See Part I here: http://slsailing.com/?p=1601

See Part II here: http://slsailing.com/?p=1674

Chapter III: Sailors, what would you like to be improved?

This is the last act, and your answers sounds like a plebiscite.  Look at this diagram !

No need for me to comment, I leave the floor, sailors, have your say:

• “Rules, and a rules commitee and proper protest system”
• “ also see with a large part of our SL sailors huge gaps in their knowledge of the racing rules. More than once I have seen incidences of fouls and the particapants not aware of what they are doing. I have even on occasion been fouled and then protested for the foul!”
• “Hmm well, I meant not so much the modding and texturing aspect, it is just that I saw it here and there that ppl have difficulties how to sail their boat well, so I have chosen that checkbox…”
• “am trying to coordinate a few folks all interested in training sailors … would love to expand this work so people in all Yacht Clubs and beyond can take advantage of the work. Happy to help out in any initiatives started in that area.”
• “All forms of teaching of Rules, Race Management and Race Rules Judging.”
• “I’d like to see more intermediate/advanced “racing” classes. I think we do a good job teaching the basics of how to sail, ROW, etc – but it’s a big jump from knowing how to sail a course and knowing how to race it.”
• “I am still not sure which windseetings I should take for different boats. A list with recommended settings (windstrenght, wavelenghts and -highs etc.) would be great.”

Hey, do you know another community in which members ask for more training, teaching of rules, more judges… ? Wooot!

So, a large majority, more than 3/4, think first to a learning program when they are asked about SL Sailing improvement. I think we can also consider that those who choose “help on boat” are also talking about learning program somehow: either to learn how to sail a specific boat, or to learn how they can personalize their favorite boat. Once again, I must confess the terms of the predefined answers were not very clear maybe.

Same as for “Calendar“, or “chart“. I don’t really know myself what is the meaning, or in which way we can improve these 2 points. Hopefully, some have completed their answer, here are some examples:

• “Maybe make a more open system of organising the racing without a strict calender. As i am aware of the system is quite strict in the clubs know. (Just people who like to organise something ocassionally in one pool.)”
• “Global sharing of race charts between clubs”

Talking about improvements, I wrote in Part I of this article, that you have a great imagination, here is a list of some other suggestions you made:

• “LOCAL WIND ETC. (ie getting non-Fizz boats WWC compatible). A lot of people I talk to say this would be a good idea … but two boat builders Ive spoken suggest there isnt the demand for it. (Actually a third did seem interested but his sailboat is rather a niche product I think and Im not sure how serious he was). Lets find out what the community really thinks! And if the demand IS there then we need to start lobbying the boat builders. (And start saving our L$, I dount this would be a free upgrade LOL).”
• “How about a monthly “What’s New in SL Sailing” feature. Either a thread on the forum (the easiest) or a mini Boat Show hosted by the yacht clubs in rotation (the most fun, IMO). The would give the creators a chance to show off their new products and give the sailing community an opportunity to keep abreast of the new products coming out.”
• “It seems to me that individual thinking prevails in the SL community, even when some team work would lead to better results. Diversity is important. But there are a few contexts where we would greatly benefit from defining standards.”
• “Some inworld technologies we use in SL sailing do not benefit from being developed by single minds. Thinking of racing systems, and wind. Why not having a few projects assigned to a team of trusted developers ? It seems to me there is some inertia that prevents this to happen. We’re still dealing with weak solutions, and that is just because they were developed in early days of SL sailing, likely by not very experienced programmers. We live with those solutions just because they are there, they’ve been integrated in many products and discussing even bits of those sounds offending to some, which makes no sense to me.”
• “Approach to racing rules enforcement is left to RDs, resulting loose and could be better coordinated: where a general agreement cannot be achieved, why not just vote on proposed solutions ? I would like to see a standard rule set (like Armchair’s list) that is acceptable to most and is enforced constantly on racing events, and ways to make it easy for beginners to learn about those rules and be accepted in races without creating discontent.”
• “With the handicap issue is it possible to measure all the boats on a measured distance on 3 points of sail in a constant breeze. A beat with wind set at 40 degrees to the bow. areach at 90 and a run at say 240 degreese. Each boat because of their scripting will sail at some optimum/ultimate speed given that this is a propertying of the particular scripting in any boat (( In reality this could be calculated )). Running over fixed single legs at various points of sail eliminate driver error/ability this is important as it is a boat performance handicap rather than a personal skill based handicap. Head for the line and sail a single leg on a single tack. minimal lag/drag or any skill based influence, well except for mayby sim crossing (( Cant help bad weather on the odd day )). I dont know if the difference in wind generators would be significant in the above scenerio but if it does then maybe as in real life there may need to be multiple measurement systems and builders then have the choice to have their boats rated under the various measurment systems that. I am writing this here because in my work I do not get much oportunity to actually log on and place comments on the forum, all kinds of restrictions…”
• I’d like to see a standard set of protocols that can be shared between boats, start lines and wind setters to ensure accountability and consistency for racing.
• “the sailing world needs more varities of boats, id like to see the common club racers, like the Cal 20′s the San juan 21′s, Ultimate 20′s, Star and Schock boats along with the performance racers like the Supermaxi’s the maxZ86′s and the older maxi’s. id also like to see more help for those trying to get said boats into the racing world also a universal rating system would be nice for several big boat races, similar to say the sydney hobart, the Volvo, the Vende globe,the velux 5, the fastnet, transpac and the pacific cup“

To be complete, also some of you (4 or 5) added a remark about the LAG…

… and that’s it!

Epilogue

Well, finally, what’s new under the sun?

• You enjoy sailing
• You like competitive spirit
• You want better training for a better sailing and racing
• You are open minded to new ideas
• You are constructive
• You have lot of good ideas
• You are great !

Not really a surprise, I am proud to be one of you. Let’s see what the volunteers, the Yacht Clubs, the boat builders, the sim owners … all the persons involved in SL Sailing development will do with that. I suggest we run this kind of survey once a year, with a much better form, on a larger scale maybe, analyzing also past success and unsuccessful ideas… (Experience is no more than cumulative errors).

For now, I know some people are already working hard in order your wished are fulfilled. All volunteers welcome!  RAISE!

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Tagged as: Fizz, protest, rules, start line, survey, wwc