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 » Technical Support » Bluewater soft

Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

Hi Exmer,

I still don't understand why I have so much differences between Sol and BW wind... so I tried to make it work for the Chicago-Mckinac race.

1st file shows you what I got with Brain's file, 2nd one with Ugrib file

The 3rd one is what I got after having removed and reinstalled BW entirely... still no improvement !

What can I do wrong ?

Thanks a lot
Attachments
Joshua,

I will look into it. I haven't gone to the Chicago Mac race area yet so I don't know what the weather is like. But I kept doing my Expedition and Bluewater comparison on the Scurry race with interesting results. I used brainaids grib files for both software programs. I modified Bluewaters polars as per Bluewaters manual ( The 2nd TWA in a line is the best VMG upwind angle for that windspeed. The
2nd to last TWA is the best VMG downwind angle for that windspeed). Once again expedition had to be "coaxed" into routing on water with the addition of exclusion zones. Miraculously Bluewater routed over water, and didn't hit any land! I selected the Scurry race at this time because of the upwind scenario and a shift that required navigate close to land to see how each software performed. No human intervention. Bluewater tended to use better upwind angles than Expedition with the Bluewater routed boat getting to Sea Lion island nearly 1 mile directly upwind of the Expedition boat. Expedition liked to point a more into the wind than necessary, however both softwares had strectches with crazy TWA's (25 deg.) Attached is a pic of the comparison. Later today I will do the comparison downwind to see how they perform on the gybing angles. The blue track is the Bluewater boat (Green Onions) the red track is the Expedition boat (Exmeromotu). Both programs interpolated the wind extremely close to the SOL wind.

Cheers
Attachments
Joshua

Your case is a mystery to me! I went to the Chicago Mac race and the weather from Bluewater is pretty much the same as SOL's. Check the attached pics with weather readings at the start mark.

SOL weather at 12 Z on Start Mark: 3.3 kts @ 242
BW weather at 12 Z on Start Mark 3.4 kts @ 243

These are the "cursor" readings at the location.
For Bluewater I used brainaids grib file weather_51_global_gfs_20100720_1030.grb

BW weather reading at cursor is in the picture at the lower right hand corner. SOL weather reading at cursor in the picture at upper right hand corner.

Cheers


--- Last Edited by Exmeromotu at 2010-07-20 11:55:05 ---
Attachments
Huh - I didn't know that brain's weather was sol weather. It works perfectly for me as well.

A couple of ideas:

Bluewater does strange things interpolating the weather timewise. The default timestep is 3h or so. I don't know how much penalty you pay for reducing this, but anything more than ~10m is going to cause problems.

There are about 6 different places to select zulu time and true North...

Exmer - when you are seeing angles inside VMG in Expedition are they in ()? Most routing allows for a tack or gybe on a leg, which exp indicates with brackets. The twa is the average.

Watch out for the above on polar-hops as well.

Argh
Thanks again Exmer and 76, I did everything I could imagine to get the right wind, but there is still very big differences between Sol and BW datas...

Did you change something after the installation of BW in the settings for the grib files ?
Joshua,

Go to the Tools menu on Bluewater, select Preferences, on that window check your time as Zulu time and click Save. I have all my settings and all my inputs are in ZULU time, it just makes it easier. Make sure all your times are in Zulu time on the Route Manager and on your individual routes. Now load a grib file (preferably the one from brainaids site due to its relationship with SOL weather) and verify that the weather matches. The only reason for your weather not matching must be that your date and time are out of whack somewhere as 76T implies. Let me know a day and time that time you are active on the chat so we can work through it.

Regards,

Hi 76,

What do you mean by Polar Hops?

Here's a picture of Expedition how I have it set up with Brainaides info feeding into it.

Cheers Undercover
Attachments
We try to avoid sailing in any "dent" on the polar, like the one that typically shows up ~120 between up and downwind sail suits. Last entry on 76trombones.wordpress.com has a quick discussion.

If you are using a 10m timestep and the routing wants you to sail 150 for 5m and 90 for 5m, it'll return 120twa. No blindly following the numbers!

