Andrejs 12 Comments

The best way to be in touch with the nine-month-long Life at the Extreme adventure is by participating in the Virtual Regatta for Volvo Ocean Race.

Another three years have passed, and the world’s longest and toughest professional sporting event is about to begin.

Volvo Ocean Race 2017-2018.

I know what about I am talking as I was one of 400K VOR (Volvo Ocean Race) virtual regatta 2014-2015 participants, and I got a good result in the overall score.

 In a company with seven Volvo 65 one-design state-of-the-art sailboats and other 400 000 virtual racers, we sailed about 45 thousand nautical miles around the Globe. Roaring the Southern Ocean or dead calm in the Strait of Malacca, nothing was an obstacle to crossing the finish lines. It was an excellent experience for me especially as I am an offshore racer in real life; just nothing compares with these galls and guys onboard Vestas Wind, Mapfre, and other boats.

More detailed information about the Volvo Ocean Race can be found online.

The Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) is a yacht race worldwide, held every three years.

Originally named after its initiating sponsor, British Whitbread Brewing Company, it today carries the name of its current owner, Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo Cars, and Swedish multinational manufacturing company, the Volvo Group.

The first race began in Portsmouth, the United Kingdom, on September 14, 1973.

I hope that from time to time, we will stop and discuss some race details, either specifics of navigation and route or live events from onboard activities.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I took part in the Virtual Regatta of VOR 2014-2015 and was in touch with almost every detail of the real race. Half a million people participated, and I could not find any similar event with so many participants. I guess that most virtual racers (like me) have some sailing knowledge, but it does not mean that they could not be a total beginner. Like every game, Virtual Regatta has detailed instructions from the Help Centre on how to participate.

You can use your favorite browser on a PC, MAC, tablet, iPhone, or any other smartphone except Internet Explorer. Safari has some restrictions, like a lack of full-screen mode.

Today is October 14, 2017, and the first MAPFRE in-port race in Home Port Alicante, Spain, is about to begin. You can watch it online here

Congratulations to MAPFRE, the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-2018 first in-port race, Alicante, Spain.

The next event is leg One Alicante-Lisbon on 22 October 2017.

To participate in the Virtual Regatta for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017, simply log in and follow the screen tips. In fact, you can play incognito, but I sincerely recommend creating an account to get all the benefits. Like almost every game, you can be a free player, but for a relatively small fee, you can get more advanced boat equipment and other tickets, such as weather, waypoints, and more.

This year, the paid options of VIRTUAL REGATTA OFFSHORE 3 have been slightly changed, and a ticket system has been implemented. Sadly, I suppose it will be more expensive to get all the benefits throughout the race. In the last VOR virtual regatta, I paid about 23 EUR in one payment and got everything. After a couple of weeks in the offshore race, let’s see how much it will cost.

The core of Virtual Regatta Team gals and guys come from France but I guess that they are in close cooperation with the world’s top sailing elite.

I am not anymore a big computer game fan although years ago I used to play mainly simulator mode games like Colin McRae Rally, Need for Speed, or Ship Simulator.

When it comes to Virtual Regatta, then I guess that it is much more than just an online simulator computer game. For real skippers like me, it is a challenge, a test of skills, a learning process, and most of all, an exciting adventure for the whole nine months. Yes, and I hope to visit Hague in the Netherlands in June 2018 to meet and see seven state-of-the-art Volvo Ocean 65  one-design boats, crews, and virtual sailors again. I visited Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2015, where the final events of VOR 2014-2015 were in progress. I spent an unforgettable five days and didn’t regret any minute of being there.

Unfortunately, I did not take part in other online games, only the last VOR regatta.  As I mentioned above, some rules and conditions have changed. Mainly, it is related to navigation tools and weather. It is hard to say in advance that although I took part in the live event of the Prologue race, it was not enough to evaluate the new credit system. I guess that either it will be pricier or, to fit in the last regatta budget, more effort will be needed to put in and more accurately calculate the courses and tracks, mainly because of not being able to get access to weather forecast data.

