The club can still sail and race even when we can’t get to the club.
The club has a free 12 month account to VR Inshore which enables us to organise racing for up to 20 boats from the comfort of home, courtesy of the RYA. We have been testing this with up to 13 sailors and it works well, although the start lines are very short, leading to fun and games as the gun approaches.
Spring race series:
We are planning to run the Spring Series competitions via VR Inshore on the assumption that we are not going to get on the water for long if at all by the end of June. Fine details are to be worked out but the current proposal is to have a Wednesday series in a fast boat, ie a 49er and a Saturday Series in a two sail boat, i.e. a Star.
The plan is to start the series on Wednesday 15th April and to run 3 races each evening. Details to work out include how many races to count and how to allocate 20 spaces in case we have more than 20 that want to race for a particular evening.
For now, what we need everyone interested to do is:
- Download the VR Inshore app on your phone/tablet and sign up to it — you can also play it in a browser if you prefer. It may be best to create a name with MSC in it, e.g. MSC-BenAinslie, but that’s optional;
- Email Oliver Mason to say you want to participate and give your user name. Juniors also welcome!
- Practice using the app with the Training module and try different boats by clicking on the icon on the bottom left of the screen. Enter some races to get some handling experience too!
- Join the new WhatsApp group Virtual Regatta by making a request in the Midland SC group.
- For a club race at 2030, go onto the WhatsApp group Virtual Regatta and Oliver will post on there a few minutes before each race to say it is set up and give a code for you to enter the race in VR Inshore.
- Club practice races will take place Wed, Fri, Sat at 2030 until the start of the series.
Setting up your VR account:
You will need to setup an account and user name on Virtual Regatta to participate – CLICK HERE to setup and please watch the video below. (Depending on the device you are going to use to race with (Phone, Tablet or Desktop) you can use a web browser or you will need go to the relevant App store and download the Virtual Regatta App.)
A little bit about Virtual Regatta:
The fleet of inshore yachts includes ultra-fast foiling catamarans, dinghies or cutting-edge monohulls. The short format of racing is identical to the one used for real life competitions, such as the America’s Cup and the Star Sailors League, with a unique virtual umpire who applies the official rules of sailing.
Please see below videos introducing Virtual Regatta:
Getting started:
Walk through and top tips:
More information: