Virtual Regatta offers around sixty virtual sailing regattas a year. But this November 6 begins one of the most important: the Rum Route. Like the real race, organized every four years, it starts from Saint-Malo to reach Point-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. For more than a week, a constant rhythm has been waiting for online players who will seek to complete this crossing of the Atlantic from their living room.
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For this new edition, the competition will be fierce as around 500,000 players are expected. The principle of the game is to choose the best directions for your ship according to the weather updates that will take place approximately every six hours.
For Tech&Co, six players have detailed their preparation for the big start.
• Nicolas alias Nico_Jud, head of service in Nantes
Nicolás started playing during the last Vendée Globe and then got into the game. He is part of the Projection Virtuelle Elite team, founded two years ago and has about fifty players. “The team creates an additional dynamic,” he explains.
For the Route du Rhum, four races are offered with four different boats, going more or less fast. “I start in the four and then I will adapt according to my results.” He expects a hell of a pace, but he’s used to it because he does almost all the races of the year, then admits: “It’s become a daily routine, it takes a long time. The trick is knowing how to manage fatigue.
A few days before departure, he is still chatting with his team on the Discord network. Players focus on one important topic: finding game deals. complete packages that allow you to equip your boat with navigational aids. A package can cost up to €30 per race, so teams are looking for sponsors and partners.
• Sylvie alias galere-splendiose, director of the logistics department, Lot-et-Garonne
“I’m happily killing my nights,” Sylvie says with a nervous laugh. Like most of the participants, she started in the last Vendée Globe. “I heard about Virtual Regatta on the radio so I signed up. At first it was sporadic, now I do about thirty races a year. The passion has almost become an addiction.” She has been practicing split sleep for three years now: “I wake up automatically even when I’m not shopping. But obviously it will always be the priority for private and professional life. For her preparation before the Route du Rhum, she takes advantage of the few days she has left to rest and spend the night.
With his TPN (Trois Petits Neurones) team, which has fifteen active people, he exchanges daily on Skype. “At the moment we are analyzing the weather files and studying the routes to choose the best route for the race. I ask on Windy’s site with the GFS (Global Forecast System) models used by Virtual Regatta. I log in every six hours to monitor weather trends and launch paths. The objective is to see what are the possible and viable options until the end. The advantage of the Route du Rhum is that we already know the North Atlantic well thanks to the other regattas.”
For some time now, you have observed that the level of other players is increasing. “Virtual regatta is becoming more and more a sport full of analysis and strategy,” she analyzes.
• Cédric alias Ethios05, temporary worker, Hautes-Alpes
On Saturday October 29, Cédric traveled to Saint-Malo with his Team Torce Sailing team. They were able to visit the boat of the skipper Isabelle Joschke, associated with her sponsor Macsf. “For us, it’s quite a magical moment, the skippers are very accessible”, he rejoices. An opportunity to prepare for the regatta like the professionals and understand their surroundings. “For the Route du Rhum, there is a whole media side and a general enthusiasm Cédric enthuses.
He came 37th in the last Vendée Globe, about 35 races a year. Passionate and admirer of sailors, he remains first and foremost a hobby. “I also have a family life on the sidelines. Before the start of the Rum Route, I don’t play and I optimize the hours of sleep.”
He found out about the game through a conversation with a colleague. “For example, at first I put the speed of the ship in kilometers instead of knots and my fellow Bretons used to make fun of me for it,” she jokes.
With his team, he trades on Discord and studies the same parameters as the other teams. “We look at the journeys and routes of previous winners for inspiration. It is above all a place of exchange, we do not discuss that virtually, some have become friends, we try to see each other regularly during the year, even if they are all scattered throughout France.”
• Baptiste alias LaMerNoire, works in commerce, Alps
A former competitive sailor, Baptiste created the BSP (Black Sailing Project) team in 2016. A few days before the start, he suggests his team “slow down a bit before the start of the race because it will be a constant pace”. Il se définit comme coordinateur de l’équipe plutôt que coach: “je fais en sorte de donner une dynamique à l’équipe, de partager des valeurs comme la compétition, l’entraide, le partage. Pour moi, le lien amène à la performance”.
His team discusses on Discord where everyone shares their experience and strategies. “Right now we’re looking at packets, weather because routers have varying degrees of accuracy.”
He has been playing Virtual Regatta since the Vendée Globe 2012 and makes about twenty races a year. He doesn’t hide the team’s ambition from him: “We signed up to win.” And he amuses himself by comparing the Rum Route to soccer competitions. “The Vendée Globe and the Route du Rhum are respectively the World Cup and the European Cup of sailing.”
• Xavier alias Koky-BFC, civil engineer, Besançon
“I have a more mathematical than veiled mind,” Xavier likes to point out. “It is an advantage when calculating speeds and trajectories.” He started playing Virtual Regatta in earnest during the lockdown and takes part in around 30 races a year. The player even won four races this year, including the Solitaire du Figaro.
“The Rum Route is important. It is category 1, so if you fail, you go down in the classification, more than in the other races”. To prepare, he anticipates the pace of the race and “rests afterward.” Even if you regularly trade with your Elite Virtual Projection team, “it’s good to prepare ahead of time, there’s also an element of luck. In this game, there’s a random side, a bit like in poker.”
• Yoann alias papichulo_TORC, commercial representative, Nantes
Yoann also started competing in the last Vendée Globe and joined the Torce Sailing team. “It’s a very time-consuming game because each update takes about an hour.” For him, a good race is based on three parameters: being present for updates, anticipating the weather and being aware of penalties.
Asked five days before departure, he confesses: “It is still enough to anticipate, but several routes are appearing. Two routes are possible: the traditional one from the south that goes down through Spain to the Azores, but there the route that seems to be taking shape is the one that goes north, over Ireland”. The choice of route is essential for the race. “From the first or second day, we will have to choose whether we go north or south. It is unlikely that you will change your choices afterwards.”
In a career, you must be successful in organizing both professional and private schedules. “We can talk to the wives of the players,” Yoann slides, smiling.
Source: BFM TV
