www.sailsimulator.com real physics,use sails tighten loosen angle trim

[gameleaper]

http://www.sailsimulator.com/

this is better than flight sim or train sim, you sail boats using the wind, you can raise different sails trim them, move ropes, use the tiller, a simple button to have the sailor lean out, tack upwind,

the physics are that of real boats, I was told multiplayer picksup in the winter, but a sailing club could be used

I know I'm off topic but when you find some thing unusual you guys may want to know

[gameleaper]

forget virtual skipper 5, that is free, sail sim 5 has usable sails VS5 is dumbed down, still good just dumbed down

[Asid]

This looks interesting. Don might know a bit more as he is the resident ship/boat guy.

This looks quite a bit more than just a game. I see it can be used to train proficiency with GPS.

There are other sims as well like gliders etc... There is a whole world of simulation out there...Just waiting for us and our wallets 

Thanks for posting GL

[Don_prince]

This is indeed a little bit more than a game.
They adapted this game for planning and plotting simulation as you can couple another PC with Navigation Software to the software. I myself am not a big fan of wingps (dutch company who is or was also behind ship simulator) but I use Maxsea owned by Furuno on my own sailboat and due to the NMEA protecol (used over a normal serial port) you could probably train with that aswell.

What you can do with this software is sail out polar diagraphs and with those you can plan the optimal cource for you sailboat in the wind. Especialy in the mega yacht bussiness this is intresting (not really on smaller scale) as you can set the software to even control the winches and basicaly sail automaticly...

That said lets move to sailsimulator:

I have used this in the past, may even have a cd of it laying around somewhere. As all other software I have ever seen it compleatly misses simulating hydrodynamics. Bether said its not even trying...

The underlaying engine is the same as VS5 which has the same dumbed down mechanics.

That said, as it focuses on sailing and as such is more indepth as VS5 and the fact that there is simply no other product on the market like this... Well yeah in the land of the blind is the one eyed guy king as we say in holland...

For sailing simulating (like with sails) it is the best product... Why? There is no other product...

Is it good? Well its better than nothing but to be honnest its far from the real thing. I much prefer the real thing as trimming IRL is pretty complicated, even on the steel round the world sailer I have... It gets especialy complicated when the boomvang breaks in 20 pieces and this year was the first year we did not have to cope with that issue.


This is the reason that multiplayer picks up in the winter. People much prefer to do the real thing. Most have a small boat and can be out of the harbour and sails up in 20 minutes. I for a chance need 4 days to kit out the boat and prepare for one trip, it does not matter how long, then take about 4 days afterwards to safely keep the boat stored in the harbour.

So if you are an average sailor and can do the real thing why do the viritual thing? thats why. Now a lot of people are preparing for winter around this time. Even though they are not sailing they dont have time to play. Rig maintenance, engine maintenance, antifreeze everywhere you name it. Its maintenance season. But after it should pick up. People start missing the real thing and start to do the next best thing...

The mayority of the playerbase is Dutch. Simply because a lot of Dutchies have sailboats. Come to NL and you will be surprised how many harbors for little boats you find. This also means that you have to deal with Dutch stubbourness. Dutchies do not honey you, they straight up tell you whats on their mind. If they at that point think you are behaving not as they like they will tell you so in ways you may find innapropriate, the Dutch are famous for that. Don't bother with that because 5 seconds later they will change opinnion and find you the coolest guy ever...

Thats about all I can think off,
There you have my oppinion as Naval Architect and from a player/sailor point of view...

There is a small demo for free. It gives a good impression of the rest of the simulator. Definetly worth to try it out as it does not cost more than some time...

If there is any questions feel free to ask me. I know a bit about the gaming mechanics and if there is some other things I am native Dutch so I can scout the Dutch forums for you which have a bit more information on them than the english one's...

[Lusik]

There are other sims as well like gliders etc... There is a whole world of simulation out there...Just waiting for us and our wallets 

Thanks for posting GL

And our time


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Longknife]

I have had this for some time thought I havent played it in probably a year. I agree it is the best sailing simulator.

http://www.sailsimulator.com/

this is better than flight sim or train sim,

Well thats a bit of a stretch but to each his own 

[gameleaper]

just finding out about my boon bang things like sailing with the wind meand the sail can flip as its under constant power, I'm learning lots. no as much yet as Don_prince wow that's some writeup. I like train sim and flight sim, but I found I was enjoying the sailing and fighting with the sails more involving, but as you say each to his own

[Asid]

Hi GL

It is good that you have found a sim you really enjoy...I hope it is plain sailing from here on.....

I wonder if it will be on a discounted sail   (I can see Beef rolling his eyes lolol)

[gameleaper]

I found I watching old youtube of the Americas cup boat race and sailing news, its a full hobby if you let it.

[Don_prince]

I have to advice you to try the real thing aswell.

Also when you do you can not apply all rules you learnt in the game. Thats my mayor issue with it. People beleave that the boomvang (used to get twist out of the mainsail) including the traveler is for downwind cources... The game does as well. Now I will tell you how I use the traveler and the boomvang.

Firstly the sail works as a wing. In order to sail as fast and as high as possible upwind what you can do on some ships is you put the traveler into the furthest position windward. You need to do this in order to 1 put the boom in the centerline (better, dont go further than that) and 2 pull down on it. Due to the combined force vector this is the only way of acomplishing that. Now you will see that with the mainsheet you have not enough force to pull the twist out of the mainsail. This twist will increase the drag and create turbulence (bad). So you pull the boomvang till the twist is out (in my case with it goes over 20 blocks, imagine the force, till I cant pull anymore) And yes we had the line snap the year before and the year before that and the year before that one. If that happens the line will make carnage inside the boomvang smashing the blocks out of their position all over the place... Somehow that always happened at windforces above 6bf (yes we sail full rig at 6bf, 10-11kts, sometimes you break things than.)

This is just an example of that theorys can be wrong and sometimes neglected of in practise. As I am used to sail my own boat and trim it as I am used to, the way I trim it the game does not like that because it works with one theory (not multiple, 1) and if you dont pull the values that the game is set on, you only will slow down.

Now I am a Naval Architect. I design ships and some of them already sail the planet. I do not use theorys for trimming. I use my eyes and my knowledge of sails and wings.

[Longknife]

Now I am a Naval Architect. I design ships and some of them already sail the planet.

Boy would I love to sit down with you for a few pints!

I love sailing & have been trying to talk the Mrs into selling the house, buying around a 50ft ketch & setting sail for the south pacific. Shes a landlubber though & not having it. Shes fine with an overnight at sea but prefers coastal cruising & gets nervous once she loses sight of land.

[Don_prince]

Now I am a Naval Architect. I design ships and some of them already sail the planet.

Boy would I love to sit down with you for a few pints!

I love sailing & have been trying to talk the Mrs into selling the house, buying around a 50ft ketch & setting sail for the south pacific. Shes a landlubber though & not having it. Shes fine with an overnight at sea but prefers coastal cruising & gets nervous once she loses sight of land.

I'm always seasick the first few days. Next to that in 7 years (since we only have 2 weeks a year on our own boat) still not used to the vague steering of hydraulics and unfortunatly for the long trips the autopilot is still not connected... My longest trips are daytrips and still around or less than 45 sea miles. and no you do not loose sight of land. On bigger ships (merchant) I had bigger trips.

Ill see if I can get on ts sometime this week. I am so bussy at this moment that my mic is stored in its box.

You should talk to Attila aswel, his dad used to do long trips and races.

[gameleaper]

thd Don, you make interesting reading, I suspect I will keep rereading as I play the sim thx,