Sailboat Races

I must say I totally sucked at that race LOL

Never had so much FUN tho! After the race I took the boat back to the water void near my home and practiced. I THINK I've got the hang of it LOL

I DO agree that folks should get the Tako a day or two before attempting a race and mess around with it.

I'm by no means an expert at this point, but I'm usually on in the eves 7pm on SL time (PST) and happy to help anyone who wants to give it a go.

Its fun to watch the SL wind speed go from 5 to like .5 in and back up again LOL! I'm learning the art of how much sail works for how much wind....well ok learning SLOWLY rofl.

I havn't been sailing RL in YEARS, so I didn't remember much, but I suppose thats adds to the discovery aspect of sailing in here. Anyhow nuff rambling - THANKS Kanker - great race - great fun!



EDIT: Added pic of me sailing confused LOL

Another really good race...

SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Winner: Oliphant Ming! Race time: 840.000000
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Runner up: Trep Cosmo! Race time: 877.000000
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #3: Tony Beckett! Race time: 1074.000000
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #4: mush Caldera! Race time: 1081.000000
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #5: Jamie Marlin! Race time: 1234.000000

Check out this lap time:
Oliphant Ming: 1 lap(s) completed at time 212.000000
Can you believe that???

Thanks to Tony Beckett, who donated the cash prizes: 1st: $150, 2nd: $50.

Also, my apologies to Ronin Arnaz, whose boat was never detected by the start line. I promise I will hunt down that bug so that this never happens to another racer.

I am trying to get the SLSF Race Start Line system in perfect working order before giving it to some other potential race sponsors. On the horizon... Tako Cup Series. Can you feel the excitement?

Tako Cup Series huh... Will there be bump drafting involved? (I bet nobody on these forums has a clue wtf I'm talking about there)

Well there's bumps, and even triple overbumps, but I've only heard of them in the context of rowing...

I've got Tour de France on the brain so I'm thinking drafting in terms of taking advantage of wind blockage by working the "wake" of the person in front of you.....

Hmmm -- How about Tako Salad Cup?
Bump drafting sounds like the method I've been using in the first two regattas!

Bobby D. says "Sailing in the real thing is much easier I find"
I'm with you on that Bobby - I wonder if those with no RL sailing experience may have the advantage here?

Brace - I sailed around in your area last night for a little while (doing storm cleanup all day)- I had to rez my FT smack dab in the center of your pier, then edit/move it out to where I could jump in. After that, no problemo. (I wish Uncle Linden would give you a few meters of rezzing area around your place).
Also Brace: Lance is probably my only REAL living hero now -- what an inspiration! If he finishes last this time, he's still the winner

Have fun sailors, I'll be hauling debris from Dennis for a while

Very similar idea, Brace.

Alright everyone! It's time for Trep Cosmo's Racing 101: NASCAR Bump Drafting

Bump drafting works like this: You've got two powerful machines racing very close to eachother. One car slips in tight behind the other car. This is called drafting. Behind each car there is a pocket of clean air. This is air that has no turbulence and in some instances is actually flowing backwards (flowing towards the rear of the car "pulling" the air). The benefit of drafting is that you aren't being jostled by the dirty air. Your car isn't struggling against the dirty air, and thus increases speed and saves fuel.

To tie this into RL: When you see the moron driving 5 feet from the back of a big-rig trailer, they are attempting to draft and save fuel. This is also why some of the big-rig guys drive so insanely close. My advice: DON'T DO IT! It's stupid and dangerous!!!

Ahem, so anyway. Back to bump drafting. The bump part of our lesson comes from NASCAR wheras in any other racing league you don't see the bump part because the cars (or bikes or boats) aren't built to withstand the forces. While our rear driver is drafting the car in front, he's also moving forward. Inching closer and closer to the car he's drafting. If the car being drafted isn't fast enough to maintain a lead on the car drafting him, then they're obviously going to collide (or the rear car is going to whip out and make a pass going into the next turn). So what happens if there's a ton of traffic all around our two unlucky drivers? Simple, there's another teammate that people know hardly anything about called the Spotter. They sit waaaay up on top of the grandstands and watch the action and talk to their driver on the radio. What the spotters will do is talk to eachother and make a deal. Driver B's spotter (the guy drafting) will talk to Driver A's spotter (the guy being drafted) and go "Okay, we'll give you a push if you pit with us under green." or maybe "Okay, we'll give you a push if you let us pass at lap 89." Then when an agreement is reached Spotter B will radio Driver B "Give 'em a love tap".

