay?

The other sort of irksome thing is this: now in order to finish the race, you have to use a router and be in the top 150.(ish) I have chosen for the past couple of years to not use a router or any help outside of my noggin and what comes attached to SOL. Great, my choice I know and I'm ecstatic if I get in the top 100 - it's a "win" if I get in the top 150. But that doesn't happen an awful lot, and now with truncated race times, I am denied the satisfaction of finishing, and tactically I'm glued to the rhumb line as that will determine my position when the plug is pulled. In other words no more flyers in the second half of the race.

So, SOL people, I love the opportunity to do this, but am very frustrated by this turn of events- maybe a solution would be to have SYC membership mandatory, or some other form of income to offset server costs. If this can't be done then the closing date/time should be posted and maybe a countdown could run so time running out would be visible to all us back markers

--- Last Edited by Blue Magic at 2011-04-03 13:58:30 ---

Agree with you about sustaining speed - but the extra crew weight would help most with the wind forward of around 120 deg. The polars as they sit are pretty close to my 29 ft displacement hulled C&C.- within about a half knot, which looks like extra waterline length to me brought about by the plumb bow on the Beneteau. However, my boat weighs 7500 lbs and should be considerably slower off the wind. Also, the double handed "hit" would be most apparent in sail handling evolutions- and that should show up in SOL by performance loss and slow regain speed after tacking etc.

--- Last Edited by Nick Thornton at 2010-04-21 22:23:26 ---

hi all,

I'm enjoying the race to St. Barths but I wonder if the polars for the Beneteau Figaro might not be a bit conservative. I found a site that has an illustration of the boat with polar diagrams, and it would appear that this set shows them to be speedier off the wind in a bit of a blow. That would make sense given the relatively light displacement.

Here's the link:

http://www.brutsailing.com/theboats.htm

Cheers

Nick

thanks for the explaination Jakob. It was a sort of oversight on my part to miss registering early.

Cheers
Nick

hi

I was wondering why registration was closed only 5 hours after the start of the Dubai race? An 0900UTC start translates into a 0200 start for me, and on a weekday that doesn't work. I had planned to get going a bit late but found myself locked out of the race. By comparison, there were starters in the Saturday Texada race (another 0900 UTC start time) that started very late, and in fact, did quite well. So... can the RC please consider some of us out on the west end of North America in terms of the start times and registration closures. If there are other factors like, say server usage or something,it would be great to know when registration will be closing- perhaps I missed something, but it hasn't been an issue for me previously.

Thanks
Nick


--- Last Edited by Nick Thornton at 2009-11-25 14:52:26 ---

a couple of ideas for the RC

Victoria- Maui, and Van Isle 360 (did the former a while back and wouldn't mind doing it again! say on a Santa Cruz 50

Cheers

Nick

Well each to his / her own, and I mean that sincerely. A couple of months ago I made the decision to not use any software outside of SOL- though I wasn't above a bit of advice (thanks Pete!)For me, it is simply more fun than using a router. This means in the current environment I have almost no chance of making a top 50 finish and have to be extremely on my game to make a top 100. But you know what? that's fine with me. It seems like I'm competing in a different "cruising" class and if I can catch a few hotshots- so much the better. Sol is one of the coolest, BEST MANNERED, environments on the net and I would caution about fragmenting it with different and ultimately unenforcable divisions. Yes, it's a competetive world out there (and in here) but I think we can all choose how we compete. For me it's personal best using the rules I generated for myself.
My 2 bits worth.

Nick Thornton
Blue Magic