VENDÉE GLOBE round the world race

[rgleason]

Darn, the system accelerated, but there is no reason to change my boat's course.

[hwecken]

Nice development in this race.
When the weather forecast is right then the whole fleet up to osition 100 - 150 will be compressed together until Cape Hoorn.
Looks like a restart for the final leg in the atlantic

[rgleason]

It helps when those behind can ride a system to catch up. Makes up for being too late to catch other systems. Atlantic looks like a real puzzle to me, less definitive.

[rgleason]

Maitai, It would be very useful to be able to open 2 grib files from the same service, at once, merged, so that we can cover irregular areas and download fewer megabytes.

[maitai]

Incredibly, the leaders have been stuck in a low after ice gate 12, and their lead has almost disappear (was around 1000 NM 3 days ago). Cape Horn gate will be like a new starting line...

[rgleason]

Not for me at 150 to 134, the low was not big enough, and I had to sail to the rocks and follow it down. A long night compared to you jack rabbits who just sailed through on high wind with no worries!

By the way, I switched location and internet access point. Had internet access and tested it with Google searches. Then loaded gtVLM, it came up partly and said "No Connection". I immediately hit "Quit" red button. Then checked the connection again (OK) and then reset it to be sure and checked again (OK). Started qtVlm and it loaded but all routes were destroyed. Boat was in the rocks in a very narrow channel, tried guiding by hand. Hit rocks for something like 150 seconds and boat turned red. Managed to create another route and get it on course again for next update. Don't know why the server did not follow the commands that had been uploaded before.

Anyway, should I have waited when the message came up "No connection"? to give the program a chance to find a connection? What did I do wrong?

Edit: This armchair sailing can be frazzling. ..sail by wire.

[hwecken]

In this case, do not hit the red button. Take the green one (quit without saving), you find this button in the menu of QtVlm

[rgleason]

Thanks, that makes sense to me, but I believe Maitai had said to use Quit (which saves), but perhaps that is under normal circumstances. Next time a "No Connection" prompt occurs, I'll hit the Green (don't save button) and see if it helps preserve routes.

[maitai]

Routes and such need a valid boat to connect to. If no boat can be loaded due to connection problems then no routes are loaded, and therefore when quitting (red button), no routes are saved. In short in that case if you want to preserve your routes you need to hit the green button (quit without saving).

[rgleason]

Thanks. So when I loaded qtVlm and the prompt "No connection" occurred, I hit Quit, which saved the failed and impartial routes, so when qtVlm was loaded a second time, the routes were lost, thus best to hit Green (and not save the routes) when there is NO connection.

[maitai]

Exactly

[rgleason]

Questions about Interim grib files downloaded from Virtual Loupe du Mer VLM.

These interim files appear to be for one or two days. I would like to understand how these should best be used, the conditions under which they are made available, and if the server is using them to calculate the route, or if it is using the current 6 hour grib file.

[hwecken]

Hi Rick,
my experience with the interrim grib files is that they are used in VLM 1/2 hour before the 6h Gribs came out. They are very helpful if you are naviating near the shore in short distances to check whether your autopilot is well programmed or if it should be corrected not to run ashore.
vb Hartmut

[maitai]

Yes they contain the first 6 hours that will be in the next 5 days grib coming just after

[maitai]

Not only that, it becomes the active grib in VLM for the next 1/2h or so, until the complete 5 days grib is available