Virtual Volvo Ocean Race: For the record...

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Distance to Finish:
I have also been advised that the waypoint planned at the Gibraltar’s straight has simply been forgotten. As a consequence the DTF was a straight line to Cap Town... A silly and small Human error with no consequences to the game except some understandable frustration. Fortunately this has now been fixed with One major change that was implemented last night. The DTF is calculated via Waypoint Fernando de Noronha so don’t forget to round it!

Some clarification re: weather data
The choice was made to only have an update every 12 hours to allow the skippers at large to play without having to be glued to their computer 24/7.. Personally I would prefer to have them updated every hour, but if we think about the thousands of ‘mums and dads’ players, the current choice must be correct.

Finally and regarding the purchasable options: The feeling that an open check book will give an advantage to a player is quite misleading.

The game is 100% free for the community to enjoy. Now for the skippers who wants to play hard, but also would like to have a life, they can purchase the 2000 credit package for 19.95 Euros. This package includes all options for the whole race!! In other words, that’s just above 2 Euros a month for a yacht race that will last 9 months with an opportunity to win a CAR!!! Not really expensive is it? Allow me to add that the winner of the AG2R had no option at all.

Remember folks
First and foremost, this sailing experience is a game of strategy designed for thousands of people to play.. pros, specialists, amateurs, mums and dads, etc ... , as opposed to other virtual games where you can find more options, better weather updates and other technically advanced stuff. This is not what this game is about...

Sometimes you’ll be faster with the autopilot ON, sometimes it will slow you down,
Sometime you'll find the pro sails too demanding and will switch to basic one
Sometimes your boat will have 10degres+ leeway (very interesting!!)
Sometimes you'll hit the bottom when you were sure to clear land (could be frustrating!)
Sometimes the small spinnaker will be better in very light wind (like a real boat?)

You'll learn to never leave your boat alone when sailing close to the shore! (I've learned that the hard way, trust me!)

Some of us (sailing specialists) would love to have the V70’s polar. As nobody's got them and we are all onboard a perfect one design class with thousands of people to race against, does it really matter?

I tell you what, if you forget the minor details that doesn't work perfectly (ie: DTF, Charts, Wind, leeway, etc ....) you will find a game of strategy in the sport that we all love. It will keep you awake day in day out 24/7 !!! You'll be hooked no doubt ... like I have been and 10 of thousands of players before me....
By the time we are 1/2 way through this event we'll probably have 100 000+ players! Awesome no?

With 377 players, Sailing Anarchy is the largest Group by far. Now, can an Anarchist or someone else goes out there and pull ‘lemalosaint’ back in line for us please? The chase is ON!

Congratulation to all, good luck, enjoy the game!