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< New players ~ Howdy From Austin, Texas USA! |
| Todoncio |
 Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:15 am |
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Acting Sub-Lieutenant
Level 9
Joined: 06 Nov 2010
Posts: 40
Location: Austin, TX USA
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Hi everyone! I'm so happy I found this game. I used to play Virtual Skipper, but always wished it had some distance sailing aspects to it. As a software engineer, I've often thought about writing one myself, but luckily I found Live Skipper, and it is exactly what I would have wanted to do.
When I'm not pretending to be Brad Van Liew online, I'm either out sailing my Hobie Cat on Lake Travis, or begging my wife to let me go sailing.
Thanks LS Team for creating such an awesome game, and I look forward to seeing everyone off my stern soon!  |
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Todd
The Sailor Formerly Known As "Siren"
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| Suratna |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:12 am |
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Joined: 02 Jul 2009
Posts: 6350
Location: Thailand
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Hallo Sirens Last Call 
WELCOME to LiveSkipper (LS) which as you have concluded already is the Best Virtual Sailing Game there is  
I see you sailed already some challenges, that is indeed very good to learn the tricks of this game.
In the Kiribati race however you are on a very nice place 63 now, that is FANTASTIC
So I do not need to tell you much on how to sail your Trimaran over the Oceans.
Just to explain a little and hope that it will help to get soon familiar with our boats. We are at this very moment testing out a Beta version of the LS player. So you can now choose to sail in the old called Classic player and the new called Beta player.
When bugs are solved we will make a transition to the Beta as you will understand Both players can be used alternative in a race , without any interference, so feel free to choose BUT .. most of all read the forum topics on Beta to see what other skippers think of it.
For some explanation on the finesses of the game, you may have a look at the manual, (classic player and not updated) or a better start is to have a look at the beautiful video's on Youtube as tutorial for Beta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfWXugEhRUY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfWXugEhRUY
And of course you will find a lot of information, tricks and comments in the Forum topics. The English Forum (EF) has some very good information on LiveSkipper features & rules , Weather/routing discussions and most important LiveSkipper miscellaneous, which is house for the individual race topics and ................The RACEBAR, where skippers meet for a drink, a laugh, a joke, a listening ear and some rough comments at times.
Please visits the bar and obey the rule that on first visit a newbee takes the bill
Hope to see you regularly back in teh LS races, the forum and the racebar.
fair winds
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Ard-- http://liveskipper-krys.blogspot.com/ ;Austral-W-1;R.Ireland-1; 4Cap R-5;2OceanCr-2; Xmas:2; Caipirinha:5; Ghost: 29;WCoast-3;Vendee-6
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| Mr Meebles |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:38 am |
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Joined: 11 Jul 2008
Posts: 1756
Location: ZhengZhou, China
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It is nice to see more Americanos in this forum!
WELCOME!
Very nice that you shared your location with us, a point that slips many...
I raced in Texas (Dallas/Ft Worth) on "Ray Hubbard" - nice venue.
You are now added to my list of friends  (That's a thirsty tongue looking to enjoy your first shout in the "Race Bar"  ) |
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S/F, Phillip(Sailing Anarchist) ...it ain't the flag; it's the wind that blows it |
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| Sowslo |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:43 am |
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Joined: 24 Aug 2010
Posts: 2088
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Welcome Sirens to a fellow newbie on the forums. So far the forum posters have been very kind and gentle with me and I have already found some favourite threads to read each time I log in to check my boat.
Before I found the forums I was happy to sail my wayward course that eventually found the finish. Now I am using beta, fighting for every last little pixel to gain me that one place improvement. |
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| Todoncio |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:28 pm |
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Acting Sub-Lieutenant
Level 9
Joined: 06 Nov 2010
Posts: 40
Location: Austin, TX USA
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Thanks for the welcome everyone. I'm already using the beta version as my primary view. No sense in getting used to controls that won't be there much longer, right?
