Fleet Commentary

Top tier: Myrrh. Right now, Myrrh is the fastest sailor in second life. Precise, consistent, mistake free, excellent understanding of courses, ideal lines, ideal trim, and the ability to turn that understanding into performance. In a word Myrrh executes. Myrrh represents the current pinnacle of second life sailing, and is the standard that the rest of us measure against... and fall short of. Expect Myrrh to win 9 out of 10 starts.

Second tier: Faykin. Fast, consistent, but more prone to mistakes than Myrrh. Good technique, solid understanding of course lines and boat trim, but not as polished in execution as Myrrh. If Myrrh makes mistakes, Faykin is a serious contender... but Myrrh rarely makes mistakes, so Faykin is solidly 2nd tier. Expect Faykin to win 9 out of 10 starts that Myrrh isn't in... and come in second 9 out of 10 when Myrrh does start. The only sailor that stands any chance of upsetting Myrrh, but not able to consistently execute at Myrrh's level. If Faykin were to practice and polish, he might be able to reach Myrrh's level, but it's just not happening now.

Third tier: Cory, Jamey, Arrekusu, Skippy, Oliphant, Static. Fast, accurate sailors. They are in 3rd tier because they make mistakes. Any of these sailors has the speed, the knowledge of the course, and the understanding of how to wring the utmost out of their boats, but their mistakes keep them out of running for wins... as long as Myrrh or Faykin are in the race. If those 2 aren't in the race, then any of these skippers can claim the win... and it's too close to call right now.

Arrekusu: Amazing improvements over the last 2 weeks. 30% reduction in times during this time period. Fast, but also prone to mistakes. Practice and polish can put her near the top. A wildcard at this time, because of the rate of improvement. If she continues improving at her current rate, expect to see her knocking Faykin off his perch next week. Will she plateau, or continue to rise? The cinderella story of this series so far.

Cory and Jamey: A little sloppy. If they sail cleanly, both have shown they can beat Faykin... but in the longer races, they usually makes enough mistakes to put them out of the running. Great improvement over the last month... went from no-name sailors to serious contenders. Not really a threat to win the cup at this time, but if they polish their work over the next few weeks...

Skippy: Very fast. I don't know her style well enough to figure out where her weaknesses are... she seems to be just as fast as the top sailors on any given leg, but doesn't keep it thru the race. Is she sloppy in the turns? Is she losing focus on the less critical legs? I'm not sure, but she seems to turn in times consistent with the other 3rd tier sailors. Keep an eye on her, she's got something special.

Static: Doesn't seem to be in the series anymore. Would be a serious contender if he was... and got over his distaste for gesture control.

Oliphant: Once THE top sailor in Second Life, Oliphant seems to be facing challenges keeping up with the newest crop of sailors. Will he up his game to keep up with the young pups? He's got the talent, but will he put in the practice and hone his skills to the point where he's actually a threat? Time will tell, but right now, he's solidly in the 3rd tier... and slipping.

4th tier: Everyone else. Mistakes, sailing technique, course technique, something is keeping the rest of the sailors from keeping up with the others. None of the other sailors, at this time, represent a viable threat to the 3rd tier sailors. Will someone come out of the ranks and start knocking down the current crop of fast skippers? We can only stay tuned, and hope.

There is a pattern here... All the best sailors know how to precisely trim their boats. All of them know how to approach a course to go fast. If you want to race well, there is no substitue for this knowledge. What is seperating the best from the very good is simply mistakes.

Myrrh makes the least. Faykin makes a bit more than Myrrh. 3rd tier racers make noticeably more than Myrrh and Faykin.

Second life sailing has become a race of mistakes. In that way, SL sailing has joined the ranks of mature competitions... where the top contenders can all do well, and the winner is the one who screws up the least. Congratulations on growing up, Second Life Sailing!

Wow; such a flattering write-up nearly leaves me too bashful to reply! I perceive similar tiers of sailors, but I don't think we have anyone truly in the top class yet, nor even the second-from-top. You're correct in assessing that the hallmark of a mature sport is when it becomes a game of mistakes, but I think you're only looking at one half of the equation, that of the skipper...

