Facebook

Login

Support Sailonline

If you haven't already - join the SAILONLINE YACHT CLUB!

Please also consider making a donation - all amounts are greatly appreciated!

Board » Technical Support » "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice

Posted by
mexicalibluestoo


Users avatar

Posts
2
Registered at
2020-06-13 16:51:34
2020-06-13 18:38:29 - "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
Hi,
I'm planning on using Expedition Navigation Software to route/assist me in playing my first sailonline.org game and I watched one tutorial organized by the event and have a few questions.

1) will the gulf stream current be applied in the game - or only wind?
2) Am I correct in understanding the AWIPS NAM will be the weather model used by the game?
3) What GRID resolution will the game use?
4) When will the game "update" the weather model its using?
5) where is the best place to get the Grib of the model used by the the game?
6) If the NAM is being used - Any idea if either the hi res or conus models available in Expedition's NOAA download module are the "correct" model.
thank you
Posted by
ij


Users avatar

Posts
33
Registered at
2018-06-09 20:33:19
2020-06-13 22:59:38 - Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
1) SOL doesn't model any currents.
2, 3 & 4) The html5 client will show this info under misc tab (the update times are also available in the race listing on the homepage). When WX update times are from the 04:30, ... series, the wx source is GFS (in some races indirectly as high-res WRF WX may be in use but not relevant for this particular race). 02:45, ... series indicates NAM WX is used. From my experience, GFS WX datafile in SOL usually updates around xx:10-xx:25 (so slightly before the announced time) and is only rarely late.
5) Two places I know of. One is Java program known as AGL (Auto Grib Loaded, it's also known as "DC checker" which tends to be easier for finding it with web search). AGL will automatically download the gribs for you. In addition, AGL can plot the course considering all DCs you've set. The other way to get gribs is brainaid, you can find a link to that from the links section. Using "normal" NOAA gribs directly does not match to SOL WX for the first two weather data frames (around 1.5h differs per wx update period).

--
i.
Posted by
mexicalibluestoo


Users avatar

Posts
2
Registered at
2020-06-13 16:51:34
2020-06-17 20:06:16 - Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
Hi,
Thanks for your help. Unfortunately I'm not much code guy... just a sailor - so I'm going to try and play the game with sailor tools (Expedition Software) and no java script or other tools you online pros use that probably are a lot better for the application. A few follow up q's

1) what is the "html5 client" you refer to?
2) I saw a youtube presentation where an expert seemed to know that the NAMAWIPS model would be used for the game - but in your answer it looks like the game uses a bunch of different models and might mix them around - so you have to look at the "update time" and follow your hints about which model comes out at what time - to know what model to "play" with. Is tht correct? And then if I use the "normal" NOAA gribs - they won't be the same as the gribs the game uses for the first 1.5h or so after every model becomes available?)

Thanks, sorry to be such a newby.
Also a follow up - best source for polar files of the four boats in this Bermuda Race?
Posted by
Dingo


Users avatar

Posts
94
Registered at
2013-03-09 04:23:58
2020-06-18 09:16:24 - Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
Hi, I'll try to keep the answer simple so you can participate in the sailonline Bermuda simulation and route using Expedition. You can get your polar and the latest grib for the Sailonline Bermuda race from http://sol.brainaid.de/sailonline/toolbox

Here you will find the latest weather updates (they come at approximately 16:30, 22:30, 04:30 and 10:30 UTC, and are always available from Brainaids under the Weather tab.

You can also downlaod the Expediton polar for your chosen boat from the same site, using the Polar button. You can also get the waypoint co-ords from there, and also you can enter your steering commands there using the DC Editor button.

You don't have to make any changes to the grib you download from Brainaids - it's ready to use without scaling etc.

There are no currents in the simulator.

If you want extra, you can also look at http://solfans.org/wxinspector/ where, if you log on using your boatname and password, you will find under the Optimal Angles button, your max upwind and downwind vmg angles for the current wind, for those times when Expedition gives you dotted routing solutions (outside max vmg values).

Hope that helps and fair winds.
Posted by
Dingo


Users avatar

Posts
94
Registered at
2013-03-09 04:23:58
2020-06-18 09:23:55 - Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
Some further notes: we're using effectively NOAA .25 gfs not nam wips as the latter does not extend far enough east. However, my notes above referring you to Brainaids site is the best source for your grib updates to use in Expedition. These Brainaid gribs already contain the smoothing which is applied by the simulator so that there are not jumps between one grib update and the next.

