Which Virtual Regatta options should you buy?

The time saved by each option, and the best set for the race budget.

Foils, hull polish, heavy or light sails: not every option pays off in every race. For each race we follow, eSail4VR computes the full routing without options, with each option alone, then with every set the race credits can buy.

The computations run once a day, on the 00 UTC run of the GFS model (the American weather model Virtual Regatta uses), as soon as the run is published up to its 16-day horizon.

How it is computed

Each row is a full routing of the race, made by the eSail4VR app’s engine, with the boat’s official polar and the game’s weather file.

  • 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 in progress: the routing starts from the position of Virtual Regatta’s frigate, the “average” boat of the fleet, taken when the GFS run used comes out. The analysis is redone this way until the race closes. It assumes full energy and lets the engine pick the sail, which the frigate does not publish. Your boat is not where the frigate is: the further it is, the less this ranking applies to it.
  • Gain: the time saved on the arrival compared with the same routing without options.
  • Maneuver and energy options (pro winches, Magic Furler, Comfort Lounge, VRTex Jacket): they do not change the polar speed but cut maneuver penalties or energy loss. Their gain depends on how many maneuvers the routing makes.

The limits

A routing is not an exact forecast: two sets less than an hour apart are as good as each other. The weather changes from one run to the next, and so does the ranking of the options, especially several days before the start.

To route your own boat with your options, download the eSail4VR app.