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Name	outlaw
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2020-07-09 12:18:47

Re: Public testing new HTML5 client

Board » General Discussion

Using "Restore Previous Session" in Firefox completely breaks the dashboard clock "TIME UTC" and any number of thins that depend on the clock (dc countdown, predictor line etc).
2018-09-13 21:48:43

Re: VMC

Board » General Discussion

1. I prefer 'his'. Not that I've ever claimed to be human.
2. The only claim is that if I sail a couple hours at a set VMC, and arrive at point A, it is fundamentally impossible to beat me to point A. Bimmer could sail to point B, then have the faster path to the finish. Happens.
3. The causality for picking the target IS confusing. In an ocean race I could decide to go 'west', wade thru bird entrails until I come up with VMC280, and tack at TWD280 because that's how the VMC function works.

OTOH in a round the buoys type race I could just do an SOTP estimate where/when I'm going to tack, determine the TWD @tack, and use that as the target. Post tack the boat would just point in the general direction of the mark, bearing ~240, probably.
2017-11-05 11:27:33

Re: Crossing the Finish Line

Board » Technical Support

The short and correct answer is that only leaderboards on the frontpage matter...

Ranking order is updated like every 5 minutes (?).
DTF leaderboard and fleet positions every minute.
Actual boat positions, as in observing your own boat, every 10s (nominal, may be closer to 11-12s, and somewhat random), or every 30s (precise, 30.00s) for 'inactives'.

The key is that updates are sequential, no two boats have the same update time.

Now imagine three boats that are very even, then their ranking is determined by who has the most time elapsed.

Leaderboard shows
A xx:01:09
B xx:01:07
C xx:01:01

Now update intervals are not precise, we get a roll-over

B xx:05:09
C xx:05:03
A xx:05:01

B has not sent a command for 18 min and is switched to 'inactive'

C xx:10:07
A xx:10:05
B xx:09:40

Next step we cross the line...

C xx:10:07+2s
A xx:10:05+4s
B xx:09:40+29s

Nobody gains anything.
2017-01-23 09:30:47

Re: 40' Series Championship 2017Q1 & Q2

Board » Flag Officers » Championships

Is there any real reason to run the full series?

Strategy A
Sardinia - SOTO
Hebrides - SOTO

Strategy B
Sardinia - SOTO
Hebrides - DNS

The second option keeps the SOTO available for the full series, especially the finale.
2017-01-01 22:32:45

Re: “Clause 4” and ISAF rule #69.

Board » Flag Officers » Rules and Decisions

Happy new year to y'all.
quick thoughts, again I really don't share Joao's concerns...

1. All I see in Joao's PDFs is boats sailing VMG on TWA which is perfectly normal. Plus some noise from hmm's weather being sourced differently.

2. If you want to show foul play, use "compare stats". Robot sailing should be really obvious on that one.

3. Again I don't see how data logging would be particularly useful. Simply because pretty much everything can be easily extrapolated.

4. And amazing tactical analytics would be effort. Time spent on the go-fast problem, worth it. Monumental time spent on letting the computer do tactics? I wouldn't, benefits would be dubious, and tactics is the gameplay for me anyhow.

5. One could ask whether the forecast wind should be absolute... I say it should, because that's the requirement for set-and-forget router use, and having actual wind different from forecast would make a (now illegal) steering robot necessary.

6. One could ask what's the difference between follow and cover... Cover is a legit tactic, and to follow is frowned upon, but where is the difference? There is a difference, but it's somewhat ill defined.
2016-12-25 12:12:50

Re: 2017 SRC Programme

Board » General Discussion

Merry X-mas. A couple observations. Not so much on start times, where I'm mostly indifferent. In part because I'm perfectly happy to skip a race if the big inconvenience happens 2 days down the road, not something that can be planned by the SRC... and at last starts are rather predictable. But the drop in race numbers and competitors.

1. Poor start/finish layout
Look no further than the upcoming Sydney-Hobart. See attachment. I think it's possible (pending final wx, and I have not run software yet) that on would need to start with a 5 minute straight line course, then turn on point. This for a 600nm ocean race. Skill involved - none. Annoyance - huge.

2. Races are too long
Look back at the Gray Whales. Four days of awesome racing, followed by nine days of parade. To be fair that couldn't be expected, and Mount Westdahl - Middleton Island was a classic, but tying up competitors in a race that is decided is not a good outcome. Same for many of the very long 3-4 week ocean races. One opportunity that takes forever to see through. Not good.

3. Too long breaks between races
I flat out disagree on the reduction of races. More races mean more opportunities, and should increase interest. Also it's just bad if someone stumbles on the site and has to wait forever for the next start. The average gap between races in Q1 - (sigma t^2)/(sigma t) - is 4.5 days, that's too damn long.