Here is the screenshot of the main events and stats of Virtual Regatta.

I guess it can be helpful for Virtual Regatta for Volvo Ocean Race gamers.

Bulgarian smart guy Cvetan Ivanov, a sailor, computer guru, and programmer, has created automated weather routing software.

• It can save you a lot of effort and hours of time spent plotting charts and looking for optimal solution by hand.
• It should be able to predict your boat position in the next 12 hours accurately and help you schedule watches, turns and waypoints
• The new weather forecast is available earlier. This gives you more time to make decisions.
• It helps you make strategical decisions, but won’t make them for you. You decide on your own strategy by setting the goal.

So far, I have not used it in a real event, but in any case, the information provided on this website is certainly helpful and a time-saving opportunity for virtual and real sailors.

Besides the great routing feature, the forum alone is worth joining. I found the real value information in one place. Let’s see in the near future how this knowledge helps improve my stats in the race.

Finally, the Volvo Ocean Race’s top performance around the World sailing regatta has begun. Watch new footage of the first leg from Alicante to Lisbon.

The leg one from Alicante to Lisbon has finished.

The actual race winner is „Vestas 11th Hour Racing “followed by „Mapfre” and „Dongfeng Race Team.“ My Congratulations to the Danish American team.

The virtual Regatta winner is „Sideshow“ from the UK.

I am not satisfied with my score. On the strait of Gibraltar, I was in the second hundred zone but did not follow the zigzag course recommendation, and due to the lack of WPT tickets, I set Help, which on the following day dropped my boat back to the 11 300 position. My lesson learned is, do not use Help function and if you are about to fall asleep better set a straight course to expected morning position. Either purchase Waypoint marks. Anyway, during the next part of the race, I regain almost 5K for my final score. Leg 2 will start from Lisbon and go to Cape Town on November 5, 2017.

I think that following will be bad news for Virtual Regatta for Volvo Ocean Race participants.
What?
It is no secret for VOR (Volvo Ocean Race) VR (virtual regatta) skippers that the present ( at the time of writing, November 1st, 2017) options of the game are far from the spirit of fair competition. This is not only because of high ticket prices and the high cost of each leg of the boat setup bundles. Lack of polars and a 4knt wind threshold are just some of the drawbacks compared to the previous VR2 version of the game.
As I mentioned above, Bulgarian skipper and programmer Cvetan Ivanov has created a Sailing Simulator to help virtual skippers not only for the VOR game, and free access is open for everyone on zezo.org
Due to the VR3 issues and the lack of a forum on virtualregatta.com, many skippers, Leg 1 winners, and top ranks are very actively discussing it there.

Philippe, founder/owner of Virtual Regatta, as stated in his signature, has blame Mr.Cvetan Ivanov and called him as a
Read a forum thread, as you will find much useful information from members.
What do I think about it myself?

Honestly, I will participate in the next leg, Lisbon-Cape Town, and hopefully spend another 14.99 EUR to equip my boat fully. I hope not to spend a dime on a card game-like ticket system. If nothing changes, it will be the last time sailing on this platform.

Today, November 3, 2017, Team Brunel won The Mirpuri Foundation In-Port Race Lisbon.

It was exciting to see Brunel, followed by Mapfre, cross the finish line just seconds later. It was an unforgettable sprint around Lisbon, including a photo finish like in Formula One.

Watch full replay

The epic leg from Lisbon to Cape Town started yesterday.

After a spectacular loop on Tagus River, the whole Volvo Ocean 65 boats reached up to 30 knt, beginning their voyage and the hard choice of the right path towards Table Mountain.

The popularity of Virtual Regattas for the Volvo Ocean Race has fallen. At the moment, the ranking table shows only a bit more than 50K boats vs. 75K on the first leg. Reasons? I assume that it is a set of different reasons, such as the high price of boat bundles, schoolboy-like interface and barrel, lack of polars, and much more, even compared with the last edition VR VOR2. Personally, I am not particularly satisfied with the fact that there is no forum and game management attitude to criticisms and recommendations.

