Zezo forum:

Post by YourMomSA | 2019-10-07 | 14:21:01

I always like to look at alternative routings, even if they don't make sense and are just for entertainment value. Partly because I enjoy learning a little world geography, and looking at satellite views of exotic islands, etc.

When I looked at Magellan 7 before accessing the actual race, I thought it would offer options to go North of the Philippines and then down through the South China Sea, or through the Philippines, or South of them, which would be a wide range of options. But it actually doesn't. There are five visible buoys, requiring you to sail the Surigao Strait, and then North of Bohol, and then North of Banggi Island.

But it still raises some interesting questions. Here are my findings based on what the Dashboard currently shows... Which we know VR can change any time, even after the race starts, particularly for the invisible marks...

-After rounding Buoy 1, could we double back around Hibusong Island and go East of Dinagat Island and around its South end? It looks like yes. There aren't any invisible gate between Buoy 1 and Buoy 2.

-After rounding Buoy 3, could we double back around Lapinig Island and go East of Bohol and then around its South side? This one is uncertain. There are invisible gates on both sides of Bohol. The one on the East side requires the sailor to pass it from sailing North, not South. (And it might be sequenced before Buoy 3 rather than after, anyway... I'm not sure). I hope VR will look into this one because the as-is settings appear to allow a course where a visually acceptable routing would not be accepted by the engine's invisible gates. Am I missing something?

-After rounding Buoy 4, could we go North of Balabac or even Palawan? It looks like yes. You could even wind through the islands to the North, toward Manila, if you wanted to, as long as you keep Buoy 4 to starboard. There are no invisible gates between Buoy 4 and Buoy 5.

-After rounding Buoy 5, could we double back south of Banggi Island and go all the way around Malaysia to get to the finish? Terrible idea obviously, but it looks like yes. There aren't any invisible gates beyond Buoy 5 to prevent that. The time limit might make it impossible, though.

7 Comments

Post by zezo | 2019-10-08 | 15:06:11

Buoy 3 is guided by invisible, but obligatory games, so we must follow the white line there.

Post by zezo | 2019-10-08 | 15:28:54

Oh, and gate 4 is entirely on land.

Post by YourMomSA | 2019-10-26 | 19:43:22

I've been looking at the forecasts, and it seems like being sneaky at Lapinig Island after Buoy 3 could be the fastest route. The route shown by the white line, West of Bohol, usually has less wind than the course East of Bohol. And sometimes also the wind direction East of Bohol is better. So... there's a reasonable chance that going East of Bohol could be faster. All you have to do is run through the channel between Lapinig Island and Bohol after rounding Buoy 3.

But... as discussed... there's an invisible gate that makes that route illegal.

I'm tempted to sail the route even if the invisible gate isn't fixed... just to make a point... but I don't think it would achieve anything. VR has already demonstrated in similar situations in the past that if a sneaky route violates an invisible gate, they'll tell the offended user that they should have followed the white line, even though there are many other times where following the white line isn't mandatory.

But... VR has also demonstrated a willingness to adjust invisible gates during the race. Which I think is reasonable as long as it's being done to correct mistakes like this. I submitted a support request a week or so ago to raise a concern about this, and I received a response... but the response just said the gates could continue to change until the race starts... Which basically meant that I was asking the question too soon.

Does anyone here have a "VIP Account"? It might be worthwhile for someone who's doing M7 and has a VIP account to raise an inquiry. The main point would be to ask then to either move Buoy 3 onto Bohol... or adjust the invisible gates to make it legal to sail around Lapinig Island and East of Bohol after rounding Buoy 3... To resolve the as-is issue whereby a visibly legal course is actually not legal.

Unless I'm misunderstanding the invisible gates. Please let me know if I've misunderstood and the course I'm proposing is actually legal.

Post by tyghfg | 2019-11-11 | 11:08:39

Two island ahead of us, router sometimes shows a way between them, and since 2 or 3 weather updates it shows to go round both, at a first glance its faster to go between, am i right?

Post by zezo | 2019-11-12 | 15:45:22

Ooops. There was a sand bar between Balambangan and Banggi indeed.

Hope you made the right decision. It's hard to keep track of 8 races simultaneously.

Post by tyghfg | 2019-11-15 | 13:45:55

I did, but overslept and lost some places.... anyway 158 is a great result for a boat only with ls pw and ph:)

Thanks to your tool, mak08 vrdash and toxcct polars i could easily participate in 8 races on two acc simultaneously.
Cheers to you brothers, awesome work! :)