4. Too much focus on coastal races
So by my count for Q1, there's 8 short round the buoy races, which I like, but honestly have nothing left to prove, 3 long ocean races, 2 medium ocean races (H2S which is impossible for me and Cairns - Darwin), and 12 medium length coastal things.

Simply put medium coastal is probably the most router (software) friendly format, combined with the need to be online at specific waypoints. And those things make up half the schedule. IMO the best racing happens on 500-1000nm ocean legs, see BA-Rio, Abel T (thanks SRC ), Gray whales, Sail Fiji (always), S2H (always) etc. December was great. Q1 is totally lacking.
2016-10-21 12:52:36

Re: VMC

Board » General Discussion

There's two big problems in this discussion, one being linguistic. That is Angle, Bearing, Course & Direction meaning approximately the same thing. Just how it is. Work it out yourself.

Second is the extremely unfortunate fact that "bearing to the next mark" is somehow the default course for VMC calculations. As Rod correctly observes

...on any VMC course, the angle to the desired 'destination point' is constantly changing, and that therefore the calculation (or geometric estimation) of the VMC course must also be constantly repeated.

Just don't do that. VMC to the next mark, and by extension DTF is as important as the weather in Shimane two days from now.

My assertion is simply that if I make up some number, say 152 degrees, then express the boat speed as a course (152) vector and a normal (62) vector, then always choose the point of sail that maximizes the course vector. I call that VMC152.

If I sail VMC152 for six hours I expect to be the 152-degree-most boat in the fleet. The corrolary is if I happen to end up at the mark, I will round the mark first.

That leaves two minor issues, first while this works over six hours, it absolutely will not over six days.

And second the need to get the VMC direction right, where estimating TWD at the next tack is the most obvious approach.
2016-09-29 20:58:49

Re: VMC

Board » General Discussion

Hi I've actually gone and made another post on the topic. Tell me what you think, maybe it's easier to understand.

http://solfans.org/blog/sailing-by-the-numbers/vmc-revisited/

Two comments on the last post. VMC to waypoint is pointless on a fundamental level, that's just some random bearing with no real meaning. It does matter for DTF purposes. DTF is of course also pointless.

Once this gets us to the VMG laylines then we're on the layline??
If I understand this right, VMG layline is when you barely make it to the mark on VMG? With a proper VMC course you will tack a bit later than that.
2016-09-20 10:54:43

Re: Open letter to SRC.

Board » Flag Officers

For the record the primary stat that I care about is the relative bearing, from boat outlaw to my most dangerous competitors. I use sollog as the most accurate and convenient way to aquire this bearing. A very secondary number is the relative movement among boats, also this defaults to 'away' much of the time, which makes it less useful. Everything else is irrelevant to me.

Further I think that tactics are absolutely essential to racing, and limiting the information needed for tactics would lead to a sad shell of a game.

Finally the main factors for sol success would be, intelligence, on both the tactical and strategic aspects of routing, streamlining, meaning less time spent on the routing / steering grind, and commitment, time spent overall and at inconvenient daytime. (My commitment is sorely lacking nowadays...)

If there was serious abuse of AIS / bots among the top boats I think it would be highly visible, and I'm not aware of it happening.
2016-09-17 13:09:38

Re: The Tall Ship boat in fact was … a dinghy one.

Board » Flag Officers » Rules and Decisions

Hi, just my belated two cents...

1. In general I'm honestly very indifferent to the performance model. In normal conditions where tacks are hours or days apart it will simply never matter. Of course you get the odd race where performance wins ( Ornö Runt ), that's fun. Overall, don't fix wha's not broken.

2. There might be a misunderstanding concerning real life tall ships. These ships seem to tack poorly in light air, with 20kn of wind, meaning the bulk of the portugese coast, they should be able to perform normal tacks.

3. Short tacking is a simple matter of geometry. You might as well complain about gravitation. For 'credibility' you could look at the Abu Dabi - China leg of the las VOR, or the San Francisco America's Cup. Bottom line is people will do as many tacks as their 'performance model' allows. Deal with it.

4. That said the combination of really poor upwind performance (70-80 degreees TWA) and minimal perf hit makes short tacking more profitable than usual.

5. As stated before me, Alexandria won by picking the right time to go offshore. Excellent decision making.

6. I recall some boats doing a sawtooth pattern in open water. That puzzles me TBH. That might have been a form of protest, or a total misunderstanding how short tacking works, or a problem with their routing software. It's absolutely not a fast or sensical way to sail.

7. You can fix short tacking with appropriate course design. I for one don't care much for long, coastal races in general. Just my opinion of course.

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