Driver B then takes a very firm grip on the steering wheel and lines up perfectly square behind Driver A. Once they come out of the next turn and line up on the straightaway, Driver B smashes the accelerator even tighter to the floor and rams squarely (notice the word square mentioned twice, that's key or Driver A (and maybe B) will end up spinning out of control) into the back of Driver A. Why does he do that? What does this do? Anybody? Beuller? When Driver B smashes into Driver A he applies all the forward momentum he's got into Driver A, increasing Driver A's momentum and propelling him forward at an extra 10 MPH or so. Now, as everyone knows "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". When Driver B hit Driver A and transfered energy, Driver B lost some of his energy and momentum. So, Driver B slows down. This is why the spotters made a deal.

So in conclusion, bump drafting is a very stupid thing, but in the right circumstances it can become helpful. I've seen a lot of races won because of this technique. However, I've also seen many 10 car pileups because of it too.

And I appologize for the length of my post here. Racing is a topic I loooove to talk about. But if you hit me up in-game keep in mind that I like Indy/open-wheel over NASCAR.

Sorry to derail your NASCAR thread Trep, but I have some sailing-related info .

Sailboat Race
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2005
Time: 5:30PM - 6:15PM (45 minutes)
Location: FairChang Island (140,20
Host: Kanker Greenacre
Category: Sports
Cover Charge? No

Event description: You know the drill. Three times around FairChang Island. First boat across the line wins $150. Second boat wins $50. If you've never sailed the Flying Tako before, you should definitely practice beforehand. Pick up a NON-practice version at my dock in Gray (30,150). Spectators are welcome -- it's a lot of fun to watch!

Haha, that's okay. I'll just re-hijack the thread the next time I get the whim to do so.

Oh yeah, and YAY! More racing! I'm gonna win this time!

[

Anyone think we should start a race series yet?


Yuppers and we are in for hosting one
i will get ahold of you asap

Yes Sir i do and we will be hosting one soon! i'll get ahold of you this week

Hello, We are having a Grand opening AT Zouk City.

Hosting a Sailboat Race on Saturday 16th July . EVent time is as follows.

PLs Report to Minky Mousehold at Zouk City Before 4.20 pm . Race will start 4.30pm Exactly, thankyou.

Prizes are as Follows - 200 L First Place
- 100L - Second Place.

i would like to thank Kanker for helping me set up. ( hopes he can help meee lol)

Follwong the Race willbe a series of activities . But posting on anothr thread lol ;p

Actually this doesn't work so well with RL sailing, you need that wind to drive yourself. In SL there is no 'dirty air' from another sail, but IRL it's really nasty and frustrating. In fact it's a pretty common racing tactic: you sail, if you can, just on the windward side (closer to the wind than them) of the boat you are trying to pass. You get nice clean wind and they get all the turbulent mess your sail spills. You keep on sailing at speed, they suddenly lose all the wind in their sails and slow down and so you seem to shoot by them after struggling to get level.

If you think SL air is messy (which it is), imagine it changing even faster, just like turbulence in a plane...

Sailing the Flying Tako is much like sailing a dingy IRL. The skill of the sailor and their ability to use the winds and their skills in combination is critical to sailing it well.

The winds in SL are random and fickle in the extreme. This makes up, to some extent, for the fact that the Flying Tako won't spill you if you make a mistake, although it can also mean frantic work as you try to sail around in the ever-shifting winds.

Sailing, obviously, uses the wind and the sails to propel you through the water. But once you're moving things change a little as momentum will make you tend to keep moving.

Let's imagine you're completely still in the water (just starting to sail say).

If the wind is blowing from straight ahead of you, you won't be able to go forwards, and will, in fact, be blown backwards. In fact if the wind is within 35 degrees of straight ahead you won't be able to gain any forwards impetus from the winds. This gives you a V-shape from which you need to avoid the winds if possible, shown in Figure A.

Now imagine the other situation, the wind is blowing from dead astern (behind you). Obviously you can get forward impetus from this situation: the wind will push the sail and the boat along. The amount of impetus and thus your maximum speed is defined by the angle of the sail to the vessel. You can't control that angle directly, but using the sheets (the ropes to the sail speaking very loosely) you can limit the maximum angle of the sail between +/- 5 and +/- 90 degrees. If you set the sheet to 90 in this situation the sail will also move out to 90 degrees and catch the maximum wind and push you forwards as fast as possible.

