Facebook

Login

Support Sailonline

If you haven't already - join the SAILONLINE YACHT CLUB!

Please also consider making a donation - all amounts are greatly appreciated!

Board » Flag Officers » Races » Race to Up Helly Aa 2013

Posted by
Hirilondë


Users avatar

Posts
48
Registered at
2010-02-22 12:50:31
2013-01-22 12:58:35 - Race to Up Helly Aa 2013
I realize that negotiating islands can be a big part of the strategy for races but it also drastically limits who can be competitive when taken to extreme. I think this race is one where it is taken to extreme. Anyone who finds themself with work or sleep for the last possibly many hours will just have to give up. I am guessing this will become a bbq event. I can't speak for others, but unless a race has room for sleep and work via planning and DCs I can't play. I do not expect to be able to enter all races, and this will certainly be one I do not enter. But the races that are fun and competitive in my opion are the ones like The New Hebrides Slolam. Islands played a major role in strategy, as did the need to sail all points of sail. But a careful planner could find places to sleep and work.

Anyway, this is my 2¢ worth of opinion (approximately 0.016€)
Posted by
ShamrockPirate


Users avatar

Posts
189
Registered at
2010-12-03 17:49:57
2013-01-26 16:42:15 - Re: Race to Up Helly Aa 2013
Hirilondë,
Agree these can be very tricky and the Top-Guns must have a special blend of coffee to allow for limited sleep. I ALWAYS seem to be at a critical juncture during the middle of the night!

That's said, some of these events stretch the talent for calculating and setting DCs which I have found challenging and rewarding. In the current Up Helly, I was on DC from just after Kinnard Head to just before Moray Firth (and had additional DCs set for the rounding that would have worked). I picked up approx 25 places while asleep.

There have been ongoing discussions about having "split fleets" with the insomniacs/maniacs in one group and the cruisers/gotta-get-some-sleep-before-the- kids-wake-up-SOLers in the other.
I am in the latter and have finally (after 2years of never missing a race) accepted the fact that I won't ever make Top10. Too much IRL gets in the way. I just enjoy the effort, challenge and community

Keep SOLing and watch for me at your stern !!

SP

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m

Current Races:

Red Eye - Hobart Convict Run 2026

Back in 2010, one of our SOLers of the first hour, AUS_Scott76, came up with this ‘Convict Run’ out from Hobart, past Cape Raoul and the penal colony of Port Arthur, round Tasman Island, up and back down the east coast of Tasmania, to finish with a tight technical run – so Scott called it – up the picturesque D'entrecasteaux Channel, home to Hobart once again. It’s 250nm, ideal for a bit of ‘Red Eye’ in comfortable Finngulf 43’s, and if the original idea was to pick up some convicts on the way for a bit of R&R and sea air, you may always drop’m back before returning to Hobart!
Race #2002
INFOby brainaid.de
FG 43 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: RED - SYC
Race starts: Jan 27th 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

New Ice Age 2026 - Longyearbyen to Browerville


Although we have by no means exhausted the possibilities of ice boating on lakes at high latitudes or high altitudes, it was noticeable that as our 2025 Series progressed, there were calls from time to time for longer-distance challenges, and so in response to these calls we will pretend that global warming has reversed and as a result the coastal waters of Antarctica and Russia and Canada have fully (and smoothly!) frozen over offering us the possibility of a 4-race New Ice Age series in our trusted no-PL DN machines. Our first leg takes us 2600nm from Svalbard’s Longyearbyen east to North Alaska’s Browerville. You’ll be a few days on the ice, so dress warmly and take some provisions; go!
Race #1968
INFOby brainaid.de
DN PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: NIA - SYC
Race starts: Jan 22nd 07:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Cross the Convergence 2026 - Robinson Crusoe to Galapagos


Welcome to our first race of a new series of ocean voyages across the World’s convergence zones, this first race taking you north from south of the Tropic of Capricorn to the Equator-straddling Galapagos, home of magical iguanas and other exotic fauna (but no mythical kings, Dory) Departing from the island where in 1704 adventurer Alexander Selkirk inspired Daniel Defoe to write the best-seller "The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", by debarking off the unsound "HMS Cinque Ports", four months before she foundered off the coast of present-day Colombia, we will sail the 2200nm in our decidedly sounder and faster than the " Cinque Ports",
Ocean 50 !
Race #1983
INFOby brainaid.de
Ocean 50 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: CCZ - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Friday,
January 30 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Jan 16th 18:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Bight of Bonny TIMED Race 2026

Welcome to the first TIMED race of 2026! Our race finds us in the Gulf of Guinea and the Bight of Bonny. Starting in Douala, Cameroon the 170 nm course takes us around the island of Bioko with its Caldera and tropical rainforests finishing in Calabar, Nigeria. The boat for this race is the sporty Farr 30. 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 #2004
INFOby brainaid.de
Farr 38 Particulars
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
TRQ1 - TRCH - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
24 January at 23:00 UTC
Race starts: Jan 11th 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Cape Town to Rio 2026

Welcome to South Africa and RCYC's classic transatlantic Cape2Rio Race from Cape Town, South Africa, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. First run in 1971, this run is buddied with the IRL, Cape2Rio 2025 arranged by the Royal Cape Yacht Club with the cooperation of the
Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro Despite this being announced the 2025 race (starting dec. 27) it is the 2026 SOL championship kickoff. This virtual version, will be raced once again in Mark Mills' 74ft speedster, the stunning C2R74.
Race #1996 INFO
by brainaid.de
C2R74 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
OCQ1 - OCCH - SUPBUD - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Monday,
January 26 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Dec 27th 12:00 Registration Closed

▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member bonknhoot
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Sax747
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rumskib
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member vida
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Panpyc
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CollegeFund

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

SYC members have the benefit of access to our mobile/lightweight web client!

The mobile client