Anyway, I am in sailing mode for now, at least. It is hard to refuse the challenge as this is the first time that westerly waypoint Fernando de Noronha has been removed. Live boat skippers and navigators, as well as virtual ones, are free to choose either a higher-speed route on trade winds or a shorter but riskier African coast track.
Those will be exciting and sometimes sleepless for three weeks.

Another day is passed, and the first time I step to the leaderboard.
Actually, this is no big achievement yet because there are 6000 miles ahead, but it’s nice to see my boat, „Andrel, “ among the top 50 boats. Many previous stage leaders, as well as real boats, chose to go far to the west. Our company is approaching the African coast. Low winds are ahead, and this is a risky decision. Then, we’ll see who the winners will be.

Today is November 13, 2017

Virtual fleets are split, and the phrase „The West is Best“ this time seems true. Almost half of the route has sailed, but the west route fleet, in company with real boats, weather forecast is more promising to reach Cape Town before African coast route boats.

MAPFRE, the Spanish-flagged team led by skipper Xabi Fernández, has won Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, a 7,000-nautical-mile marathon from Lisbon, Portugal, to Cape Town, South Africa.

Leg 2 – Provisional Results – as at Saturday, 25 November at 00:18 UTC

1. MAPFRE — FINISHED — 15:10.33 UTC – 19 days, 01h:10m:33s
2. Dongfeng Race Team — FINISHED — 18:02.39 UTC – 19 days, 04h:02m:39s
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing — FINISHED — 19:37.53 UTC – 19 days, 05h:37m:53s
4. Team Brunel — FINISHED — 00:14.47 UTC – 19 days, 10h:14m:47s
5. team AkzoNobel +323.7
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic +324.9
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +326.6

Belgian virtual skipper Rémy Quetstroey has triumphed in the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race game.

His boat finished more than two hours ahead of any other boat – a real rarity in a game with so many players. He crossed the line at 00:22 UTC on Friday, 18 days, 11 hours, 22 minutes, and 16 seconds after setting off from Lisbon. French player Tame Bird crossed the line in second place, with La_Semillante TPN, also from France, in third.

“My strategy was to avoid following the big players because by doing that I would never be able to get ahead of them,” said Rémy, a cruising yachtsman. “I knew from playing this game before that it is always better to get to Cape Town by being west instead of going down the African coast but in my opinion the star players were going too far…“

My congratulations

My choice to stick with the African coast was wrong, and partly it was because I blindly trusted the Zezo sailing simulator. Zezo is undoubtedly very helpful; you just need to learn how to use it properly.

One thing is in short distances up to ten days legs. In long sailing routes, you have to be more innovative. Not only by weather forecasts but also by studying historical data, experienced skipper reviews, and common sense in choosing the right track.

I have three more days to go to see Table Mountain on the horizon, but I have learned much in this leg, regardless of the Virtual Game drawbacks compared to the last second edition.

I have not decided yet whether to participate in the next VOR legs. It will depend on how VR3 creators respond to criticism and pricing.

In less than four minutes, let’s look at Volvo Ocean Race Edition 2017-2018 Leg two.

Epic Leg 2 of Volvo Ocean Race edition 2017-2018 from Lisbon to Cape Town is completed.

Lessons learned and The West is Best has become a reality for me.
Am I satisfied with my result? Honestly, no.

The next adventure begins in about a couple of weeks towards Down Under the wonderful port and city of Melbourne.

Will I participate in it? Probably, however, yes.

The final standings after Leg 2 for Volvo Ocean Race Edition 2017-2018

Cape Town In-Port Race December 8, 2017

Unfortunately, my favorite Vestas 11 Hour Racing had some troubles and lost his starting first position and finished in fourth place. Dongfeng Race Team showed perfect tactical skills and performance.

Congratulations!

I am ready to conquer Southern Ocean winds and icebergs. My virtual boat is on standby and fully equipped. Leg 3 to Melbourne starts on Sunday.

After twelve years of absence, the Southern Ocean Leg 3 is in progress again.

