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 » Bluewater soft

Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

Hi Exmer,

I still don't understand why I have so much differences between Sol and BW wind... so I tried to make it work for the Chicago-Mckinac race.

1st file shows you what I got with Brain's file, 2nd one with Ugrib file

The 3rd one is what I got after having removed and reinstalled BW entirely... still no improvement !

What can I do wrong ?

Thanks a lot
Attachments
Joshua,

I will look into it. I haven't gone to the Chicago Mac race area yet so I don't know what the weather is like. But I kept doing my Expedition and Bluewater comparison on the Scurry race with interesting results. I used brainaids grib files for both software programs. I modified Bluewaters polars as per Bluewaters manual ( The 2nd TWA in a line is the best VMG upwind angle for that windspeed. The
2nd to last TWA is the best VMG downwind angle for that windspeed). Once again expedition had to be "coaxed" into routing on water with the addition of exclusion zones. Miraculously Bluewater routed over water, and didn't hit any land! I selected the Scurry race at this time because of the upwind scenario and a shift that required navigate close to land to see how each software performed. No human intervention. Bluewater tended to use better upwind angles than Expedition with the Bluewater routed boat getting to Sea Lion island nearly 1 mile directly upwind of the Expedition boat. Expedition liked to point a more into the wind than necessary, however both softwares had strectches with crazy TWA's (25 deg.) Attached is a pic of the comparison. Later today I will do the comparison downwind to see how they perform on the gybing angles. The blue track is the Bluewater boat (Green Onions) the red track is the Expedition boat (Exmeromotu). Both programs interpolated the wind extremely close to the SOL wind.

Cheers
Attachments
Joshua

Your case is a mystery to me! I went to the Chicago Mac race and the weather from Bluewater is pretty much the same as SOL's. Check the attached pics with weather readings at the start mark.

SOL weather at 12 Z on Start Mark: 3.3 kts @ 242
BW weather at 12 Z on Start Mark 3.4 kts @ 243

These are the "cursor" readings at the location.
For Bluewater I used brainaids grib file weather_51_global_gfs_20100720_1030.grb

BW weather reading at cursor is in the picture at the lower right hand corner. SOL weather reading at cursor in the picture at upper right hand corner.

Cheers


--- Last Edited by Exmeromotu at 2010-07-20 11:55:05 ---
Attachments
Huh - I didn't know that brain's weather was sol weather. It works perfectly for me as well.

A couple of ideas:

Bluewater does strange things interpolating the weather timewise. The default timestep is 3h or so. I don't know how much penalty you pay for reducing this, but anything more than ~10m is going to cause problems.

There are about 6 different places to select zulu time and true North...

Exmer - when you are seeing angles inside VMG in Expedition are they in ()? Most routing allows for a tack or gybe on a leg, which exp indicates with brackets. The twa is the average.

Watch out for the above on polar-hops as well.

Argh
Thanks again Exmer and 76, I did everything I could imagine to get the right wind, but there is still very big differences between Sol and BW datas...

Did you change something after the installation of BW in the settings for the grib files ?
Joshua,

Go to the Tools menu on Bluewater, select Preferences, on that window check your time as Zulu time and click Save. I have all my settings and all my inputs are in ZULU time, it just makes it easier. Make sure all your times are in Zulu time on the Route Manager and on your individual routes. Now load a grib file (preferably the one from brainaids site due to its relationship with SOL weather) and verify that the weather matches. The only reason for your weather not matching must be that your date and time are out of whack somewhere as 76T implies. Let me know a day and time that time you are active on the chat so we can work through it.

Regards,

Hi 76,

What do you mean by Polar Hops?

Here's a picture of Expedition how I have it set up with Brainaides info feeding into it.

Cheers Undercover
Attachments
We try to avoid sailing in any "dent" on the polar, like the one that typically shows up ~120 between up and downwind sail suits. Last entry on 76trombones.wordpress.com has a quick discussion.

