Sailorville news

UK Halsey Offers New Online Racing Rules Quiz

Submitted by admin on Sat, 2008-03-29 23:12.

UK-Halsey Sailmakers has posted the 24th version of their online quiz on the rules of sailboat racing. The newest quiz involves a port/starboard situation after rounding a windward mark.

This series of animated, online quizzes has been praised as an easy way to learn the rules of sail boat racing.

sailing-racing-quiz-screenshotsailing-racing-quiz-screenshot

The online quizzes focus on common situations often encountered in real sailboat races. The quiz makes avoid obscure, hard to repeat, situations in favor of incidents that happen again and again on the race course.

The UK Halsey quizzes offer animation to help the user visualize the situation. Viewers watch the boats move; spinnakers go up and come down; sails luff and are trimmed as well as move from side to side as the boats go around the racing marks.


When a rule or rule book defined term is mentioned a hot link allows the text of the rule or definition to be brought up in a separate window as a reference. The answers are presented in the same format a protest committee would publish a decision: First the facts found are presented followed the rule or rules broken, followed by the decision of who was at fault.

All the quizzes are free, but to see them viewers must create a login with the UK-Halsey site; some contact information is required when creating a login.

UK-Halsey Sailmakers makes sails for sailboats and has over 50 locations around the world.


Whitehall Spirit Expedition 17 Offers Sailing As Well As Rowing

Submitted by admin on Sat, 2008-03-29 22:13.

The new Whitehall Spirit 17 Expedition model can be used as a classic small daysailor or for exercise using its sliding seat rowing dropin.

The classic Whitehall design rowing boats have long been known for their seaworthiness. They were used out under oar and sail to meet arriving ships in all seasons and conditions.


WhitehallSpirit17: Whitehall Spirit 17 Expedition DrawingWhitehallSpirit17: Whitehall Spirit 17 Expedition Drawing

The Whitehall Spirit 17 Expedition Model features a roller furling code-zero style light air jib, and a reefable main for higher winds. The Sitka spruce mast is sleeved to break into two parts for stowing on board.

Easily handled by one, there is the option of up to three rowers in a traditional rowing configuration, or one or two rowers in the slide seat configuration which features hinged bronze outriggers and 9'6"sculls.

On popular use for the Whitehall Spirit 17 Expedition is in RAID style regattas.

More information is available at http://www.whitehallrow.com

The video below includes shots of Whitehall 17 in action in a raid regatta in Finland.



Clearpoint Weather Offers Software Based Solution to Weather Analysis and Forecasting

Submitted by admin on Sat, 2008-03-29 20:44.

Clearpoint Weather software offers software based weather forecasting and analysis for both racing sailors and bluewater passagemakers.

Clearwater's subscription service pulls data from online and presents it on a Windows PC using Clearwater's proprietary software. Based on the level of subscription selected, the sailor subscriber gets data on weather information including Winds, Waves, Fronts, Satellite, Point Forecasts, Bulletins, Currents, Air Temperature, Sea Temperature, Clouds, Precipitation, Visibility, Sea Ice, Lightning, Tropical Storms, Chlorophyll, Bathymetry, Altimetry, Wind 1nm Resolution, Wind 5nm Resolution, and Wind 15nm Resolution.

A low bandwidth option allows sailors with limited access to download the information necessary in only 30 kilobytes.


ClearPoint High Definition Weather software can be downloaded at no charge from http://www.clearpointweather.com over any Internet connection and run on any laptop, tablet, or other Windows 2000 or later PC-based electronic/maritime display devices.

Clearpoint feeds real-time updates to the device via an online connection; all applications are integrated onto a single, user-friendly screen.

ClearPoint’s service works with almost any communications link, including satellite connections such as Iridium, Globalstar and Inmarsat.

A racing package is optimized for sailboat racers seeking an advantage by being better able to take advantage of weather fronts. A passagemaker version is aimed at sailboat cruisers looking to make a fast, safe passage.

Subscription packages range from $55 for six months for the stripped down basic edition to $1195 for a year of the premium edition. Each subscription package offers a ten day trial during which the user can cancel at no charge.

There is also a $9.95 per day daily rate option for the premium edition.



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