Legendary Roaring Forties with 7 to 11-meter swells are expected. Is this more about brawn than brains? Not anymore. When boat speeds reach 30 knots, brains are in the first place. It’s not easy for virtual skippers to choose the right track, so it’s even more exciting. The annoying barrel has gone, at least for now. It is just the first miles sailed, and Cape of Good Hope slowly disappears behind the horizon.

I was trying to escape from the first Southern Ocean storm.

Virtual skippers in company with real Volvo Ocean 65 yachts just a couple of days after the start of Leg 3 from Cape Town to Melbourne.

December 21st 2017

Leg 3 from Cape Town to Melbourne has been completed for hundreds of other virtual skippers and me. This is my best score ever, achieved at 617th out of more than 65K boats.

The first goal is reached, and I am first from about 50 Latvian skippers. The last stage was match racing with another Latvian boat and the finish line I crossed just a couple of minutes ahead. Real VOR 65 boats are still in exciting race performance, and all of them are doing incredible Life In Extreme. I hope the first couple will reach Melbourne on Christmas Eve.

December 27th 2017

Leg 3 of the 2017/2018 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race is almost completed. Team AkzoNobel is still about 150 miles from the Melbourne finish line and is right now making upwind sailing with low speeds. The weather forecast is not encouraging for today’s reach to the docks. Anyway, the team is in a good mood, and the only drawback is a little time to rest before the start of the next Leg 4 to Hong Kong, which is scheduled for 2nd January 2018.

The summary of this challenging Southern Ocean passage.

After 12 years of absence, the Cape Town to Melbourne leg is back. It is part of the original Whitbread Round the World Race route and is a double-point leg like the stage from Auckland to Itajai.

All in all, there were no major accidents except Annie Lush, racing aboard Team Brunel, who was injured when an errant wave washed her into the aft guardrails.

Team AkzoNobel damaged the track that attached the mainsail to the back edge of the mast during one gybe. This slowed down the boat’s speed, and even after the second successful attempt to repair the track, the boat lost many miles to its closest rival.

One more failure was suffered by the second podium yacht, Dongfeng Race Team, which made them nervous right before the finish line, which Vestas 11th Hour Racing was insistently chasing.

The team reports that the port keel ram, which helps to cant the keel (pushing the keel on an angle to one side to increase the righting moment and thus speed and power), is not working properly.

It was physically hard sailing, especially for crews sailing close to ice gates and gybing almost every hour. It was on the edge of human abilities.

Here are the standings after (AkzoNobel not finished yet) Leg 3.

Leg 4 from Melbourne to Hong Kong was started on the 2nd of January 03 UTC.
It’s 5,600 miles of racing. A glance at a map will tell you that there’s plenty of land between those two spots.

Are there any other hazards?

Tropical Cyclones: The January start date for this leg puts them well into the cyclone (hurricane-sized storms) season for this part of the Pacific, and there is a good chance that the leg will be influenced one way or another by a cyclone somewhere in the Pacific.

North-east Monsoon: Once the fleet breaks clear of the Doldrums, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, they will be headed north-west in the north-easterly Trade Winds. So this should be a pretty fast section, more or less a straight-line drag race all the way to the finish line in Hong Kong.

Virtual Regatta for this leg has been postponed for me due to the wrong setup for my boat from the game developer’s side. I am still waiting for a response to my ticket and a refund of the full pack boat setup € to PayPal. Virtual Regatta’s attitude to customers is getting worse.

January 20, 2018.

Leg 4 is done. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag recorded a historic win in Hong Kong’s home port. Second place went to Dongfeng Race Team just because of Vestas’ retirement.

Here is what Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier said

„…The leg was very complicated, and even though we sailed very well, the Doldrums was a nightmare. You never know what’s going to happen – and Scallywag caught a couple of clouds and took the lead.“

What means the words about „a couple of clouds “?  Mr. Caudrelier, they just did this job better, and that’s all.

Sad news.

It was a collision between Vestas 11th Hour Racing and a fishing vessel some 30 miles off Hong Kong. One man from the fishing boat was reported dead, and nine were rescued. All Vestas crew members are safe, but the boat has a damaged port bow above the water line, at least as can be seen from the pictures. Investigations are in progress.

