Champion’s tricks to beat everyone at virtual regattas

He is one of the heroes of the moment. Codename Falcon470, still topping the list of Italian virtual skippers at the TAG Heuer VELA Cup Med Odyssey, the largest virtual adventure in the Mediterranean, with more than 50,000 boats participating. He is now engaged in a no-holds-barred fight off Crete with the other “paisà” MaVaLaBi_A-ITA. Who will win, succeeding in winning a valuable TAG Heuer Aquaracer chronograph?

Meanwhile, Falcon470, who was also a guest on an episode of our Med Odyssey Show, we asked Falcon470 for seven tips to make your boat run at its best. Very useful advice even if you decide to sign up now for the most TAG Heuer VELA Cup Med Odyssey, because those who enter early in the game are placed roughly in the middle of the standings, and since the going gets tough now and the dancing wind can upset the standings, there is no shortage of opportunities for resounding “remuntada.”

Here are Falcon470’s seven tricks for winning at the TAG Heuer VELA Cup Med Odyssey and also racing to the top in all other competitions on the Virtual Regatta platform:

TIP 1. BEWARE OF HIDDEN ISLANDS

The simplest and perhaps among the most important is not to crash into coastlines, islands or even micro islands (so always check with maximum zoom on your trajectory in the following hours): I have seen microscopic islands in the middle of the ocean and so many players crash into them and ruin perhaps 10 days of effort and sacrifice.

TIP 2. AS LINEAR AS POSSIBLE

Try to keep a course as straight as possible or with the right curvature if using fixed TWA (closed lock option in the game) while trying to respect VMG if we have to tighten upwind a lot or lean to go down in the carrying gaits.

TIP 3. WATCH OUT FOR PENALTIES

Avoid unnecessary penalties due to automatic sail changes (this is for those who use the autosail function) by consulting the polar chart, the limits within which a given sail can be used are indicated in addition to the boat speed.

TIP 4. INDISPENSABLE ROUTER

The beautiful routing tracks you see we did not study with a ruler, pen and paper, but almost all players use routing software: this lets you know precisely the best course to take, when to gybe and tack, and provides a whole range of data for analysis. Everyone then interprets them according to their own ideas and beliefs, this is to make the regatta a little more personal. Almost always the software is right, but the weather can always change (especially now that we are in the Mediterranean) so sometimes those who did not follow the route provided by the router are rewarded. It must be said that following the router to the letter is no guarantee of victory, you still have to use your head as well, however, it is an indispensable tool to be competitive.

TIP 5. THE “TRAP” OF UPGRADES

To round heads or go around islands my advice is to use only waypoints (no freehand navigation), this is because with wp the boat goes exactly to the point you tell it. The game has a position update of 5 min, until recently it was 10 min, so if you are sailing near coast or a cape you cannot know exactly where you are, because on the screen you only see the position of the last update.

TIP 6. STUDY THE WEATHER

Study the weather according to the GFS model to see if the router has any discrepancies with its forecast. I use Windy, where you can import your own track that I take from the router with a gpx file and check my route as the weather changes.

7. JOIN A SERIOUS TEAM

Another nice thing, and important, is to be part of a serious team because this allows you to always grow and confront strategies, doubts and new ideas to constantly improve-I am part of an outstanding team called Americans of Italy.

Now all you have to do is put Falcon470’s advice into practice! If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so with the form below!

PARTICIPATE AS A PROTAGONIST IN THE LARGEST VIRTUAL REGATTA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN!

On May 15, the great adventure begins: 4,600 miles in the Mediterranean solo, tens of thousands of entrants, on 100-foot fast boats… You connect whenever you want, the boat you maneuver with your device, and when you are not there it goes by itself. Anyone can participate, for free. Welcome to the TAG Heuer VELA Cup Med Odyssey.

If you register with this form at the
TAG Heuer VELA Cup Med Odyssey
, in addition to competing for the
over 50 prizes up for grabs
:

• your name will be published in the July issue of the Sailing Newspaper in the big report on the THVC Med Odyssey
• you can be selected to participate in live webcasts with our speakers May 15-31

Done? Now sign up for the TAG Heuer VELA Cup Med Odyssey now!