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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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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
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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!
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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
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Cross the Convergence 2026 - Robinson Crusoe to Galapagos


Welcome to our first race of a new series of ocean voyages across the World’s convergence zones, this first race taking you north from south of the Tropic of Capricorn to the Equator-straddling Galapagos, home of magical iguanas and other exotic fauna (but no mythical kings, Dory) Departing from the island where in 1704 adventurer Alexander Selkirk inspired Daniel Defoe to write the best-seller "The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", by debarking off the unsound "HMS Cinque Ports", four months before she foundered off the coast of present-day Colombia, we will sail the 2200nm in our decidedly sounder and faster than the " Cinque Ports",
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Race #1983
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