Adjusting the sheet angle to keep the sail angle optimal is what will keep you occupied throughout the race. Thanks to the smart way the HUD is configured working out the optimal angle is easy: you want the sail at -1/2 the wind angle. You can get that by keeping the sheet at half the wind angle if you ignore the sign. Actually, because the winds change faster than the HUD updates you will come to rely on your pennant too, the particle stream from the top of your mast that shows the wind direction more quickly than the HUD, but that will come with practise.

You can adjust the sheet angle by saying 'sheet 10' or 'sheet -10' or similar, or by using the up and down arrow keys. Saying sheet and a positive number e.g. sheet 45 will let the sheet out, as will using the up arrow. Letting the sheet out means the maximum sail angle will increase: the sail can point more out to the side. Saying a negative number, e.g. sheet -50 or the down arrow will decrease the sheet angle, limiting the sail to closer to pointing back along the boat.

Although it may appear perverse in fact you sail fastest with the wind at about +/-40 degrees (that's to one side of ahead, but pretty much ahead still) because the curve of the sail in such circumstances creates aerodynamic thrust (at least, In Real Life), which enables you to sail faster than the wind. You don't have to understand that, but it is worth knowing that sailing at about 40 degrees to the wind is the fastest way to sail.

OK, that's the basics, and for general sailing that's all you need. Find one of those nice empty void sims (Balance actually has a public beach where you can put your boat in Balance (250,240)) and sail on it for a while. You can practise reading the wind and its changes and adjusting the sheets and so on without crashing into anything. Experiment to see where you sail best.

There are other factors. If you are racing there is a distinct 'racing line' that you may want to follow, the shortest route around the course. Actually you should be looking for the quickest route around the course, not the shortest. Imagine starting a race into a headwind. You couldn't start along the shortest course, but sailing at 40 degrees to the shortest route will give you the maximum thrust from that wind and you will sail most quickly over the ground. Judging where and when to turn to keep to that fastest course is part of the art of racing. Figure B shows a tacking course which will let you sail fastest along a course into a headwind.

You can, actually, appear to sail into a headwind, and at certain times you may have to if there is a very constricted part of the course. You can achieve this seeming miracle because of momentum. If you are sailing at, say, 2 m/s and you turn to sail into a headwind you will slow down, but you will keep moving, so you can coast through a constricted area into a headwind, or turn across the wind so you sail on the other tack (offset at 40 degrees on the other side) so you sail as close to straight ahead as possible.

Keeping moving, keeping moving quickly, is always an advantage, because when the wind sudden swirls and is against you it gives you a few moments to respond to the changed wind without it being disastrous.

For those of you with a background in physics and engineering it may not surprise you to hear of something called leeway. This is a sideways movement of the boat as the force of the wind on the sail is not totally directed forwards. Many factors contribute to this, wind angle and strength and sail angle being the main two. In most circumstances, especially in sailing in SL, this is not too significant, but when sailing in tight spaces the tendency of the boat to drift sideways results in you have to make another level of continuous adjustments to your heading and sheets.

In a race, as IRL, there is a flying start option. You are allowed to hit the line already moving when the timer hits 0. Of course getting it wrong imposes a penalty, if you cross early you have to turn around and recross the line going the right way in order to start your race. Getting this just right is a tricky balancing act, but the two people in the most recent practise race who managed this (at 6 and 8 seconds respectively) placed first and second too.

Tips for practise:

Start sailing on a nice empty sim, it will help! Play with the controls and experiment to find what suits you best. Once you're used to handling the boat practise sailing on rivers too. This lets you get used to working out how to sail in restricted water whilst still getting places.

Remember, however, your dingy is a physical object and will scrape on bridges, buildings etc. In fact it is surprisingly wide at the top: there is a prim up there that you can't see for the HUD, and that can get caught on things too.

There is a practise version of the Flying Tako, in which the wind is constant in both speed and direction. This may not be suitable for river travel, but will let you experiment with relating ground speed to wind speed easily, as well as getting used to the controls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing is the wiki page that will contain useful hints, tips and ideas. Google searching will also find many places that supplement their real world sailing classes with web-based resources which can be useful.

