For some editions now, the Virtual Regatta programme has offered the opportunity to sail the Vendée Globe as a "normal" fan on an e-sports platform at the same time. You start under the same conditions as Boris Herrmann and the other professionals in the programme. real race on Sunday. Those who take part can even sail on the "Malizia Seaexplorer", as all of the participants' boats are available to choose from. Whenever the participant starts the game, the chic 3D animation of the boat appears.
Just like the real skippers, the virtual ocean hero has to take care of many things on board: choosing the sail and course, manoeuvre timing, waypoints and, above all, determining the weather strategy. The data from the real current weather models that the skippers also have on their on-board computers is always displayed. So you can decide at home on the sofa whether you want to sail through the next storm or avoid it. Or whether to steer well clear of an impending high with a lull or risk a few hours of standstill.
More virtual sailing:
And just like the professionals of the Vendée Globe, the virtual sailor has to organise his time wisely: If you don't look at the programme for a long time, you run the risk of sailing too slowly with the wrong sail if the wind shifts, or the autopilot will miss an important turning point.
Virtual Regatta: Is Vendée Globe participation free of charge?
If you sail in the race yourself, you will always have the race in front of your eyes as a fan and perhaps even understand something of the challenges of routing such modern ocean racers. If you just want to be there, you can sail the race for free, but then you will only be at the start with a non-foiler. Above all, however, you have to do without fast light wind sails and many other race-critical features.
If you want the full fun, i.e. a fast foiler, all sails to choose from, an autopilot programmable with waypoints or an automatic system for changing sails if the wind strength and angle of incidence change, you have to invest: These features are subject to a charge, either purchased individually or as a complete package for the event. This costs 29.99 euros and also makes the game ad-free.
If you think it's worth it, on Saturday you will set off on a one-handed, non-stop journey around the world with an expected 500,000 fans. Some YACHT employees have already sailed in the race and either loved it or cursed it: Loved it when it went well and you found yourself somewhere in the top 10,000, hated it when you forgot to check regularly, the boat got stuck in the wind or the field turned off and you lost 20,000 places in a few hours.
Virtual Regatta Offshore is available as an app for Android or iOS and is free of charge in the basic version.