Firstly, yes, there is a group of a half-dozen or so skippers who have mastered sailing the Tako to its limits. I'd rank myself, Faykin, Kanker, Suzanne, Static, Mel, Silkie, and Chase all at that level, some of us in better form than others due to recent practice.

That's where the next tier of skippers come in, folks who are capable of sailing the Tako to its limits, but for whatever reason don't find the optimal line quite as intuitively nor trim quite as efficiently just yet. Skippy, Oliphant, Cory, Pacifien - gosh, I know I must be leaving out some names but I don't get out sailing in club regattas as often these days as I used to. Any one of these skippers can give the first tier a lot to fear if they're out of practice or make a mistake, and on a good day these folks are neck-in-neck with the leaders throughout every leg of the course. Any one of them could cross over with a month's consistent practice.

The third tier of fleet leaders are skippers who clearly understand what it takes to sail the Tako to its limits but need a bit more regular experience for optimal trim and lines to make the leap from an intellectual process to an intuitive process. These people can mix it up with the second tier and come out ahead as much as half the time, but it's unlikely that they'll beat a first-tier skipper on anything but a really bad day. Jamey, Arrekusu, MarkTwain, and a handful of other club regulars are at this level, with Arrekusu and Jamey at the borderline for the next tier up and moving fast.

The rest of the fleet is pretty much graded along lines of experience - Nber, Pixeleen, or Theodore, for example, will generally sail better than anyone who isn't a club regular, but none of this tier is a consistent threat to anyone in the upper three groups. For these folks, it's a matter of analysis, preparation, and drilling to get a firmer understanding of what it takes to sail the Tako to its limits.

But like I said, boathandling is only half of the equation. For any two skippers of equivalent skill, subtle mistakes are only one small part of the game, as tactics can become a far greater differentiator. Clearly, this game - a moving chess match, really - doesn't have the opportunity to blossom until it's played out amongst a fleet of skippers all capable of sailing the Tako to its limits. We've barely touched the surface of tactical sailing in this summer's regattas, but we're getting there and the series stands to mature into something very exciting as a result.

Nobody has mastered sailing tactically yet. I've met a couple of RL racers on the water who demonstrate this level of expertise, but aren't actively sailing in SLSF-affiliated regattas, likely for lack of proficiency amongst the competitors.

I'll be blunt. Amongst our active fleet, only Pixeleen and MarkTwain are even contenders for tactical prowess, and as crippled as they are by boathandling issues, it's difficult to gauge if they're any better than second-rank status. They're both prone to tactical errors by overextending themselves aggressively, on the rare occasions that they're afforded the opportunity to sail tactically. They clearly know what it takes to execute big-picture strategic maneuvers, but would probably need at least a month's solid practice in a consistently tactical environment to develop an intuitive response properly attuned to the situation at hand.

Third-rank tacticians, those with a firm understanding of the essentials but not really thinking strategically yet, would include myself, Faykin, Oliphant, Static, Chase, and anyone else practiced enough to recognise and respond to tactical situations on the fly, but not quite up to implementing big-picture strategies reflexively. This is a difficult category to place people in based upon fleet performance, as tactics have been so seldomly utilised to date. I've only just within the past couple of weeks reached the point where I can confidently rank myself at this level. Theodore, Kanker, Suzanne, and Pacifien might be contenders for this rank, too.

Fourth-rank tacticians are those with a good understanding of ROW, but little experience in practice. The folks can analyse right-of-way situations after the fact, but it's still more of an intellectual than an intuitive process, perhaps a touch too much to juggle in the heat of racing. Most of our top-tier skippers, the folks listed in the upper three boathandling levels, are in this category. These folks are soundly above the rest of the fleet in ROW situations, but still need a bit more practice to recognise tactics as they're happening.

