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Profile for Chappo



Name Chappo
Email Address peter@mindmechanics.com.au
AvatarUsers avatar
Posts53
  • 2012-05-24 23:23:08
    Re: Minor Beta update 23 May
    Board » Technical Support
    Aaron
    There seems to be no limit to the clever, convenient enhancements you keep adding. Your Optimum Angles tool saves me a lot of computing time, many thanks (and my wife says thanks too!)
  • 2011-12-12 03:18:44
    Re: SOL World Race: Leg 2 Analysis
    Board » Flag Officers » Races
    I have been tweeting Askel Magdahl, the navigator on Sanya who pulled off that clever passing move to win the Rio leg of the last Volvo race on Eriksen 3. He said he uses Expedition and Deckman plus some of his own routing software. I wonder what course he is working on for this Dhabi leg??
  • 2011-11-21 02:22:01
    Re: General System Spec - to aid SOL development
    Board » Technical Discussion
    3 year old desktop, 19 inch screen accessing via Firefox

    Microsoft Windows XP Professional
    Intel Core2 6400 2.13GHz @ 2128 MHz
    Graphics Card: 256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO

    2046 MB System RAM (Score: 104)
    - RAM Speed: 3191 MB/s

    CPU Tests (Score: 210)
    - Floating Point Operations/Second: 50669288
    - Integer Operations/Second: 123177326
    - MD5 Hashes Generated/Second: 710277

    Graphics Tests (Score: 33)
    - 3D Frames Per Second: 112

    Hardware Tests (Score: 10)
    - Primary Partition Capacity: 298 GB
    - Drive Write Speed: 11 MB/s

    Nova Bench score 354

    Internet download rate 1.78 Mbps

    Screen resolution 1280 by 1024
  • 2011-06-02 11:00:39
    Re: Gain or loss by using TWA
    Board » Technical Support
    How do you find time for work Aaron, you have been very busy creating tools, updating your blog, being very competitive in SOL and now working on SOL development! That sounds like a very flash tool you are working on so I will keep an eye on your blog. Thanks for your great work.
  • 2011-06-02 04:25:14
    Re: Gain or loss by using TWA
    Board » Technical Support
    *8MR, I am not an IT guru but wouldn't these choices be made by the SOL server when you are looking at the forum and perhaps it is configures any large attachments that cannot physically be displayed in the message as attachments only.
  • 2011-06-02 02:58:29
    Re: Gain or loss by using TWA
    Board » Technical Support
    8MR, I see the diagram embedded in the post and as an attachment too?
  • 2011-06-02 02:54:50
    Re: Gain or loss by using TWA
    Board » Technical Support
    Excellent summary 76. I presume it is not to scale but broadly highlights the distance differences. It certainly makes a good case for twa but as Aaron notes, just because the fast yachts have curved tracks, often actually reflects continuously adjusting VMC sailing rather than TWA sailing.
  • 2011-06-02 01:46:19
    Re: Gain or loss by using TWA
    Board » Technical Support
    Good points Aaron, it is easy to work with confidence when plotting within 6 hour weather cycles, much more challenging after 6 hours so CC is a safe option. We have all seen some big shift between weather updates. I note you mentioned you have written a small tool that calculates both max VMG (for upwind & downwind) for a given TWS – , and also maximum VMC given input of TWS, TWD and a CC to the waypoint. Does it link to an uploaded polar or does it just require manual input based on different angles and BS from the polar at the time you choose to do a calc. Is that tool available for download somewhere? I use my simple worksheet attached for my max VMC calcs. I find it pretty good downwind, can be misleading upwind.
  • 2011-05-30 23:14:02
    Re: Can't get rankings and race leaderboards
    Board » Technical Support
    Thanks Jack. Yep I am on the work computer where I am getting the Leaderboard and Rankings. I will check my home PC.
  • 2011-05-30 02:50:42
    Re: Gain or loss by using TWA
    Board » Technical Support
    I have taken advantage of the speed difference of CC or TWA in different races and yachts. I am not an expert but I think the differences come from various factors such as the shape and position you are sailing on the polar, whether you are sailing into a heading or lifting wind change and whether you are going upwind or downwind. So even though the CC is a shorter course, that advantage can often be offset by the fact that the last part of the CC course is so much slower than the TWA course (when sailing upwind into a header, or at the start of a CC course into a freeing wind change, the CC course is much slower than the TWA course.

Races

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Current Races:

Beketov by Balloon 2026 - In Siberia


Way-back-when France and England, and Spain as well, were squabbling about who should control what of North America, only to lose the most of it to their own insurging colonists, their eastern European neighbour empire, Russia, was quietly assimilating vast, thinly nomadically populated territory of its own – Siberia! Amongst the many explorers and adventurers that served Russia so well in these conquests was the Cossack hetman Pyotr Beketov. Let’s pretend we’re he and eschewing horseback, let’s travel by balloon from Yekaterinberg to Krasnoyarsk – just a short 2000km (1100nm) section of the Trans-Siberian Express’ 9289km!
Race #1972
INFOby brainaid.de
SOL Balloon PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: BOL - SYC
Race starts: Feb 03rd 13:00 Registration Open!
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West Papua to Oregon 2026

Our next race in our Ocean Championships is the first of a series of great natural migrations we will track in 2026. The leatherback turtle is the most widely distributed marine reptile on planet Earth, and chooses to breed in warm tropical waters, but prefers to forage in more temperate habitats, travelling thousands and thousands of miles effortlessly annually to maintain this way of life. Our race will follow one of the typical trips of this turtle, from breeding grounds in the seas off West Papua to the coast of Oregon. It’s only 5900nm, so to keep up, but in comfort, we’ll follow in our Gunboat 90.
Race #2006
INFO by brainaid.de
GB 90 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: OCQ1 - OCCH - MIG - SYC
Race starts: Feb 02nd 11:00 Registration Open!
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Race to Up Helly Aa 2026

A-OI!!! The fiery spirit of Shetland’s legendary Up Helly Aa returns, and Sailonline’s annual race to Lerwick is once again upon us. Covering 383 nautical miles from Aberdeen, SOLers will tackle winter waters steeped in Viking tradition. This year, we race the classic Frers 33, a proven cruiser-racer born from the golden era of offshore racing and still a sturdy performer both on the virtual and real water. Can you master the course and reach Lerwick in time for the flames?

SAILING NOTE: Gruney may be approached from any direction but must be passed for rounding purposes as indicated on the chart.
Race #2005
INFO by brainaid.de
Frers 33 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
SYC
Race starts: Jan 30th 17:00 Registration Open!
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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 CLOSE: Monday,
February 2 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Jan 27th 12:00 Registration Open!
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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 CLOSE: Monday,
February 2 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Jan 22nd 07:00 Registration Closed
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