Re the html5, the simulator used flash, and now we are developing an html5 version so that we are ready when flash is no longer supported. If you press the Go To Race button, you will get the old flash-based simulator, and if you press the html5 button you will get the newer version. They both are suitable for use and give the same results, performance, etc.
Posted by
ij


Users avatar

Posts
33
Registered at
2018-06-09 20:33:19
2020-06-18 11:11:08 - Re: "newby" doing Newport Bermuda Race - Expedition & Wx advice
Minor correction to what Dingo said. Current GFS grid can go down to 0.5x0.5, not below that despite NOAA providing also 0.25 GFS. This may change in the future though. In some races, the weather data size is reduced by using larger wx grid cells such as 1x1 or even beyond that in some long ocean races.

--
i.

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m

Current Races:

Valparaiso to San Francisco 2025

Get ready for an exhilarating new challenge as we set sail on the fourth leg of the 2025 Ocean Championship Series! Following in the 19th century footsteps of Isabel Allende's heroine, Eliza Sommers, 'Daughter of Fortune', this all-new route takes us across the vast eastern Pacific, from Valparaíso, Chile, to San Francisco, California - a 3500nm journey of endurance, strategy, and pure sailing adrenaline. This leg will be raced aboard the powerful Rapido 60, pushing sailors to their limits as they navigate the open ocean. Do you have what it takes to conquer the Pacific? Join us and put your skills to the ultimate test!
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1900
INFO by brainaid.de
Rapido 60 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: OCQ2 - OCCH - SUPSOL - SYC
Race starts: Apr 07th 11:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Red Eye - Round White Island 2025

We remain in New Zealand for our second “Red Eye Special” and another IRL Kiwi classic - the Round White Island! IRL still “currently on hiatus” following the island’s eruption of 2019, this race was last raced on SOL in 2020. It’s about 300nm there - out the Hauraki Gulf and south down to the island in the Bay of Plenty - and back to Auckland. This year we’ll be racing in our ever-popular take on the TP-52. Hau tika!
Race #1844
INFOby brainaid.de
TP-52 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - RED
Race starts: Apr 06th 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Moheli PYOC 2025


For our first sprint of Q2, we will re-visit the African archipelago nation, L’Union des Comoros, and its most southern island, Moheli, in the Mozambique Channel. Created by MustangMark in 2014 this is a “Pick Your Own Course” round the island, approximately 20nm in our First 27. Expect winds to be light and variable; we are in the Tropics.
Race 1907
INFO by brainaid.de
First 27 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
SPRQ2 - SPRCH - SUPSOL – SYC
Race starts: Apr 05th 09:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Africa by Sea - Tangier to Abidjan


Whatever about pharaoh Necho II’s Phoenician expedition of the 7th C BCE, the Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator with more certainty sailed south from Tangier to explore the West African coast two centuries later, but how far he got is a matter of more conjecture. However, if he did the 2300nm to today’s Ivory Coast he would have found little there other than good shelter in the vast lagoons behind the dunes, much the same as today, excepting the highly industrialized port of Abidjan. Not a great haven for a stop-over but let’s take the 90ft Monohull anyway.
Race #1855
INFOby brainaid.de
90ft Monohull PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - ABC
Race starts: Mar 26th 17:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Sea Lion TIMED Race 2025

Come on down South for long days of sunlight and strong bracing winds to race our Finngulf 43 as many times as you like - 117nm as the albatross flies - through some of the islands of the Falklands archipelago. This is a TIMED race, so you may RE-REGISTER HERE to 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 #1903
INFO by brainaid.de
Finngulf 43 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
TRQ1 - TRCH - SUPSOL - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
05 April at 23:00 UTC
Race starts: Mar 23rd 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Melbourne Osaka Cup Double-Handed Yacht Race 2025

Welcome once again to what these days is Sailonline’s almost annual virtual Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race. In real life, this double-handed 5500 nm race between these two sister cities, one deep in the southern hemisphere, the other high in the northern hemisphere, is run every four to five years, and this year is such a year. So, this year’s online version is in sync with the Melbourne Osaka Cup 2025 organised by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV), and the Sandringham (SYC) and Osaka Hokko (OHYC) yacht clubs. We’ll be racing the well-known First 40, a popular size of boat which should be a good match for many of the boats entered in the real race. With the doldrums unavoidably lying across our course, you can expect to be at virtual sea for at least a month!
Race #1669
INFO by brainaid.de
First 40 Particulars
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC
Race starts: Mar 16th 06:00 Registration Closed

▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Patrick70119
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member vida
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member FreyjaUSA
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Kipper1258
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member bonknhoot
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rumskib

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

SYC members have the benefit of access to our mobile/lightweight web client!

The mobile client