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Board » General Discussion » Weather Routing

Posted by
JimGodders


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3
Registered at
2011-11-06 17:56:14
2012-05-29 04:59:22 - Weather Routing
Hi all,
I've joined SOL so I can learn to compete in long ocean races manually rather than use an automated weather router. Problem is, I don't have the foggiest ideaon where to start! I've had a look around the internet, but haven't been able to find anything for beginners to this, other than some blogs such as SOL's 76trombones.

I appreciate the concepts of VMG and VMC in getting to a point, but at tbr moment I have no idea on where that point should be based on other things such as the weather. A couple of questions I have are:

- Do you work forwards, i.e. look at where you can be in 6, 12 hours etc, or work backwards and look at where you want to be in 2-3 days and route based on that?
- Is there some sort of rule about straying to far from the GC? I can't imagine its wise to add an extra 100 miles to the route for an extra half knot of wind.

I really want to try and get better at this, so any info you have for a begginer would be much appreciated. Also, if anyone is aware of any other media (books or websites etc), that would also be bery helpful!

Thanks in advance!!
Posted by
NZL_Scotsman


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Posts
251
Registered at
2008-10-04 07:59:40
2012-05-29 09:22:34 - Re: Weather Routing
Hi Jim

I've picked things up gradually by experimentation and trying to understand what the better SOLers are doing. We are a friendly bunch especially in the chat, so I've learnt a lot of little lessons since joining here.

Some of my tips:
- Try to understand what the top 10 ranked SOLers are up to. If all of them head 30 deg away from the rhumb line, there will be a very good reason. Ask them why, see what happens, learn from what they do.
- To begin with play the long term game on ocean races. Don't worry too much about hour to hour changes. Ignore the ranking until the end. Aim to compete with SOLers of a similar ability rather than the very best (to begin with anyway). Aim for the top 100, then the top 50, then top 25. You have to be very very good to compete for the top 10 - not many get there even after a couple of years, and most not at all.
- Learn the details on shorter races or practice races. VMC, VMG, playing wind shifts etc - all easier to see how the work over an hour or two, or a day. The longer races have a lot more going on and once you are 6 hours behind, you are in a different race.
- Break a race up into manageable chunks. Say the race is 2 days long. Break it up into 6 hour periods. Work backwards from the finish. Work forwards from the start. Explore a few different options using the polar, the weather forecast and a calculator. Predict where you will be for each period. Then look at the first period in more detail. How do you get to the end of the first period in the best position?
- Investigate why different options worked or didn't. We have up to 1000 playing a game, so there are many variables being played out. That we end up so far apart at the finish with identical boats shows how important navigation is.
- Don't worry about stuff ups. We all make them. They are part of learning when to be aggressive or conservative, or even just learning how to play the game.
- Enjoy it!

Cheers, Kevin

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