If you are using a 10m timestep and the routing wants you to sail 150 for 5m and 90 for 5m, it'll return 120twa. No blindly following the numbers!

Different software deals with this (and the upwind cases etc) in different ways. Obviously none of the commercial ones are intended for sailing with "perfect" wind, so to-the-second timing isn't really necessary.

That's quite the tactical setup! :)

Sorry It's Exmer didn't notice that 76T had already answered your question UC. Cheers!!

--- Last Edited by Green Onions at 2010-07-20 21:18:30 ---

Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m


Current Races:

Mad Max by Balloon 2026 - Across the Outback


Mad Max Rockatansky doesn’t get to go in a balloon in any of the Legends of the Wasteland, and the Wasteland is not necessarily the Outback of Australia, but Mel Gibson and film director George Miller indubitably are… of Australia, and ballooning as reconnaissance is a main feature of the Mad Max spin-off video game, so here goes: 1500nm in a balloon from somewhere on the edge of the Outback, Goondiwindi, to cross a finish line at Fitzroy Crossing, somewhere on the edge of the Outback!
Race #1974
INFOby brainaid.de
SOL Balloon PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: BOL - SYC
Race starts: Oct 14th 13:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Valdes Peninsula TIMED Race 2026

October finds us on the Argentina coast for the Valdes Peninsula race. A UNESCO World Heritage Site the peninsula is a breeding ground for southern right whales. Sail the luxurious blue water Delphia 47 around a 160 nm course in an attempt to turn in the fastest time.
This is a TIMEDrace so you may RE-REGISTER HEREto try again after finishing a run. You will have two weeks to test your skill and decision making after the race opens.
Race #2066
INFOby brainaid.de
PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
TRQ4 - TRCH - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
24 October at 23:00 UTC
Race starts: Oct 11th 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Roma Giraglia Regata 2026

Our eighth race of nine to celebrate all things Mediterranean - fickle winds, history and olive oil – is another buddy-up; this one with the Circolo Nautico Riva di Traiano . Founded in 1984, as the new Traiano yacht Harbour neared completion, the Circola since then has developed into one of the major yachting competition centres in Italy, and next to the 450nm Roma per Tutti (which SOL buddied earlier in the year), the Roma Giraglia Regata is its other headline offshore event. First raced in 2005, the 210nm course takes competitors from Traiano to a rock on the inside of the Ile de la Giraglia off the northern tip of Corsica and back to the Italian mainland for a finish in the bay of Santo Stefano. We’re racing this one in our Class 40!
Race #2058
INFO by brainaid.de
Class 40 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: MED - SUPBUD - SYC
Race starts: Oct 08th 16:00 Registration Closed

▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Arctic Tern - Greenland to Antarctica 2025

Welcome to the fifth leg of our MIG series. Now it's time to race the Arctic Terns, on their migration from Greenland to Antarctica, 8300 NM. This is also part of our monthly Ocean Championship, and as such the first race of OCQ4 2026. This race will be sailed in our Maxi Trimaran. Race #2061
INFO by brainaid.de
Maxi Trimaran PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230 Ranking:
OCQ4 - OCCH - SYC - MIG
Race starts: Oct 05th 11:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Cross the Convergence 2026 - Masirah to Chagos


Having crossed, re-crossed and re-re-crossed the Convergence Zones of the Pacific and the Atlantic, we now face our second crossing of the Convergence Zone of the World’s third great equator-spanning sea, the Indian Ocean, taking us from the channel between Masirah Island and the Oman mainland to the Chagos Archipelago. It’s 1900nm and we’ll be sailing our very fine Archer 78, and won’t mention that both locations (of departure and arrival) are heavily militarized and the why’s and what next’s concerning that – mindful as always of SOL Netiquette.
Race #1988
INFOby brainaid.de
Archer 78PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: CCZ - SYC
Race starts: Oct 02nd 18:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rumskib
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Panpyc
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member cdhinman
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rthinman
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member BRENTGRAY
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Sax747

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

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

The mobile client