While the boat may be put away for the winter, that doesn’t mean you have to be finished sailing until the spring. Over 100,000 skippers have already signed up to compete in a virtual sailing competition that pits the best sailors against the best armchair sailors on an equal ocean.
We’re talking about the Volvo Ocean Race Game, an addictive, round-the-clock, 38,739-nautical mile race where players never leave the nav station of their personal computers. And this year, SpinSheet is getting involved and will be hosting a competition to see which of our readers can make it to port the fastest.
One of the best things about the Virtual Regatta game is the fact that players don’t have to have offshore sailing experience to do well. Wind updates are posted multiple times a day to let players set their heading with the next 72 hours’ forecast in mind, so it helps to have the ability to wake at night to update your boat’s heading. Getting a team together from various time zones is a great way to win at the game, or possibly borrowing a friend’s newborn baby who conveniently might need to be fed a bottle at 2 a.m. Follow along with updates from Virtual Regatta's Twitter feed to keep track of details for each leg.
Sign up for the game by logging in to volvooceanrace.com/en/game.html and registering your boat (it’s free, but optional boat upgrades are not). Then send an email to [email protected] and let us know the name of your boat so that we can track your progress. Winners of each leg will receive SpinSheet and official Volvo Ocean Race swag.
The game is available on a number of web platforms and brings together competitors from all over the world. By signing up to play, you are also eligible to win prizes from the Volvo Ocean Race and its sponsors. To see how you’re doing among the local fleet competing, check out spinsheet.com/volvo
