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Board » Sailonline Race Committee » Race proposals » Windward/leward olympic triangle

Posted by NNYC_Scooter Posts 16 Registered at 2008-02-09 14:52:27	2010-08-28 16:44:34 - Windward/leward olympic triangle
	How about doing a short race using a standard windward/leward course. There are several variations, but a fun one might be a windward triangle followed by windward/leward or "olympic triangle". The trick here is that the RC would need to be on duty just prior to the race in order to set the marks relative to the wind direction. It might be fun to try these races in different areas, perhaps using America's Cup boats in AC venues (Newport, Fremantle, San Diego, Auckland, Valencia, San Francisco). Thoughts? Zowee
Posted by RainbowChaser Posts 2221 Registered at 2009-06-14 09:44:50	2010-08-29 09:52:24 - Re: Windward/leward olympic triangle
	I think it would be great fun, personally, but as SOL is designed for longer ocean races, the change in performance of the server with short high-zoom ones can annoy a lot of people! When traversing oceans the "jump" of boats is insignificant but when one is closely zoomed in (as in the unofficial practice racing) it is crucial to accept that boat-jumping is going to be very visible. I think its great fun to do short races so I would love to take up your suggestion. zowee - if you look at the list of boat-types in SOL at present (a sticky at the top of this Forum contains the list) maybe you would identify which boat types are missing that would be good and we can get working on sourcing the polars. Also... we would need waypoint coordinates (in decimal degrees/minutes) for the individual courses. You have my vote!!
Posted by NNYC_Scooter Posts 16 Registered at 2008-02-09 14:52:27	2010-08-29 16:12:31 - Re: Windward/leward olympic triangle
	A triangle course could be setup on large enough scale to work well with the SOL engine. The diagram shows the basic layout and angles. You can also introduce land features to make it more challenging and interesting. For example, make the windward leg distance 100 miles and placing an island in the middle of the windward leg. The only challenge that I see is placing the course relative to true wind. Just as a RL race, you would ideally want to set the windward mark just prior to the race start. Attachments Olympic_race_course.jpg (26.2 KB)
Posted by RainbowChaser Posts 2221 Registered at 2009-06-14 09:44:50	2010-08-29 16:34:59 - Re: Windward/leward olympic triangle
	zowee - placing or moving a mark is doable up to 5 mins before a race starts to that wouldn't be a problem (so long as I am around anyway!!). If you wanted realism, perhaps we could create ourselves some historic AC courses based on the locations the races were held? That would be easy enough to do... and THEN... maybe 76T or the other polar gurus on SOL could supply us with the polars of two/three competing boats.. so we could race it in the AC defender boat or one of two challengers (if there were more than one)!! What do you think?
Posted by zero Posts 120 Registered at 2010-02-07 16:56:30	2010-08-31 01:42:08 - Re: Windward/leward olympic triangle
	I agree with the triangular shape courses. There is no need for a perfect against the wind leg though. The old AC 12meters had a narrow polar with a very defined optimum VMG angle, either upwind or downwind. I suspect that with a perfect olympic triangule here on SOL, we would finish the race with several boats tie or within seconds of each other. The challenge of racing here (on SOL) is to predict where you should be some time in the future to catch the wind shift, and keep on doing this consistent until the finish line. If we take the wind shifts or minimize them by shorthen the race that challenge goes away. The Olympic races are very short in duration and in perfect or near perfect wind direction. The objective is to test the boat handling skills of the crew and the "right-of-way" racing rules. In those type of races you want to be in clear air and with preference at the marks all the time and do the tacks and gybes with precision. Here on SOL we test our ability to predict wind shifts AND our ability to be there at the right time. I do agree with you that triangular shaped courses are always interesting in the sense that opens more opportunities for the boats behind to catch up and the boats ahead to loose. By triangular shape I mean start and finish in the same general area and 1 or 2 waypoints in between. Think about how fun it was the round-England-Ireland, The Oshkosh race, the races in Sweden, the Texada islands race in Vancouver. They were ALL very exciting and nail biting till the end. They all had in a way or another the same general characterists; start and finish near the same location and a few WP to pass. The fact that those races didn't start exactly with the wind in the nose did not dimished the challenge at all. Sail on, Antonio
Posted by newsartist Posts 36 Registered at 2009-08-20 03:01:55	2010-09-25 13:04:02 - Re: Windward/leward olympic triangle
	The problem with Triangle-Windward-Leeward-Windward, (later 12m AC course,) is that the legs overlap and make the course too hard to see. Real races physically moved the Windward Mark to adjust while they were in progress. My greatest coup in journalism, was one AC Defender's Trial when I recognized this. We only had a dozen spectator boats anywhere near us at the Finish.
Posted by NNYC_Scooter Posts 16 Registered at 2008-02-09 14:52:27	2010-10-13 12:48:25 - Re: Windward/leward olympic triangle
	As I mentioned, someone in the RC would need to be available to set the windward (and gybe) marks prior to the start of the race. It would not be practical to manage a course change during the race, however. To handle the problem of overlapped legs you simply place multiple marks at the same location. It's not a perfect solution, but would be fun to try some time. BTW news, I attended several AC 12M races in Newport, and was somewhat of an AC groupie back in the 70's and early 80's when you could walk right up to see the boats at the dock or on lifts. zowee

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