There is still little news about the collision details, but I want to add my two cents.

Those who read my About Me page know that I am an ex-merchant mariner navigation officer as well as a sailboat skipper. I used to sail in those waters, and sometimes it was a real nightmare due to fishing boat activities. They are engaged in fishing (or not) either without any SOLAS navigation lights or so many different lights that there is no way to make concussion what it is. Any calls by VHF radio are useless as no one speaks English. The keeping of sharp lookout is required, very sharp.

 One more nuance I would like to notice regarding navigation safety. It regards usage of AIS (automatic identification system). Many navigators, mainly the last generation, consider that AIS is almost the main navigation device, which is a very wrong opinion. Yes, it helps a lot to acquire ships around you, but never, I repeat, „NEVER“  be considered a navigation tool. In this regard, I want to say that using the Stealth Mode in busy fishing areas for Volvo Ocean race boats is dangerous.

More details are about to come.

Read here what my thoughts on safe navigation are.

February 4, 2018.

It has been more than two weeks since Vestas 11th Hour Racing was involved in a fatal collision with a fishing boat. There are still no details available for this collision, at least I can’t Google it. For me, as a professional deep-sea navigator, this is about the seriousness of the matter. Maritime accidents are always blamed on both sides; the question is who is guiltier. It mostly depends on the strength of lawyers and, of course, money.

Today is February 4, 2018, so two and a half days before the start of Leg 6, Hong Kong to Auckland. The Official Volvo Ocean Race web page shows the same Vestas crew list. I would very much like it to remain the same, but I am very doubtful about it. I hope I’m wrong.

As I wrote, I did not participate in the Leg 4 virtual competition due to the Virtual Regatta team’s mistake in equipping my boat. I opened a PayPal case to refund the money. It’s a long story that ends with a free Full Pack for my boat for Leg 6.

Short about the situation for Today.

February 27, 2018.

This morning, my virtual boat crossed the finish line. I have not much to say about Leg 6 from Hong Kong to Auckland. I followed the general recommendations of the Zezo weather routing software. I hope I learned from mistakes I made in previous legs and finished 261st out of almost 60K boats. My congratulations to GB „Sideshow, “ who made another great performance.

The real boats are still racing, and the first arrival is expected tonight. The Next Leg 7, Auckland to Itajai, is scheduled for the 18th of March and is expected to be the toughest and longest, with double points.

I hope to see Vestas 11th Hour Racing in the fleet company. Still, have no news about the collision. Regardless of the investigation, it’s not fair that this event is hiding from the public and causes rumors and distrust of organizers of VOR.

Here are the Volvo Ocean Race standings after Leg 6.

Vestas 11th Hour Racing will rejoin the race.

The real situation regarding Vestas Collision is still unclear. We can find some statements from the Team and other VOR officials, but for me, they look like reservations to calm the audience. This leads to distrust of the whole event and rumors about the future of the Volvo Ocean race.

March 11, 2018

An In-Port Race in the Auckland City of Sails features a chaotic start, windless, Doldrums-like conditions, and a final sprint to the finish line!

Scoreboard after New Zealand Herald In-Port Race.

March 18, 2018

Auckland was always pleased with the beautiful sailing event. The start was spectacular, and boats sailed in a tough but exciting 7,500-mile race.

The main fleet of Virtual Regatta boats is heading south.

Match 21, 2018.

Day three of epic 7.6K miles leg around Cape Horn.
Tricky Chinese gybe (gybe) onboard Turn the Tide on Plastic. Strong winds up to 50-60 knots and huge swells are expected in the coming days on the route toward Itajai, Brazil.

March 27 2018

The sad news from Volvo Ocean Race headquarters.

Man overboard from Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. Immediate actions have been taken by boat, and MRCC (Marine Rescue Coordination Center), but hopes have faded that Adelaide-based British sailor John Fisher, 47, will be found alive after searchers failed to find him in stormy conditions, 1400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn in the Southern Ocean.

