It's winter where I live and I constatly find myself gazing out the window at my H-20 as it sits under wraps waiting for summer - until I opened my Christmas present. Along with a very nice drysuit was a copy of Virtual Skipper 3. Since installing this computer simulator I have raced in more than 20 events in everything from an AC boat to an open 60 tri against sailors from the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy. Those who scoff and say, "toy," are those who have not tired it. Tactics and "virtual" handeling are remarkably accurate, from a loss of speed and pointing ability while in someone's lee, to difficult tacking in the Open 60s.

Has anyone else tried this thing and what do you think?

yes I also got one for Christmas.I got virtual skipper 2 and am quite impressed.the only problem is I registered on the virtual skipper website but I have not been able to connect on the internet to play

May I ask who makes (sells) this and for what it goes for ?

I'm having withdraw problems !

Wouter

Hi Wouter,
The one I know of is clled Virtual Sailor (as opposed to Virtual Skipper) not too sure if it`s the same as the one being mentioned by others. I haven`t seen it myself, but a while back I bought the Hangsim program from them, a flight simulator for free-flight gliding, paragliding, hang-gliding & microlight flying, which is much too realistic, it has you leaning over in your chair as you do a steep turn !
Check out the link to virtual sailor:
http://www.hangsim.com/vs/

Cheers
Steve

The new one is called Virtual Skipper 3 by digital jester,

http://www.digitaljesters.com/index.php?txtShow=product&ref=2

available at amazon etc, or for download. There is also a free demo at :-

http://www.vshq.com/


Don't know why its so popular though

Wowza, there's a neat idea to attract a crowd for sailboat racing

Could someone please point me to a website that sells this video game in the USA?

its not available in the US yet. You can order it and have it shipped however.

As Maughn17 said, the VS3 is not yet available in the U.S., but you can order it from one or two British Web sites. My wife ordered it for me, along with the dry suit, and it costs about $50 depending on the exchange rate that day. By the way, if you're looking for a dry suit, the British-made Trident from Performance Sailing Wear is excellent for $375. The upper half is breathable, the construction is first class and it includes a fleece one-piece suit to wear on the colder days.

Anyway, as you can see by a previous post, the VS3 graphics are incredible, but be sure your computer's graphics card is up to it. I have problems running the program on my laptop, but the more powerful desktop handles it just fine. The demo program is really a minor sample of the real thing. I tried it before ordering and thought is was just OK. The full program is MUCH more fun.

Amazon UK will not ship that game to the US.

The Virtual Skipper website will ship it to the US, but their order page is not SSL encrypted. When you type in all your contact info and credit card information it is transmitted in plain text format unencrypted. Prob. the most idiotic thing a company could do online. Any moron with a hard-on could snag personal information off of their order page, so that is not an option.

Any other websites that ship to the US and are not completely open to hackers?

Try: www.trident-uk.com
They have it for sale, Virtual Skipper 3 - it is the one with Ellen McArthur on the case.
http://www.trident-uk.com/Trident_Products/games/vsk3/vsk3.htm
They are very reliable - you can telephone them and give your credit card number.

Let me rephrase that: You can order VS3 from one or two UK companies. While they have Web sites, we ordered over the good ole' fashion telephone, which is still widely in use over there. We called "The Dingy Shop" and they made the drysuit for us (extra-long inseam) and shipped it with a copy of VS3. I suppose any moron with a firm member who worked at their company could also snag our information but so far they seem very trustworthy. Their Web address is www.triden-uk.com and their phone number is +44 (0)191
490 1736

geez. looks like my old main.