more helpful links
http://live.vsk-match.com/vsk_match/default.asphttp://www.vsk2.com/http://www.itbyc.org/This is from the ITBYC web site - very COOL
The ITBYC (International Team Racing and Beer Drinking Yacht Club) is a virtual yacht club dedicated to, as the name suggests, team racing and beer drinking. We use the game Virtual Skipper 4 (VSK) for our races, which is a very good regatta simulator.
The ITBYC was founded in the year 2000 when a small group of skippers grew sick and tired of skippers in public races, who consistenly ignored the ISAF rules and the basic principle of sailing. We wanted to have quality races when sailing online, and a private club with private races was the solution.
To ensure our member pool consists of a homogenous group of skippers, new members are admited by invitation only. In general, we want the members [1] of this club to:
own a legal copy of Virtual Skipper 4.
have a good sense of humour.
be a beer drinker. We drink beer during our races, if you're not going to join us in a glass you better have a damn good sense of humour ;-)
be interested in team racing and tactical sailing
have at least a basic knowledge of the ISAF rules.
be a fair sailor [2].
be able to communicate in english, which is the only language to be used on the water and in the forums.
and last, but not least, be active. No deadwood please.
Being a world class sailor will not earn you any "bonus points". Being a nice person will.
The ITBYC has decided to stay relatively small to simplify race organization and to make sure everybody knows everybody. We try to have 8-16 skippers show up on our regular race dates, which we do! Since we recieve 2-3 applications per month and only admit members at a rate of one every 2-3 months, we usually have a backlog of people waiting to join.
Even though the only way to obtain a membership is through an invitation from the ITBYC, we would like to hear from anyone who thinks they meet our criteria. Please fill out the application form to register as a skipper interested in obtaining a membership. Keep in mind that even if you meet the standards we are looking for, we cannot guarantee that you will be invited to become a member. Because of the limited space in the ITBYC, there will certainly be qualified candidates who will not be invited to join. Please don't take it personally if you never hear from us.
Due to restrictions on number of members in the club, we have introduced a public race night as an alternative to non-members interested in well organized team racing. On these race nights, there is a mix of members and non-members. Please follow this link and read carefully for detailed information about the public race nights, and for a short introduction to team racing in general.
We are also offering the VSK Team Challenge, where you can sign up with a team and challenge any other team in the VSK community. Follow the team challenge item from the menu above, in order to learn more about this service.
Please use the contact form for general inquiries about the ITBYC.
Notes
1. The membership page is password protected to prevent email harvesters from collecting private member information. If you are not a member and you would like to see who we are, go to the ITBYC forum and select the members link from there.
2. Being a fair sailor in VSK requires some experience with the game. This is an online game so being a fair sailor means taking lag into account when manuevering (sudden luffs are a no-no). Also, do not hunt the opponent to give him a pen, but rather use the rules to control/block the opponent. If you have no right of way, respect the rules and keep clear (typically at the startline and at rounding marks). Otherwise you would be "ramming", which is a swearword in the world of fair play.
. Personally I like PCs, but I really think it comes down to what you're used to and what software you plan on using.
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