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Board » General Discussion » Lets Ban Land Jumping In Ocean Races

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In general, as SLI jumping is explicitly allowed in the rules, I consider it a part of the game. IMHO it is not purely luck, although you do take a (calculated) risk.

Furthermore, In Cape Town to AD, I jumped one corner of Mauritius (a much longer jump than one server update), not on purpose, but because the server skipped one position update. I just happened (well, not happened, I did it on purpose) to change my course on exactly the correct server cycle, without the missed update my course change would have been spot on after the tip. Should I be penalised for that jump?

--- Last Edited by karriv at 2014-05-11 20:43:07 ---
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I'm right.
Karriv:
Did that jump gain you a position on the leadership board?

If not, it is "no harm, no foul" if we follow the F1 Chicane Cutting 'enforcement' practices as a model.

If you did gain one or more positions you should be penalized -- that is, you should give back those positions.

Note that I am proposing this rule for 2014 Ocean Series races only.
I can't see implementing this rule in Sprint races or Timed races.
-- For one thing because I doubt that enforcement is feasible in those kinds of races
-- For another because participants in those races may prefer to keep land jumping as part of the game.

So, I am proposing to change the rules for the remainder of just one 2014 series.
I am NOT proposing that SOL base rules be changed.
I am proposing a more realistic map, where you can't scrape off the paint down a long piece of coastline, can't cut the end of a headland so close that even the under-coat is removed----
Yours for more realism!!!
Aside from everything else, SOL should be instructional for would-be ocean navigators, and we should not encourage them to develop bad habits.....
If it breaks, it's not strong enough--if it doesn't, it's too heavy.

Karriv:
Did that jump gain you a position on the leadership board?

At that moment, no. But you know how this game works, an advantage of 5 seconds somewhere can be ten minutes in the end. How do you control that?

My point was, that jump was unintentional and due to the shortcomings in the system. IMHO penalising for that would not be fair. That would mean penalising someone for being able to time maneuvers accurately.

--- Last Edited by karriv at 2014-05-12 04:53:27 ---

--- Last Edited by karriv at 2014-05-12 04:53:49 ---
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I'm right.
From my perspective, you can approach SOL in two ways.

1. In the first way, you treat SOL as a sailing and navigation simulator and use it to improve your real life skills in these areas, or if you can't sail in real life, to at least enjoy some of the wonderful experiences of real life sailing.

You therefore don't sail over land, you don't cut the corners of marks, or go head to wind for a while before tacking, or stop part way through a gybe. You do attempt the perform the latter manoeuvres smoothly however.

Of course, in the real world, people do run aground and botch manoeuvres. In general SOL attempts to mimic this with performance penalties.

2. The second approach is to see it as a computer-based arcade game, and to seek advantage or fun by tricking the computer into thinking you have done what you were meant to do, but in fact have gained advantage because of the limitations of the software to accurately mimic the real sailing world or to 'find you out'.

To each his own.

I like SOL because the huge majority seem to approach the simulator in the first way.

I'm am heartened to see Winston's post, so thanks to the SRC for working on it. :)

I don't think though that it is worth huge amounts of people's time trying to deal with protests over odd behaviour prompted by computer glitches.

cheers
John (Dingo)
In my opinion it is not either or, I have learned a lot about navigation while playing, but trying to do well in the game I do take advantage of what the rules and the system allow (I guess that's just in my nature, if I compete, I don't compromise;).

I'm not against banning jumping or making jumping impossible (actually I'm all for making it impossible). But IMHO
1. If rules explicitly allow something, it is a bit strange that people playing exactly as per the rules are somehow considered cheaters
2. If you want to make changes to the rules, you should carefully consider the consequences and the overall framework (e.g. if you want to ban SLI jumping, why only in ocean races where it has little or no meaning, why not ban also unrealistic gybing/tacking procedures, why not ban mark cutting...)
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I'm right.
karriv - Completely agree! Couldn't have said it better myself.
More than a problem to be solved by means of any old and/or new rules, the “jumping over land” is a common sense issue.
Simplifying: It should never happen, in any kind of race.

Other issue that I’ve seen so many times is the “jump starts”.
How it’s possible that starting at the same programed time - the official race start hour - some boats get an immediate advantage on others?

Defies my mind and sportsmanship, to say the least.
Sail Fair.
JB - those jumpstarts are visual only. The client just requests the new position of all boats before all boats have completed their jump, so some look like to have a headstart of a single jump. But later the roles could be reversed.
Kroppy, thanks again for your explanation.

A simple test, with two boats, for instance, starting a PR, exactly at the same time and with the same HDG, sailing for some period of time, could make the final proof for this (non?) issue.

Kroppy the visuals can mislead you, ok, but with this simple test the DTF for each boat after sailing 10 minutes has to be equal. No?
Sail Fair.

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