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Board » General Discussion » Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL

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Posted by
NZL_PaulR


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2008-07-22 12:21:30
2010-09-21 09:22:14 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
QUANTITY OF RACES.

I try and do as many as possible but as I race IRL 3 days a week in winter (in NZ now) and can race 7 days a week in NZ summer, short races around many islands will mean I will run aground often.

So I favour the longer ocean races where a morning and evening online check is all that is needed, well for a lot of time for longer races. e.g. current Maui - Mazatklan race.
If it breaks, it's not strong enough!
Posted by
SWE54


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2010-09-21 09:49:05 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
NZL_PaulR said @ 2010-09-21 09:17:41:
USE of SAIL PROGRAMS.

I enjoyed using Sail Planner on a free test basis and learnt about their effectiveness.

Currently I am NOT using any special planning programs. I would like to Enter races with an option of :
"Do you use sail planning tools YES or NO"
This could seperate boats into two different divisions.

Yes it is not policeable and some may cheat, but as in IRL sailing, I do NOT use my motor for propulsion whilst racing.

Certainly Brainaid does really well and his program works for him. WELL DONE Eddie.

I would like to see how I am going against those who are NOT using those sail planning tools as well.
First of all, routing software IS a part of sailing and will never be considered cheating. If that's the opinion then the knowledge of routers are very low.
Second, how will you sort out all of those who use other softwares..? Were do you draw the line? Is a simple calculator ok? Is local knowledge cheating? Of course this will never work and should not be an issue at all.
Comparing a router to an engine is of course not valid. The router is nothing more than a calculator, NOT an autopilot.
Posted by
Tazumaki


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2009-08-10 15:21:39
2010-09-21 16:33:34 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
Some very interessting Topics from Paul, which i wuld like to answer to, unfortunately a bit off topic here.
Is it possible, to move them into a new thread, to keep the discussion there?

Back on topic:

I prefer not to answer the Question because i would like to have very short races (1-3 hours or so) allmost every Day, so there are way to less races from that point of view.
On the other Hand, during or shortly after a very demanding race, like Turkey, almost every additional race is way too much, so too much racing from this point.
Taking the Summary, the number of races is quite good and far from optimal at the same time.

Another Problem is: what is considered a demanding Races strongly depends on the specific situation and personal preferences, so every SOLer will have other demanding races.

And at least there are issues of server- and workload in setting up and running all these races.
Posted by
RainbowChaser


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2009-06-14 09:44:50
2010-09-21 17:36:48 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
Thank you to everyone who has voted so far and also to those who have added comments.

I realise the issue is somewhat like asking "how long is a piece of string" and has infinite possible answers.

However... all comments are very helpful.

Snag is, as Tazu has just said... for some SOLers certain races might be very tiring and intensive, while for others the same race might just be " a bit of fun".

Key is to try and strike the right balance.

What is most interesting is that the "far too many races" option has not (yet) been overwhelmingly voted for...

Maybe we need a small group of SOLers who are routinely emailed with a race login (when the sol boat has been registered to check the course and before its deleted and the race archived until needed) and invited to rate a race as a Cat A (v tough, lots of work) Cat B (medium workload) and Cat C (light workload).

No rules as to what constitutes A, B or C but for each in the group to just rank the race as they see it.

That might then give the calendar a bit of balance.

Anyway... please keep voting and commenting!!! This is all a work in progress (as all good organisations should be!!) :-D

--- Last Edited by RainbowChaser at 2010-09-21 17:38:06 ---
Posted by
zero


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2010-02-07 16:56:30
2010-09-21 18:28:02 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
Before anything I'd like to say that RainbowChaser is doing a fantastic job keeping SOL going and the current mix of races are very interesting. Thank you.

The more I think about SOL the more I beleive the way to satisfy everyone is by schedule a mix of different types of races.

The question them is to identify what are the types of races.

Let see:

1 - Long offshore races with no waypoints, to satisfy the sailors that don't have much time to watch their boats and to satisfy the software router group.

2 - Long offshore races with many waypoints, to satisfy the non-software group. The key here is make the distance between WP's not more than say 10/12hrs so the non-software sailors have a change.

3 - Medium size races (3 days max).

and finally,

4 - Short races (2 days max). The key here is to run these races during the weekends. Say start Friday afternoon and finish Sunday late. They could be alternate to start on the afternoon of Friday at NZL, US and Europe.

This last race type is to satisfy the people like me that have plenty of time to play on SOL during the weekends and almost no time during the workdays.

Thanks,
Antonio
Posted by
NZL_PaulR


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2010-09-21 21:16:23 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
1).CHEATING I was really referring to a person who declares at entry to a race to NOT use sail planning software, but then later goes and uses a sail planning program in that particular race.

I realise sail planning programs are part of sailing and earlier acknowledged how useful they are and how wonderful SoL is to help those learning situations. I learned a lot.

I was more wanting the results to show those who USED vs DID NOT USE sail planing programs.

My "cheating" was aimed at a future time, after software development, when sailors can select / declare which division they would race in. So definately not aimed at any current sailors.
If it breaks, it's not strong enough!
Posted by
NZL_PaulR


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2010-09-21 21:18:59 - Re: Poll / Discussion on Number of Races on SOL
"how long is a piece of string"

There IS a definative answer.






"EXACTLY TWICE HALF ITS LENGTH"



If it breaks, it's not strong enough!

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