The iPhone app really completes this game though. It keeps me from having to get up when I have to go check my course @ 3 am (yes, I'm already setting an alarm to do this), and I can follow the race when I'm stuck in meetings at work . |
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Todd
The Sailor Formerly Known As "Siren"
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| Hallberg |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:28 pm |
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Joined: 24 Jun 2009
Posts: 7745
Location: Tournieres, Basse Normandie. (and England)
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Welcome Sirens 
Watch out in that Racebar Mate, there are a few suspect Characters who will fleece you of your hard earned with dodgy card games, Dice and drinking games
(Worry not, the Vile memory of VR will fade quickly, if not, we offer a counselling service to help Ex VR'rs)
Have Fun, You are obviously already a lost soul, setting alarms and creeping around with the iPhone......So I won't bother with my usual warnings..........
Welcome...Russ |
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Honneur et Fidelite.
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| billf |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:53 pm |
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Joined: 26 Jan 2010
Posts: 1266
Location: Nor. Calif, USA
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Sirens Last Call wrote: The iPhone app really completes this game though. It keeps me from having to get up when I have to go check my course @ 3 am (yes, I'm already setting an alarm to do this), and I can follow the race when I'm stuck in meetings at work .
First off, welcome to LS, and good to have someone else from the States onboard (and from the Republic of Texas no less)
I see you have already fallen in line with the rest of us and losing sleep over where your boats are at 3am. The beta makes this a lot better since you can lay some waypoints in and get a little more sleep (some nights).
There are plenty of great folks here to help with any questions you might have as you come up to speed - just ask
bill |
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| Todoncio |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:01 pm |
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Acting Sub-Lieutenant
Level 9
Joined: 06 Nov 2010
Posts: 40
Location: Austin, TX USA
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Thanks for the advice. I've already been setting waypoints, but haven't been using them long enough to trust them. I guess I worry that the wind is going to change dramatically when the new grib data is loaded, which is why I was checking my course at 3 am.
Does this happen often, or should I just stop worrying? |
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Todd
The Sailor Formerly Known As "Siren"
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| Sowslo |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:18 pm |
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Joined: 24 Aug 2010
Posts: 2088
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Sudden wind changes only happen to me when 90 degree shifts make the intended route impossible and add a day to race time.
I haven't noticed any major shifts lately (week or two) so have been lulled into a false sense of trusting the forecasts. I am currently fighting with a 20 degree difference on what I was expecting.
If I recall the last Rome - Ibiza run had a few surprises. |
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| Suratna |
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:35 am |
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Joined: 02 Jul 2009
Posts: 6350
Location: Thailand
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Sirens Last Call wrote: ..... I guess I worry that the wind is going to change dramatically when the new grib data is loaded,
Does this happen often, or should I just stop worrying?
How long is a piece of string 
the wind changes sometimes with a new forecast every 3hrs but sometimes with the 3hrs the wind is not changing
It all depends on the wind changes in reality
If your boat is within all wind arrows that have almost same direction and strength for now and the coming 24 hrs, it is quiet safe to expect that no sudden wind changes will occur
If your boat, however, sails within windarrows that point to all directions and when wind forecasts let the wind direction switch from South to North or elsewhere, then............
you better watch out as then also the wind change will/may come to your boat.
In the latter example, you might be thinking twice for relying on autoheading and or scheduler.
and all wind situations in between those two , it is a kind of intuition, risk taking, or go for safe whether you want to use the automatics
please also read the weather topic in EF. Wind changes come every 3hrs from LS server, this can be looked at with the wind forecast 0,3,6,etc left bottom corner of the screen. On top of this there is the NOAA wind update 4 times a date that will be incorporated in the LS windupdates of 00, 06,12,18 hrs .
Any changes coming from this NOAA update , will not be seen previous to the update with the wind-forecast buttons in LS.
I hopes this helps a little
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_________________
Ard-- http://liveskipper-krys.blogspot.com/ ;Austral-W-1;R.Ireland-1; 4Cap R-5;2OceanCr-2; Xmas:2; Caipirinha:5; Ghost: 29;WCoast-3;Vendee-6
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| tulip |
| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:52 am |
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Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Posts: 74
Location: Kawau Island, New Zealand
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Welcome Sirens from those of us down under at least you are in the right hemisphere for racing and most of the races. The ones I like are the Pacific ones. he last Ibiza one drove me to drink and pig burning boat at the end of the race.
I usually have 3 races going at once but as I live on a yacht and at the moment only have 2G very slow to load and play so have to cut down to just 2 races  We have love setting the alarm to see the changes.
Your shout next time as you are already beating me I keep sleeping through starts.
Tulip - Jan |
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