Oh yes, everything happens ! In my entire computer-nautical career I had never played any computer game whatsoever., not even the historic Windows card game that cost businesses thousands of idle office hours… but you should never say : Never !
Or donc, here I am registered for Virtual Regatta, one among the most 340.000 players registered at this time, ready to start the Vendée Globe tomorrow at 1:02 p.m.. Like any beginner, I watched a few videos to quickly understand this game, Who, we are all, seems relatively simple for an experienced sailor. But from there to playing in the big leagues, there are still several oceans to cross !
Unfortunately I have two handicaps : I'm not a gamer, and I'm even less of a racer. I'm more of a contemplative navigator, and I have never set sail for a "Circuit" 24 " (the elders will understand). But it does not prevent : The greatest interest of this game, From my point of view, is to familiarize the players, even if not marine, with the notions of weather forecast, and sailors with the notions of routing. And it's exciting !
I'm all the more motivated because my two classmates, Henri Laurent and Olivier Bouyssou, bring their jointly developed routing module to this new competition, integrated into Virtual Regatta from the start (¹).
I will therefore try to follow up on the weather and routing of this virtual race over the coming months, while keeping an eye on the skippers who are, them, will not be comfortably seated in front of a screen and a drink in hand. With the friendly complicity of Yann Amice, Scientific Director of SportRIZER of which he is the specialist and weather referent, I'll try to share here my point of view on the virtual regatta in terms of weather-routing strategy.
Yann Amice has entered into a partnership with the group West France to provide them with daily weather monitoring and analysis, covering both the actual race (²) and the virtual regatta (³). SailGrib et Weather4D provide Yann with the forecast routings made with their two applications on a daily basis, which allow Yann to illustrate his analysis in addition to his own meteorological sources. And this fine team is on board of course, with each his own boat, in the Vendée Globe of Virtual Regatta from today.
Combined satellite and fronts situation 8 November 00Z by SailGrib
Two routing options with SailGrib. The routing at Cape Finisterre is more secure, sending in light southerly winds.
The big difference between the virtual and the real is that, in the first case, We don't take into account the state of the sea, An essential component of the water strategy. The sea conditions that await the skippers in the 48 hours will inevitably influence their choice of trajectory.
For latecomers, update your SailGrib app, and watch this tutorial by Henri Laurent :
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(¹) SailGrib embarks on the Vendée Globe 2020
(²) https://www.ouest-france.fr/vendee-globe/meteo-marine-course/
(³) https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/voile/virtual-regatta/vendee-globe-virtuel/
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