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 » Practice Racing » Pre-set practice race areas

There are times when there isn't a possibility to run a practice race in a conventional sense - i.e., races are running and there is no practice time.

At moments like these, and they are not that often, several have voiced the idea of a practice race course officially set up in the system which can then be used for a couple of hours only.

As a practical matter, it is not possible to create a practice race course without "pinning" it to a specific area - each waypoint has its own lon/lat - with map/weathersystem.

So if we chose a few areas in the world where practice-race quality winds are most likely to occur, I could ask the 'Gods to set up weathersystems tailored small to fit that zone.

The area(s) we choose can then be populated with a range of waypoints that we pick/choose as we want.

To this end, please would you all come up with a handful of places in the world where we are likely to nearly always encounter practice race quality winds!!

Thanks!!
RC...Sounds like a very good suggestion. Don´t where...Southern Ocean...lol,,,but it would good if it´s near land. Go ahead, that would be fine ! Robert
Robert
Set up a race site, near to each main race, but which is entered ONLY from the practice race site, with the boats auto-transported to the start, and returned to the main race site after the finish.
If it breaks, it's not strong enough--if it doesn't, it's too heavy.
Rod - yes, that would be doable. But what remains is the legwork needed to get a small group of practice races and their weathersystems/areas pre-set.

I am no sailor and apart from the S Oceans am not aware of parts of the sailing-globe where reasonable winds are usually available.

If someone could come up with these it would be a starting point!
*******************
I have been giving some further thought to this and the snag, really, is that a full-blown practice race set up in the style of a real SOL race will make a "blip" on the server and overtime practice races will take over.

We have to ask ourselves.. is it really appropriate for just a small group of us to potentially muck up someone else's race?

As it stands, our practising during the practice time of a race is not harming anyone.

If we were to have separate practice races that stand alone from SOL races then they should be open to all and publicly visible.... otherwise it smacks too much of cronyism.

There is a halfway solution though...a reusable practice race that has some but not all of the characteristics of a SOL race, a course in the race preview stage that is re-usable.

In other words we have a start and we have a finish line and we have waypoints. All of these are movable to accommodate variations on our racing.

What we would not have is either towback OR automatic start.. we would need to set start DCs or be online... but what we would have would be ranked finishes.

If we then wanted to use Mark Boats for waypoints/gates, they can be registered and sailed into place or we could have fixed SOL-style waypoints.

After each race I would, however, have to delete the registered boats to release them from the finish.

OR we could simply use the course/area as we do now - setting our starts and monitoring our finishes and just using the zone available.

What do you think?

Go to this url:

TEST PRACTICE
register your boat and then tell me what you think.


REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED!!!! 1935hrs

--- Last Edited by RainbowChaser at 2011-02-25 19:37:01 ---
it's oké, strong winds that are a little chance of direction
Perfect !!
Robert

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m


Current Races:

Newport Bermuda Race 2026


The 636-mile Newport Bermuda Race is one of the oldest regularly scheduled ocean races, and with the Fastnet and the Sydney Hobart Race, it is one of the three great classic races of the yachting world. First raced in 1906, now in its 54th biennial, the Race can again also be participated in online. In real life, the race is open to entry in four different division – Double-Handed, St. David's Lighthouse, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, and Finisterre Division – which in the past we have also offered online. This year, however, our online race will be all-in one-design in silky swift Club Swan 50 yachts, so that your results can count towards SOL’s SUPerBUDdy title, whilst hopefully still giving you a chance of overall line honours against the fastest yachts of the real-life Gibbs Hill Division, especially if you can find some forecast winds that don’t quite work out that way on the real water!
Race #2038
INFOby brainaid.de
Club Swan 50 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SUPBUD - SYC
Race starts: Jun 19th 17:05 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Bluefin Tuna - Mexico Gulf to North Sea 2026

Join us and follow the Bluefin Tuna, as they migrate from their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico to their feeding grounds in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. This 4300 nm race is part of our Ocean Championship and the final race of OCQ2 2026, and also the second leg of our Migration series. We will be sailing in our Gunboat 90. Race #2035
INFO by brainaid.de
Gunboat 90 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: OCQ2 - MIG - OCCH - SYC
Race starts: Jun 08th 11:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Thessaloniki to Port Said 2026

Welcome back to the Eastern Mediterranean for the fifth race of our Magical Mediterranean Series. Only marginally less unlikely to be ever raced in real life during SOL’s lifetime than our previous race from Tobruk to Iskenderun, this 710nm race takes us from Greece’s ancient northern port of Thessaloniki through the Aegean island maze, south east into the Levantine Sea to a finish in modern Port Said, in splendid Swan 65s!
Race #1977
INFO by brainaid.de
Swan 65 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: MED - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Wednesday,
June 17 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Jun 06th 15:00 Registration Closed

▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

TuziTekwini TIMED Race 2026

Sailonline is delighted to have been invited again to partner with the King Shaka Yacht Club (KSYC) of South Africa to bring a virtual version of the Tuzi Tekwini Ocean Raceto our online community.
The Tuzi Tekwini Ocean Race is a near 90 nautical mile race down the east coast of South Africa from the port of Richards Bay to the port of Durban. Achievable in a single day and seen by some as an easy mile-builder, the course is more tactical than some think and should not be underestimated. This iconic race promises to be an unforgettable experience for yachting enthusiasts.
Our online version of the race will be 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 #2037
INFOby brainaid.de
Sailonline’s virtual yacht for all your runs will be our much-loved Farr 38 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
TRQ2 - TRCH - SUPBUD - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
13 June at 23:00 UTC
Race starts: May 31st 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member bonknhoot
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Panpyc
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member HoratioPugwash
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member YANN
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CollegeFund
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member sassy63

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

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

The mobile client