I have a B.A. in English...I'm starting to think it should've been in Nautical Science.

All of this talk of decimals and wind and tacks and men overboard...if only it were a part of a John Donne poem or something I might be able to make sense of it all.

In training today, though, I was giving a speech to my squad and they kept squinching their faces like they had to go poop when I was going over proper rowing techniques, except for one fine young man who showed he was prepared to study the texts and lead us around the globe:

Ross Wallace.

Quite frankly, the lad has been carving out grooves in the benches of Cakesburton Grove and our opponents' grounds to fit his fat arse in comfortably during matches, so I was pleased when he stood up and proclaimed: "Fear not, Cakes North End mates! Me Mum was a Cabin Girl on a ship way back when and taught me all the tricks. Just follow my lead and I'll get us at least as far as Pompey without a snag!"

And with that, the squad departed to the training ground pool to begin assembling our ship, Cap'n Wallace supervising the proceedings after placing the token eye patch over his left orb.

When everything is ready, you can paint my boat in red 'n 'white stripes and use the Stokies 5As logo, just about understand the rules, but don't complain when i hit Fremantle instead of Sydney (for a cup of tea)

Cheers for the clarifications RomynPG. It does make a bit more sense now.

Out of interest, have you done a test sail using the first few gameweek scores? How off target/on course would people be?

Phew - I'll update both the Q&A and Full Rules as I implement the features - 95% of it is there though so there won't be many changes now - just tweaks.

Not with this years yet - but with the same GWs from last year - using last year as I need to run right through to the end just to check that the values used aren't too out of whack. It's no guarantee for this years but it will give me a good first stab. I can always alter things (in advance of a GW) if things have fallen behind/ gotten ahead of the proposed schedule.

As for how far off-target test boats have gone - a bit - but not overly. It tends to be the odd tack that throws a boat wildly off-course but that tends to correct itself over the next few tacks. The boat just ends up a bit behind the rest of the fleet for a while. It doesn't take alot to catch up though. The lead changes often as boats can get stuck for a few tacks trying to get across a Wayline (the not so ideal example image in the Q&A) and by other incidents.

These images give an idea - although Run-Agrounds weren't implemented when this was generated so some of the tacks go across land which they won't in the real race.
1, 2, 3, 4

Looks amazing.

I'm laughing at the second image with someone stranded in the middle of the Sahara!

The way of tracking them looks ace. Big thumbs up so far.

This is going to be great. I chuckled at that one too, Rob.

If we've already signed up for this here, is that all we have to do to enter? Or is there a supplementary signing-up process that I don't know about? (Which is how I ended up missing out on the Royal Rumble )

Glad you like it

Tying this in with a recent thread in Comp & Tech - it's all the power of XML - so hopefully this fact will interest the organiser of one of my favourite games from last year, The Ryder Cup, to enter his wee crew - there's still time

Billy Whiz - no - all's good for your Team.

Count me in please. I will just have the Plymouth badge as my logo since that has a picture of a ship on it.

Last chance - registration closes Tuesday 25th Sept 19:00 - maximum of 6 berths available.

Race starts GW8 with GW7 scores contributing to navigation. Details of Leg 1 will be published later in the week.

(Still looking at incorporating emblems but a fair few just don't work - I'll sort the one's that don't work well via pm.)

See you all in Portsmouth on Saturday

I would like to enter Easy Beesy into this competition - the only bees that matter

Quick note on emblems.

Here's a temporary images album containing all the ones I have so far (you have to scan through as they're numbered not named). If you didn't post one I've used your avatar where possible. I've resized them all to 80x80 so some look better than others.

Cartoon-ish ones will look good when converted to a texture file in the 3D models - photo-type ones and ones that were way off square won't look that hot - but I'm going to use them anyway - unless you post another one. (For off square I've scaled to the biggest dimension - no cropping)

If you want to change can you do it as soon as poss as I want to create the necessary files tomorrow.

Any probs or you need a hand to get an alternative and aren't quite sure what to do just pm me. Thanks

Cool

Anchors away then ...

Number 22 is ready to ship out, crew have been drilled and flogged

37 says "Anchors away"

A total of 56 Boats were entered - (thanks to admin for agreeing to put on his sea-legs to give even numbers ) - and as a result the Fleet will be split into 4 Pools of 14 Boats.

The draw for the first Leg has been made and will be published shortly. Draws are random and will be repeated at the start of each of the 7 Legs.

I've got a few things still to do so a Google Earth file will not be published for a couple of days.

(There are also a few minor rule tweaks being made and I'll post them here soon.)

Currently checking the inventory of essential supplies to load on board. Could do with some women, if there are any volunteers out there ?

A few last minute amendments to Rules that required confirming.



Man Overboard
Before
A Red Card for your Crew member translates as a Man Overboard. This will result in that Tack, and the next 2 being discarded. In addition any Boats within a certain distance of you will immediately stop racing and change course to come to your assistance.

Now
A Red Card for your Crew member translates as a Man Overboard. The Tack in question will proceed as normal with the M.O. occurring at the end of the Tack. Subsequent Tacks will be discarded - the number being dependent on whether assistance reaches you.

At the beginning of the next Tack the closest 2 Boats (within your Pool and who are Racing and have the same Target Waypoint) will immediately change course to come to your assistance (for 1 Tack only and on a direct Bearing). If either of these Boats reach you within that Tack you will only lose only that Tack - if not you lose 2 Tacks worth of sailing.

A Boat is Racing if they are not involved in any incidents themselves - ie a Man Overboard or a Run-Aground (including Making Repairs or Returning to a Restart point).

If there are multiple Man Overboards and a Boat is one of the closest 2 to more than 1 Boat requiring assistance they will proceed towards the closest to them. In this case another Boat (the third closest etc) will respond to the SOS. This process repeats until there are no Boats left to respond.

Running Aground
Before
If you Run Aground (your Boat sails into any land mass, large or small) the remainder of that Tack and the next 2 will be discarded while you make repairs.
Once repairs have been made your re-start position will be the position your Boat was in at the start of the Tack that originally caused you to Run Aground. Depending on your new Bearing you could either Run Aground again or sail free of any obstacles. (Starting a Tack within a group of Islands can be tricky to escape from).

Now
If you Run Aground (your Boat sails into any land mass, large or small) the remainder of that Tack and the next 1 will be discarded while you make repairs.
Once repairs have been made your re-start position will be the position your Boat was in at the start of the Tack that originally caused you to Run Aground. Depending on your new Bearing you could either Run Aground again or sail free of any obstacles. (Starting a Tack within a group of Islands can be tricky to escape from).

If you Run Aground a second time from your original Restart position you will then Restart from the last Waypoint you passed. (This is to prevent Boats becoming completely stuck in places that would be impossible to escape from).

Note: If a Boat is returning to it's previous Waypoint (after Running Aground twice) the Track displayed may cross land but as the Boat isn't actually Racing at the time this is OK - it's just there so there are no gaps in the Track.

Other Damage
No other Incidents will be included - it's complicated enough

GW8 Results will be published in the Leg 1 thread within a day or 2 - just finishing up on the presentation.

Looking forward to it!