Grading sailors overall, I think it's clear that the top class would require simultaneous mastery of both boathandling and tactics. The second class would require a mixture of first or second-tier skipper and tactician skills, for example, if Mark were to master sailing the Tako to its limits, or if I were to develop my own tactical awareness and execution to match that of Mark and Pixeleen. Third class sailing is where the importance of tactics starts to break down, as you can't force ROW against a boat you can't keep up with - I'd loosely group all of our first and second tier skippers in this category. From there, sailing classes dissipate into a looser agglomeration of tactical and boathandling skills, probably any strictly third tier skippers or first rank tacticans lumped into this overall fourth class, and everybody else with reasonable regatta experience included in a general pool below that.

None of this takes into account the advantages teamwork can offer in the SLSF Cup series. Imagine if Oli practiced hard for a week or two until he could consistently match anyone who's mastered the Tako, and then teamed up with Pixeleen on tactics until they could function together as an intuitive team. We'd be looking at our premiere second-class Challenger overall, well-nigh unstoppable until another team rose to the same class.

That's the sort of thing I'm excited to see develop.

I protest, wait I don't know the ROW, I don't know how. Nuts, now I have to go study something else. See you all on the water and while I keep practicing I promise to learn the ROW.

HA! See, I knew the names we'd forgotten would come crawling out of the woodwork...

You're very good, Svar, I look forward to seeing you competing amongst next season's Challengers.

This thread is to provide a nice home for discussion of regatta performances, season progress, sailor evaluations, that sort of thing. Enjoy!

(Incidentally, after Saturday's performance, I'm ready to bump up my evaluation of Jamey's sailing another notch or two.)

I challenge Faykin and Myrrh to a race without gestures.

...i'm there, with bells on...

I'm game!

I'm bringing mah cow shooter, tho!

--Faykin

Faykin's racer analysis.

Jamey Sismondi.

But you didn't need me to tell you that. Just look at the results from the last regatta.

Why was Jamey the clear winner in Saturday's regatta?

There are 4 elements to sailing fast in Second Life, and they are NOT all equal.

First, boat handling. If you can't hit a line and trim your sails, you aren't in contention. Quite simply, the top sailors can all do this, and do it well. This is a critical skill.

Second, course knowledge. Knowing the fast lines and how to trim for them is a critical skill. This can actually be broken into 2 sub catagories, general sailing lines and specific course lines, but I'm gonna leave it lumped together as course knowledge. This is a critical skill. All the top sailors have this.

Third, sim management. Knowing how to manage lag, sim crossings, time dialation, et. al.. This is a somewhat less critical skill. If you have the other 2 skillsets dialed, this can put you over the top. However, until you dial the other 2 skillsets, sim management isn't going to make the difference at the finish line.

Forth, ROW tactics. If you are handling your boat precisely, hitting the ideal lines on the course consistantly, managing simulation issues effectively, and racing someone with and equal level of ability in these skillsets, then ROW tactics come into play, and can make a difference between winning and coming in second. However, if any of your other skillsets are deficient, you won't be in a position to take advantage of any opportunities created by ROW tactics. Therefore, altho eventually these tactics may play a decisive factor in SL racing, it won't be until there is a body of sailors who have boat handling, course knowledge, and sim management dialed.

Jamey:
His critical competence that outstripped all the other sailors in the last regatta was course knowledge. His boat handling skills have improved to the point where he can consistantly execute the best lines to round the course quickly. He demonstrated the ability to manage challenging lag and sim crossings associated with this course effectively. Because of his excellence in these 3 skillsets, it is hard to assess his competence in ROW tactics... and irrelevant. But can he leverage this ability on this course to other courses? Can he go just as fast elsewhere? I think he can, but he hasn't demonstrated the same excellence he did in Mowry Bay in other venues. So, for this reason, and one other which I'll explain later, I'm going to upgrade Jamey from Tier 3, but not all the way to Tier 2. So Jamey is our lone Tier 2.5 sailor.

