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Board » General Discussion » Cutting Corners & Unwritten Rules

Posted by
Exmeromotu


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71
Registered at
2008-12-10 15:22:17
2010-05-19 15:01:17 - Cutting Corners & Unwritten Rules
Cutting Corners & Unwritten Rules

First things first; if my SLI jumping has caused any grief to anyone I sincerely apologize. I play this game not to win, but to hone my tactical and navigational (routing) skills. If my actions have taken away some level of the pleasure of the “SOL Experience” to anybody I am truly sorry. It is not my intention to take anything away from anybody, for that I am deeply sorry.
But I want to clear the air up a little bit information wise and I quote;

From the wiki Sailonline Manual:

“1.8. Cutting corners
Due to the implementation on the server, (that boats are moved in steps) a boat may actually cut a little land corner that was smaller than the step. It can happen to all boats but is nothing to rely on. Since small islands in SOL are called Sneaky Little Islands (SLI) this phenomena is called SLI-jumping. SLI-jumping is allowed. “

From the PDF Manual

“5.3 The chart and the race boundaries
The shorelines are supplied by the US National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). Resolution may vary
depending on the race type. Important to notice is that what you see is what there is. Be aware of small
islands but all water is deep and sailable. Your boat can naturally only sail on water. If you collide with
land the boat will stop, be pulled out from the coastline some distance and be somewhat damaged. The
damage is expressed as a certain drop in boat speed (performance). This loss in performance is temporary
and will vanish in a number of hours. Since the boat has stopped you need to send a new command to set
the boat on a new course. Due to the implementation on the server, a boat may actually cut a little land
corner at special occasions. It can happen to all boats but is nothing to calculate on.”

As you can read, all boats are capable of SLI jumping, it is allowed in the rules, and it is up to each skipper to weigh the risks and rewards of such a maneouver which is perfect simulation of sailing in shallow waters IRL. Each and everyone of us has heeled their boats on purpose to get by a shallow part of the course IRL. I’ve gotten away with it IRL, and I also have my fair share of groundings and weekend$$ lo$t working on my keel and bulb!!

Is heeling your boat over in IRL to get over a shallow (reef) cheating?

I think not, it’s just a part of racing IRL where you have to weigh your risks vs. your rewards.

Nevertheless, I stand corrected on the SOL unwritten rule on SLI jumping, and I promise you will not see any SLI jumping on my part again.

Once again I regret the SLI jumping episodes and I sincerely apologize, an “Unwritten rules manual” or “SOL Racing Etiquette” should be created to keep everybody informed.

Godspeed and Fair Winds to All.

Regards,

Toño









Posted by
Schakel


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Posts
183
Registered at
2008-12-19 09:19:00
2010-05-19 15:40:36 - Re: Cutting Corners & Unwritten Rules
As far as I am concerned, you have nothing to apologise for. I have seen various people SLI jump intentionally and untentionally, including a magnificent and deliberate jump by Jakob. One truly great jump was made a few hours after the start in the SOL leg Quindao to Rio.

People complaining about SLI jumping are IMNSHO lacking creativity. With the new rounding rules, much of the creativity in finding routing solutions has disappeared from the game resulting in rather boring, follow-the-leader exercises. While demanding a more RL like sailing experience, people tend to forget this is just a game: there's no currents, no tides, no getting cold, no hitting sea mammals, no danger of getting killed by getting a good night's sleep.

I will continue to jump as I see fit. So you all might as well jump, too!

http://tinyurl.com/34w87rn

Philip

Posted by
StuArt


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118
Registered at
2008-11-15 22:03:54
2010-05-19 22:53:48 - Re: Cutting Corners & Unwritten Rules
Thanks Toño for your clear words and for your penalty. It was a good exsample for sportmanship. To be honest, I didn't like Sli jumping - but your IRL exsample was an eye opener for me and you're right there.

regards

Berth / StuArt
Posted by
Capt.D.P.


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Posts
66
Registered at
2009-10-27 01:51:32
2010-05-22 21:43:08 - Re: Cutting Corners & Unwritten Rules
Hey TONO EX,
in my opinion you did not have to stop before arrival in that race.We have discussed it in some earlier races and comity agreed that SLI jumping is allowed even if I and many others were contrary to it.They explained it is the part of the program.However SLI jumping is risky especially if it is a longer jump.
In practice races organized by RAINBOW CHASER once I made the route where the SLI jump over one island was obligatory or if the boat did not wish to jump had to do somewhat longer route.Only one of 10 boats was afraid enough and did that longer route.The rest of us were afraid too but we jumped.However one of the boats got grounded and 8 passed.The boat that grounded lost a lot of performance.In that case the risk was 1 against 8 but it could have been different though.Therefore the SLI jump is the risk too,so if the program allows it, than those who like the risks let them jump.

--- Last Edited by Capt.D.P. at 2010-05-22 22:35:07 ---

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