ADVANTAGE VIRTUAL RACING EDITION
We have been designing top-ranked routing software for over a decade: SEE OUR REFERENCES
CHECK OUT OUR TACTICAL SOFTWARE AND CURRENT & WIND DATA FOR RACES WORLDWIDE
This is a great opportunity to learn
how routing software works, in a realistic setting where you can see the results and
compare your choices to those made by competitors. And, you will be using the same tools,
techniques and information as "real" ocean navigators.
HOW IT WORKS: you purchase a special edition of Advantage, limited to Virtual Regatta functions, for a small fraction of the price of our top "Level 3" program ($150 instead of $1,900). Your package comes complete with charts, a number of polar files, and all Advantage components except those used in actual onboard racing.
STANDARD ROUTING SOFTWARE WILL NOT WORK WITH "VIRTUAL REGATTA" GAMES !!
The Virtual Regatta rules treat wind data very differently from "real" racing software, and result in very different routes. But this special edition of Advantage has been modified to calculate boat motion (including optimal routing) in EXACTLY the same way as the game, which gives our users an incredible edge. Otherwise, the program works exactly the same as our unlimited editions.
WHY IT WORKS: Routing software is essential because critical routing decisions are based on what the winds will be like 4-5 days ahead, and often a week or more, and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles ahead of your current position. You have to think globally, not locally. The wind information provided by Virtual Regatta only goes out 36 hours, but the winds used by the game at later times can be predicted by Advantage quite well, up to 7 days ahead, and at lesser accuracy beyond that. Knowing the predicted wind isn't enough, you have to know where your boat will be days later in order to apply that knowledge to routing. This requires you to take into account numerous possible course changes, as well as the performance characteristics of the boat at many combinations of wind speed and angle. If you can do this in your head, you are better than the professional navigators doing the Volvo Ocean Race. This is not to say that it takes judgment out of the game. Wind predictions are not perfect, and there are still decisions to be made, particularly when winds are light. But why work with a big handicap, when our software gives you the same tools as the pros and a real chance to win?
WHAT ELSE?: The Advantage Router is great for overall strategy, but only one element of the program. Other Advantage functions support moment to moment tactical decisions, such as computing the optimal series of tacks to reach an upwind or downwind waypoint, or defining a series of waypoints and computing precise headings, expected TWA, ETA's, etc. for each leg of a course. Advantage functions have evolved, and been tested and improved, over a decade for our "real" racing clients worldwide, from the Volvo Ocean Race to other major offshore competitions, including the Fastnet Race, the Newport-Bermuda Race and Sydney-Hobart, the Americas Cup and many others. And the Virtual Regatta functions were tested extensively during the virtual Volvo Ocean Race and Vendee Globe.
UNIQUE ROUTING FUNCTIONS
THE IMAGE BELOW illustrates a routing solution for the initial part of Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race (Singapore to Qingdao). The red line shows the optimal (quickest) route from the starting point ("1", off Singapore) to an intermediate point ("3", off Taiwan). The other colored lines show comparison routes that help to put the optimal route in perspective. The times (in HR:MM:SS) for each route are shown in the 'Best Course Comparisons' form, color-coded to correspond to the route. Advantage is the only routing software that computes quantitative comparison routes. The definitions of shorelines are built into the charts supplied with the package, so you can perform realistic routings that don't try to take shortcuts over land. The optimal (red) solution in this example takes about 144 hours, some 12 hours faster than the blue route closer to shore, and more than 60 hours faster than the yellow route furthest offshore. The computation employed the same wind prediction files used by the Volvo Ocean Race Game (VORG), and realistic VOLVO70 polar performance data.
One computed, routing solutions are redrawn if you zoom in or out, or switch to a different chart, and you can step along the solution at intermediate times to see progress along the optimal and comparison routes. Predicted boat positions at 1017 on 1/1/2009 are shown by the black dots, and distance from those positions to the destination (DTG) is shown in the right-hand column.
COSTS AND HOW TO ORDER
HOW TO PAY: Use the link below to send us an email. Let us know if Paypal works for you and we will email you a Paypal invoice. If not, tell us your location and we will instruct you as to the best method to make payment. Please include your name and the name of your "boat" in Virtual Regatta. You can download Advantage from our website and install in few minutes (do not install one of our regular programs; you will be given a download URL for this special edition).
VIRTUAL LOUP-DE-MER: the VLM website (http://virtual-loup-de-mer.org/) offers another series of virtual races. These are more realistic, in that they use the same winds and routing as "real" races, and they have more options that allow you to specify course changes when you cannot be online. VLM races are free, and you don't need to purchase "options" to be competitive. However, graphics are more primitive and there are many fewer competitors (hundreds instead of tens of thousands). If you are interested in using Advantage for VLM (and also Virtual Regatta), we offer a version of the Level 3 program that omits only the on-the-water functions. This version also includes a link that allows Advantage to access the VLM site to obtain the lat-lon coordinates of your boat, enabling it to locate your boat onscreen automatically and update boat position as it updates on the site, moving the boat along in "real" time. The cost for this edition is US$300.