My condolences.

The short review on April 4, 2018.

Team Brunel won the double-point epic Leg 7 plus one point as the first boat passed Cape Horn.

Just 15 minutes later, Dongfeng crossed the finish line. AkzoNobel was expected to arrive on April 5th, but Turn the Tide of Plastic and Mapfre arrived the next day.

Team SHK/Scallywag make landfall in Chile.
Vestas’s 11th Hour Racing boat dismasted 100 miles off the Falkland Islands on March 30, motored to port, and now awaited logistics to be at the start of the next leg, 8, on April 22.

My virtual boat crossed the finish line yesterday at 207.

________________________________________________

April 20, 2018

Finally, all seven Volvo Ocean 65 boats are in Itajai. Today’s in-port race will be six of the except Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag as the boat arrived just yesterday, and the team is in a race against time to be ready for Leg 8 to Newport, RI, in the USA.

Vestas 11th Hour Racing joining the fleet with newly installed mast and rigs.

Here are the overall standings for the moment

My virtual boat is ready, and the full pack is activated, so I expect another exciting two racing weeks. Good luck!

————————————————————————————————————————-

April 27, 2018

It’s the fifth day of leg 8, Itajai to Newport. I’m Heading North. My virtual boat is in the western company. The overall leader skippers have chosen the more eastern route with higher wind speed but a slightly longer distance to go. Let’s see in a couple of days. I hope that I have not repeated the Leg 2 mistake while sailing along the African coast. Following the tracker of real boats, I see that all companies are somewhere between virtual boats.

Daily Live Thursday 26 APRIL

Scoreboard and the incredible final mile of Leg 8 in Newport fog.

May 24, 2018

Today is the fifth day of the last double-point ocean route from Newport, RI, to Cardiff. Team Brunel is leading for the moment despite a rudder problem that has been fixed.

Virtual boats with leading skippers (my boat in the company) chose a North-Eastern route close to the Newfoundland Cape Race. Another small group of smart guys (gulls) managed to catch better winds and are in the lead about 100 miles. Actually, it’s almost impossible to catch them, but who knows, it is a little bit more than halfway to go.

Week in Review – Leg 9, week 1

To be continued

Scoreboard after Leg 9.

Team Brunel won cross-atlantic Leg 9 just about 4 minutes before Team AkzoNobel. Tricky Bristol Channel tidal streams let Brunel find the winning track.

June 8, 2018

Dongfeng Race Team takes the come-from-behind win in Sky Ocean Rescue In-Port Race.

Watch this and enjoy the professional sailing performance.

June 18, 2018, Recap of Leg 10.

It was one of the most exciting competitions on the Volvo Ocean Race. In less than a week-long route around the UK North coast leaders have changed almost every day. In the final miles, Team Brunel found the right path and overtook Mapfre a little than ten miles before the Inmarsat finish line in Gothenburg.

Now is the three-way tie that the result of this final leg will settle. It will all come down to one last 700 nautical miles run from Gothenburg to The Hague. Dongfeng, Mapfre, and Brunel have 65 points (Dongfeng one extra point for the shortest elapsed time around the world). The final Leg 11 will be the most dramatic in race history.

Watch arrivals in Gothenburg, it is better than any action movie.

July 3, 2018

Volvo Ocean Race edition 2017/2018 is over. The winner is Dongfeng.

The Volvo Ocean Race era remains in history. The future is not yet clear, but a partnership agreement has been made with the International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA), which provides exclusivity to use the IMOCA 60 for crewed round-the-world yacht races.

Let’s see what the situation will be on the starting line in three years and what the name will hold around the world yachting race. I do not want to make any guesses; who knows? Sometimes, significant changes are not so bad.

See you in oncoming races.

Watch a recap of Volvo Ocean Race 2017/2018 Edition

Watch what Volvo Ocean Race President Richard Brisius talks about the future of the Race.

To be continued.

The year 2023. February 12. The last day of stage two The Ocean Race Cape Verde to Cape Town. 

Just a couple of words about this newly named sailing regatta.