The options advisor

Beginner

The essentials

The Options advisor page answers the question “which options should I buy on this race?”. For each race followed, eSail4VR calculates the full routing with no option, with each option alone, then with every combination the race credits allow you to buy.

The page shows, from top to bottom:

  • the boat, the GFS run used and the race budget in credits;
  • the box “The best buy with the race budget”, with the time saved and the expected arrival, then “Other good choices”;
  • the tables “Each option alone” (price, gain, arrival, gain per 100 credits) and “What the budget can buy”;
  • “All the options”;
  • the chart “Gain against cost”: the higher a point, the more time the combination saves, and the dashed line marks the budget.

The Options advisor pageThe Options advisor page

Going further

  • Gain. It is the time saved on the arrival compared with the same routing without options.
  • Grey gains. A routing carries an uncertainty of 1 to 2 % of the race time. Smaller gains are in grey: they are not significant, and two combinations less than an hour apart are worth the same.
  • Race not started yet. The analysis is computed only in the last 5 days before the start: before that, the forecast does not go far enough into the race to compare the options, and the page says from when it will be available. It is then computed for the real start. If the race lasts longer than the forecast (16 days), the sets are ranked on the distance left to the finish at the end of the forecast, converted into hours at the average speed of the boat without options. The weather of the real start can change the ranking.
  • Race under way. The routing leaves from the position of Virtual Regatta’s frigate, with full energy and the sail chosen by the engine. The further your boat is from it, the less the ranking applies to it.
  • Maneuver and energy options (pro winches, Magic Furler, Comfort Lounge, VRTex Jacket). They do not change the polar speed but reduce the maneuver penalties or the energy loss: their gain depends on the number of maneuvers of the routing.
  • Race longer than the forecast. The GFS forecast stops at 16 days. If no routing reaches the finish, the page compares the combinations on the time they pass a given distance from the finish.