Faykin:
Demonstrating a clear knowledge of the course, Faykin showed some serious deficiencies in his boat handling this week. Several times, he was chased down while on wing-on-wing runs by other sailors. Clearly, he can use some improvement in how he manages his boat. Despite this lack of critical competence, he was able to use his course knowledge gained from practicing with Jamey this week to stay close enought to make it look like a race. However, Jamey's wins were on the full, 10+ minute course. Faykin's wins were on the shortened, ~6min version of the course. The shorter the course, the more luck plays a factor, and the less skill can be used to overcome bad luck. So although the official results show Faykin right on Jamey's heels, the reality is the gap in ability demonstrated this week was MUCH wider than the 1 point advantage Jamey displayed. Altho I'm going to leave Faykin in 2nd tier, his grip on this position has become much more tenuous.

Oliphant:
Improved boat handling skills and practice on the course brought Oliphant back into serious contention this week. He is still lagging slightly behind the higher tiered sailors in these critical skillsets, but he's made huge improvements, and can be expected to do well in the upcoming events. I rate him solidly tier 3.

Arrekusu:
Sim management made Arrekusu a serious contender in this regatta. Her blossoming boat handling skills were balanced by less than complete knowledge of how to approach the course... but this deficiency was somewhat offset by her ability to manage simulation issues. With more practice on the course, her full ability may have been shown, but she just didn't put in the time on the course. Still a threat, I hold her at Tier 3.

Myrrh:
Course knowledge and sim management prevented Myrrh from contesting effectively this regatta. Myrrh has an excellent general knowledge of how to sail, but did not put in the practice on this specific course to be able to effectively compete against Jamey's excellence on this course. The simulation challenges made it impossible for Myrrh to use the boat handling competence demonstrated at other venues to be competetive with the other sailors, so Myrrh was not truly a contender. If more of the cup series were to be held at MBYC, then Myrrh's position as 1st tier would be seriously threatened. However, the rest of the series is expected to be held in venues that Myrrh has dialed in, so Myrrh remains, in my estimation, the only 1st tier sailor.

On this course, due to the unique nature of the simulation issues faced at this location, course knowledge played a much larger factor in determining overall performance than in many other venues. The overall results can be directly corrolated to time spent practicing on this course. The order of time spent practicing, most to least, was Jamey, Faykin, Oliphant/Arrekusu, and Myrrh. The order of overall performance this week was Jamey, Faykin, Oliphant/Arrekusu, and Myrrh.

Expect, next week, at the ANWR course, for Myrrh to demonstrate superior skills, and supported by Arrukusu, take the overall win for KS. Faykin, supported by Cory, is most likely to take 2nd for SYC, but Jamey with MBYC and Oliphant and Skippy with VYC have make all but 1st much less predictable.

Which brings us to the real reason I did not elevate Jamey to Tier 2, instead making a new tier for him, tier 2.5. So I could type the following line:

Jamey, your improvements in sailing have brought a tier to my eye.

--Faykin

That has to be the longest setup for a punch line I have ever seen.

Locking up for 5-20 seconds at a time, every 5-10 seconds, coupled with 2-4 second frames inbetween, makes sailing any race an exercise in frustration.

Crashing out of the SL client entirely 2-3 times per race bumps it up from frustration to a challenge of sheer endurance. Let's just say that, when my gracious teammate (wrestling external difficulties of her own) insisted that I was not helming anymore that day, I agreed wholeheartedly.

But excuses are irrelevant. Regardless of whatever challenges we faced, my hat is off to Jamey for a masterful performance at Saturday's regatta. Definitely second-tier boathandling in my opinion, possibly even first depending upon how this coming weekend plays out.

And honestly, given a bit of distance from the situation, who cannot say that Faykin, Drift, Oli, and Pixeleen, sitting inches apart, dead-in-the-water, stubbornly shouting PROTEST! in each other's faces for twenty minutes is about the funniest scene they've encountered on the water?









Curse that Faykin Odets! His initial commentary was clearly a cold and deliberate calculation intended to jinx me out of the series!

Myrrh,

Yeah, we looked pretty ludicrous, didn't we? My teamates were exhorting me to put on my Jack-in-the-Box clown head... but I was trying to maintain my dignity. (you out there in the peanut gallery... HUSH!)

I totally understand the sim issues you faced. Cory Copeland was unable to compete in this week's series because of similar issues. Initially, I was in a similar situation, but thru tweaking of the interface, and use of my teammates to help orient me because of my extremely low draw distance, I was able to actually sail my boat... but we spent a lot of time coming up with a workable system.

And curses, you've seen thru my nefarious plan to jinx you!

<chants and waves rubber chickens in the air in Myrrh's general direction>

--Faykin

Personally, I consider Saturday's mutual-DNF situation between SYC and VYC to be a textbook example of handling a difficult situation with dignity. Both Challengers were firmly convinced they were in the right and, despite initial tempers flaring in the immediacy of the situation, both played it by-the-book, let their respective finishes time out, returned to the line, and continued to sail a civil regatta for another hour.

I'd have preferred that both parties mutually retire pending protest review, especially once it became clear that they couldn't finish the course before exceeding the DNF time limit, but all-in-all the situation still stands as model of how legitimate grievances can be bourne without dragging the down an event the process.

Incidentally, all the Jurors from Saturday's Protest Committee have completed their review and, pending final consultation amongst themselves, I expect a formal verdict this evening.






(resists the compulsion to quote some Rush lyrics...)

ahh, so you actually noticed what happened to jamey/lillie in hollywood?

Hollywood and Mowry Bay were our two greatest technical hurdles toward pulling off a grand tour of all the Challengers' home venues. I'm delighted that we managed a successful event at both, despite the difficulties.

Jamey Sismondi. I say with absolute confidence, and a solidly-grounded perspective, that Jamey has mastered sailing the Flying Tako to its limits. Saturday's second race was among the finest sailing experiences I've had in Second Life. I look forward to many more like it, preferably without the rest of the field being eliminated prematurely. First-tier boathandling all the way. Congratulations, Jamey!

Pixeleen Mistral. I don't know where she's been hiding that rabbit these past six months, and what inspired her to pull it out of her hat last weekend, but Pixeleen sailed like I haven't seen her do since January. She asserts that since moving to Sanchon and expanding the scope of VYC's regattas, her hands have been tied from sailing to her fullest. From my own experiences as the SLSF Cup Event Director I absolutely empathise: opting out of participation whenever possible, diverting two-thirds of one's attention while sailing to regatta management rather than boathandling, letting every inequity slide to avoid conflicts of interest and keep the series moving smoothly forward, I hope Pixeleen experiences bountiful opportunity to sail under other Directors in the future. Solid second-tier boathandling, kept in check only by lack of unbridled experience. Welcome back!

Theodore Polonsky. Goodness, I hadn't been paying attention - Theodore's improved tremendously! Definitely third-tier boathandling, quite possibly up toward the second tier. I want to see Theodore in more fleet action.

Sky Seattle. I think Sky's been practicing...and it's noticable. No matter that he placed fourth in the two races he sailed, he's remarkably faster these days, turning in very respectable finish times. Always a pleasure to sail with, and a welcome addition to any race. Somewhere in the range of third tier.

Kanker Greenacre. His heart's not in it these days, and it shows. Given all the tremendous effort Kanker has contributed - not just toward sailing, but Second Life communities in general - he is in serious need of a vacation. We all love you Kanker, but please do take your overwhelmingly-deserved breather before you burn out beyond redemption.

The rest of us? Eh, the same old mediocre status quo. I'm really excited to see the fleet's dynamics shift with improved skippers - mixing it up with Jamey and Faykin was a blast. As the high-water mark gets wider, more exciting tactics are certain to follow.

Be sure to take a look at Pacifien's results from 'The Challenge' yesterday - someone needs to twist Suzanne's arm into racing regularly again, we had a great time. Faykin's performance? Eh, cut the guy a break, he was spending all his time typing away to the comely wenches rather than piloting his boat.