Different software deals with this (and the upwind cases etc) in different ways. Obviously none of the commercial ones are intended for sailing with "perfect" wind, so to-the-second timing isn't really necessary.

That's quite the tactical setup! :)

Sorry It's Exmer didn't notice that 76T had already answered your question UC. Cheers!!

--- Last Edited by Green Onions at 2010-07-20 21:18:30 ---

Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m


Current Races:

Magical Mediterranean 2026 - Benghazi to Korcula

We return to Antiquity’s Middle Sea for a seventh celebration of all things Mediterranean - fickle winds, history and olive oil. This time we will sail from ancient Benghazi, whence once grain shipped continuously to feed Rome’s urban masses, to the medieval Venetian thalassocracy’s port of Korcula, birthplace of Marco Polo; 700nm in classy Club Swan 50s!
Race #1978
INFO by brainaid.de
Club Swan 50 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: MED - SYC
Race starts: Jul 27th 15:00 Registration Open!

▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Red Eye 2026 - Georgian Bay

Welcome to the sensational scenic Georgian Bay of northern Lake Huron, the first area of the Great Lakes to be visited by Europeans in 1615, so former SOLer A2R informed us when he designed this geometrically tortuous course of 317nm criss-cross through its island maze. Originally known as Lake Manitoulin, in 1822 the bay was renamed after King George IV after his succession to the throne. This time we’ll take the very flashy Fareast 31R, which hopefully should keep you wide awake!
Race #2051
INFOby brainaid.de
Fareast 31R PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: RED - SYC
Race starts: Jul 26th 08:00 Registration will open soon
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Tall Ships 2026 - Stavanger to Aalborg


Welcome to the fourth of four virtual Tall Ships Races in European waters which are concurrently being organized in-real-life by Sail Training International . This fourth race is from Stavanger in Norway into the Skaggerak to a finish off Denmark’s Aalborg and perhaps an Aquavit to toast the adventure afterwards – a final circa 250nm in Sailonline’s classic Clipper 240.
NOTE: Starts and Finishes in tall ships racing are always offshore to avoid conflict with shipping and shipping lanes; online and real-life may not match exactly.
Race #1995
INFO by brainaid.de
Clipper 240 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: TSI - SUPBUD - SYC
Race starts: Jul 25th 16:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Chinook Salmon - Canada to Andreanovs


A year after spawning in the upper reaches of the rivers of British Columbia, Chinook Salmon develop the age-old urge, so familiar to SOLers, to go to sea, heading for different parts of the northern Pacific Ocean. This race catches up with a particular school with an instinctive memory for the Andreanov Islands far west on the Aleutian Islands chain, as they depart the Salian Sea between Vancouver Island and the San Juans. It’s 2200nm and we’re taking the 60ft Trimaran, in the hope we can keep up!
Race #2048
INFOby brainaid.de
60ft Trimaran PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: MIG - SYC
Race starts: Jul 21st 11:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Juventud TIMED Race 2026

Welcome to Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth), Cuba’s second largest island after mainland Cuba. Known as a haven for pirates, the island was the inspiration for novels “Treasure Island” and “Peter Pan”. The circa 120nm course runs clockwise around the island.
This is a TIMEDrace so you may RE-REGISTER HEREto try again after finishing a run. You will have two weeks to test your skill and decision making after the race opens.
Race #2049
INFOby brainaid.de
The boat for this race is the sporty Mini 6.5p Foil PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
TRQ3 - TRCH - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
1 August at 23:00 UTC
Race starts: Jul 19th 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Alaska to Easter Island 2026

Welcome to yet another all-new series. The initial leg of the RNW (Round the New World), Alaska to Easter Island, also part of our Ocean Championship. The first race of OCQ3 2026. This race will be sailed in our revised 'version 2' Imoca 60 Foil. Race #2042
INFO by brainaid.de
Imoca 60 Foil v2 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: OCQ3 - RNW - OCCH - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
August 1 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Jul 06th 11:00 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 Panpyc
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member cdhinman
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member bonknhoot
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member ms0689
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member sassy63
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member ita10267

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

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

The mobile client