Virtual Racing: Sail the Susan Hood Online
Jun 1, 2022
Author, John Gambles, virtual racing in his basement
LOOR has once again partnered with SailOnline.org to hold a virtual Susan Hood Trophy Race presented by driveHG. SOL will set a virtual but identical course and, using real-time weather, race the V-SHTR from the comfort of your own home with the start at 8:00 PM EST.
Register your virtual boat at any time for free (for LOOR races every racer will have their own Beneteau First 36.7 to control), and if you’d like to practice using the interface you can join any race SOL has currently opened registration for on their platform. (Note that other races may use a different boat). The virtual Susan Hood course will open for practice at sailonline.org a few days before the race date of June 3, 2022.
The partnership will continue through the summer with a concurrent on-water and online version of the L0300 Challenge presented by driveHG. Again, for these races the weather will be real-time and the courses will be the same for both on-water and virtual racing.
John Gambles is an enthusiastic participant on Sailonline. A safe place for an 82-year-old to long-distance race with serious highly competitive IRL experienced racers. I am virtually racing against the likes of the former Australian navigator of the well-known J130 Ragtime and the current US tactician of the custom ocean racer Rikki. My Canadian virtual boat, Satori, is now ranked 10th in Sailonline Yacht Club’s world rankings. Satori shares the Top 10 with virtual boats from Poland, Brazil, USA, Peru, Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia.
