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Board » General Discussion » New Blog Site for SOLers



Announcing the opening of solfans.org -- a new blog site by and for SOL fans.
The site will offer in-depth looks at SOL-related subjects including:
-- routers and routing
-- race strategy
-- weather impact
-- VMG/VMC tactics
-- PERF calculations
-- and more....
The site administrators are kroppyer and javakeda.

SOLers who blog, or would like to blog, are invited to become contributors. The solfans crew can help you with the mechanics of getting that first post published.

All SOLers are invited to check out the articles at
solfans.org
Two new blog posts went up today.

Kroppyer posted a guide to his SailOnLine Performance Calculator. The calculator helps skippers determine the PERF cost of a tack or gybe.

My post shows how WINSTON saved time at the end of The Vineyard race by using a VMC heading. Easy to do if you know how.

Check them both out at solfans.org.
In case you haven't noticed, new posts have been published. outlaw started a series, SOL Sailing School, which you should surely check out.

solfans.org

--- Last Edited by kroppyer at 2014-12-04 10:38:32 ---
Excellent ! Thanks for the heads up, and of course thanks to outlaw for sharing a bit of his knowledge to people like me (ever rookie solers)
Another heads up: If you haven't already, check out the new posts on solfans.org. Two amazing, technical race reports from a SOTP view, and outlaw explains more about using VMC, methods that are (in my mind) essential to fully understand small- and midscale racing.

If you have any questions about the posts, don't hesitate to ask, here or on solfans, in the chat or any other way.
More very useful posts as ever: thanks for running this, chaps.

Is this the place to post requests for future articles? (If not, then ignore the rest of this...)

In the excellent intro to qtvlm, the 'final word' section refers to the need for interpretation of the routing created. I was wondering if there could be a follow-up to this guide, showing what is meant by this, what to be looking for, what potential traps blindly following a routing may lead one into, etc.


Many thanks!
Excellent point :) I was (and still am) planning to write more about using QtVLM.

Interpreting the routing results (in combination with other data/forecasts/pilots) is something I don't fully master. I'd be winning more if I did. But I will try and expand on the 'defects' routers have, and what information you can get out of a routing other than the supposed fastest route.
These were really great reads, thank you
outlaw gives some insight in interpreting and understanding router output, here. In this case it's BWR's output, but it'll help you with QtVLM too.

I still hope I find the time to write a follow up on using QtVLM (as I said above), but at least you now have outlaws post to help you with the isochrones :)

--- Last Edited by kroppyer at 2015-01-23 00:02:51 ---

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Welcome to an all-new route, the first of three Round the 'Old World' of Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. To give each leg of the ROW a bit of length we'll try to hug the coasts as little as possible, so starting in Iceland our first leg of the series, which will also be the final leg of our Quarter 1 Ocean Championships takes us 7200nm to the Falklands, the full length of the Atlantic end to end. To make sure we'll get it done within the month we'll be sailing our Maxi Trimaran.
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Welcome to Leg One of the Round North Island Series in partnership with SSANZ. The four-leg circuit of New Zealand’s North Island is a true test of short-handed skill, and it begins with the 150nm passage from Auckland to Mangonui. This year, our SOLers will be racing the dynamic Sun Fast 3600 – Jeanneau’s renowned racer-cruiser and a proven flyer downwind. A gentle opener on paper… but coastal tactics and shifting breezes will demand focus from the start!
Race #2011
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Welcome to California! Established in 1953 this 1000-mile run from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta on the Mexican Riviera has become a tradition and online as well the tradition strengthens with this the fourth time Sailonline is making the race available to virtual sailors. Let's see how our virtual SC70s perform against the real fleet!
Race #2015
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New Ice Age 2026 - Browerville to Longyearbyen


Our 2026 long-distance ice-boating challenge continues with a second race in Arctic waters, now from Browerville, where we arrived less than a month ago, continuing east, back to Svalbard’s Longyearbyen, leaving Canada’s Ellesmere Island to port and Denmark’s Greenland to starboard. It’s about 2500nm, which, if there’s wind at all, should, well-wrapped in your DN-cockpits, not take you more than a day or three, thus to complete your first (of several) online circumnavigation of the planet of 2026!
Race #1969
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Doha Basra TIMED Race 2026

Welcome to Kuwait for a short 78 nm TIMED race from the port of Doha (not to be confused with Doha, Qatar) to Basra, Iraq. Jazirat Light on Auha Island is the only mark to observe, leaving it to port. The Beneteau First 40.7v2 racer-cruiser is our ride this month. This is a TIMEDrace so you may RE-REGISTER HEREto try again after finishing a run. You will have 13 days and 11 hours to test your skill and decision making after the race opens.
Race #2008
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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
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