--------

This is available in world from the Flying Tako itself, or from Kanker or me. It's also here

Great writeup, thanks!

So for the sheet angle being -1/2 of the wind angle, does that mean that if the wind angle is 100 the sheet should be 50? -80 should be -40?

Sail angle at -1/2, so wind at 100, sail at -50, wind at -80, sail at 40.

The sheet angle is always positive 5-90º. So for those two examples the sheet angle should be 50 and 40 respectively.

Glad it was useful.

WOOT thanks El!

I did some tacking yesterday mainly using The Force cuz really I had no clue LOL

This writeup will help me actually KNOW what I'm doing next time ty!
HUGGSS



EDIT: oooh and Rmike I gonna have the excellent Grey Mars try to reconfigure the dock area so its more rez friendly I agree..I'd have liked a bit more water on the strip along that side...ah wells

For now I'll just move the Venus Rising statue so people can plunk they boats down in the berths next to my FairChang Sailer Enjoy!

I can understand the sail angle as thats the angle of the boom to the centre of the boat. but I am not sure where sheet angle is measured from and how it relates to sail angle. Sometimes it seems sheet and sail angles are the same. Sometimes different. Is there a diagram showing where these angles are measured.

Sheet angle and boom/sail angle are measured from the same place.

Sheet angle is the maximum sail angle you will permit. Ideally they are always equal in magnitude, and the sail angle is -1/2 the wind angle, sheet angle is |1/2 wind angle| or |sail angle| if you prefer.

But sheets are ropes, at least in this context, so they don't force the sail out, they limit how far it can go. Imagine you've been sailing along with a nice steady (well I did say imagine) wind at +90º. The sail wants to stream away from the wind at -90º but you've adjusted the sheet to 45º and the sail angle is at -45º. You blink (or sail in SL) and the wind shifts to -40º. Your sheet angle remains 45º until you adjust it. But now the sail will stream in the wind at +40º because it can just fly straight back from the wind, which is what it wants to do. This streaming back is also called being 'in irons.'

As you sheet in, and get to 39º sheet, suddenly you're constraining the sail (slightly) and the sail angle falls to +39º too. Once you reach 20º sheet angle the sail will be at +20º and you'll be sailing the ideal line.

If it shifts again, this time to +150º the sail will try to stream to -150º, but the sheets constrain it to 20º so it will gybe to -20º. As you let the sheets out towards 75º the sheet angle and the sail angle will always be equal in magnitude because where the sail wants to reach is always further out that the sheet angle.

Does that help? If not I'll try to make up some diagrams.

Yes Eloise, that helps a great deal. I was initially curious as to where sheet angle was measured from. I remember when I was last sailing the sheet was tied to a bottom block on the traveller, through a top block and back through the bottom block where it was held. So all I can imagine is the angle between the mainsheet and boom decreasing as the sail angle increases. If that makes sense.

I've got the beard. All I need now is the life jacket and the silly cap

Wow, great race, people. Just... great.

14JUL2005, 17:30

SLSF Race Start Line: Race Results:
SLSF Race Start Line: 1: Eloise Pasteur - +00:17:10 <--- $150
SLSF Race Start Line: 2: Millie Thompson - +00:18:04 <--- $50
SLSF Race Start Line: 3: Kanker Greenacre - +00:18:05
SLSF Race Start Line: 4: Verkin Raven - +00:18:11
SLSF Race Start Line: 5: Oliphant Ming - +00:18:14
SLSF Race Start Line: 6: Trep Cosmo - +00:18:15
SLSF Race Start Line: 7: mush Caldera - +00:18:23

Lap Times:

SLSF Race Start Line: Millie Thompson starts at time 12.000000
SLSF Race Start Line: Oliphant Ming starts at time 13.000000
SLSF Race Start Line: Kanker Greenacre starts at time 19.000000
SLSF Race Start Line: ziphren Moonflower starts at time 20.000000

SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Kanker Greenacre: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:05:35
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Verkin Raven: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:05:36
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Oliphant Ming: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:05:41
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Eloise Pasteur: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:05:43
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: mush Caldera: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:05:46
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Millie Thompson: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:06:18

SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Kanker Greenacre: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:25
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: mush Caldera: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:32
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Trep Cosmo: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:39
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Verkin Raven: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:41
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Eloise Pasteur: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:47
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Oliphant Ming: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:10:00
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Millie Thompson: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:10:04

SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Trep Cosmo: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:07
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: mush Caldera: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:09
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Kanker Greenacre: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:13
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Eloise Pasteur: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:17
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Verkin Raven: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:19
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Oliphant Ming: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:22
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Millie Thompson: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:39

SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Winner: Eloise Pasteur! Race time: 1030.000000
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: Runner up: Millie Thompson! Race time: 1084.000000
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #3: Kanker Greenacre! Race time: +00:18:05
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #4: Verkin Raven! Race time: +00:18:11
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #5: Oliphant Ming! Race time: +00:18:14
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #6: Trep Cosmo! Race time: +00:18:15
SLSF Race Start Line shouts: #7: mush Caldera! Race time: +00:18:23

Race results provided by Minky Mousehold...

Finishers:
Winner: Jim Bunderfeld! Race time: +00:16:19
Runner up: Eloise Pasteur! Race time: +00:16:41
#3: Bobby Dayton! Race time: +00:17:58
#4: mush Caldera! Race time: +00:18:05
#5: Potor Edo! Race time: +00:18:34

Lap Times:
Jim Bunderfeld starts at time +00:00:05
Bobby Dayton starts at time +00:00:07
mush Caldera starts at time +00:00:07
Dunpeal Lumiere starts at time +00:00:10
Eloise Pasteur starts at time +00:00:12
Arshile Gorky starts at time +00:00:32
Potor Edo starts at time +00:00:38
mush Caldera: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:03:17
Bobby Dayton: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:03:20
Jim Bunderfeld: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:03:24
Eloise Pasteur: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:04:20
Potor Edo: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:04:29
Arshile Gorky: 1 lap(s) completed at time +00:05:14
Bobby Dayton: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:06:22
Jim Bunderfeld: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:06:31
Eloise Pasteur: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:06:32
Potor Edo: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:06:48
mush Caldera: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:06:53
Arshile Gorky: 2 lap(s) completed at time +00:07:49
Jim Bunderfeld: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:27
Eloise Pasteur: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:09:31
Bobby Dayton: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:10:01
Potor Edo: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:10:51
mush Caldera: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:10:59
Jim Bunderfeld: 4 lap(s) completed at time +00:13:19
Eloise Pasteur: 4 lap(s) completed at time +00:13:35
mush Caldera: 4 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:21
Bobby Dayton: 4 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:35
Potor Edo: 4 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:37
Arshile Gorky: 3 lap(s) completed at time +00:14:40

Hi all,

Just in case you don't live near rivers and/or lakes I've bought a 512m2 plot in Gualala (SLSF Quayside, Gualala 105, 245) which is right next to a navigable river system and island system (SW through Jenner etc.) and also an easy sail out onto the formerly void sims lake of Evans, Maloney, Misso, Paroo, Mohi, Omidyar, Kremer, Rachleff, Naveh and Shelef. A quick sail through Welsh and then NW gives you more open water with larger islands for an intermediate level of practise. It's also close to the nearest telehub.

There is space for 4 Tako's to be rezzed at once, and prims for that too.

Kanker has put the Flying Tako on sale there.

I'm selling a rope texture and there is also a donation box. I will split donations and proceeds from the rope texture sales with SLSF 50-50, to help me cover tier and the purchase price and to help SLSF continue to reward successful racers with prize money.

Other relevant sales from low prim boxes on a similar or better donation to SLSF will also be welcomed.

The location is now group land, so please feel free to use it as a meeting point for your races. Space is limited, so you will need to encourage people to rez their Takos and move away, but there is space to rez several at once.

Happy sailing and good winds.

Hey! We'll have an SLSF race on Wednesday, starting around 3 pm SL time. We're trying a new course, starting from Aphrodite Wishbringer's marina in Takes (25,125), going around the two big islands (Baffin and Celebes) in the Great Inland Sea, and finishing back at the marina. Oliphant Ming claims to have made this trip in 20 minutes, but we'll establish the official record time on Wed with the Official SLSF Race Start Line and Lap Counter (OSLSFRSLLC). Please show up before the countdown begins so you can put your Tako in and pick your unique ID#. Aphrodite will (hopefully) post the race to the events board tomorrow -- be sure to click the "Notify" button! Prizes: $150 for 1st, $50 for 2nd.