The Promised Tutorial

[Badger]

Hi All

Brand new to "Sail Simulator 5 2010 Edition", having made an impulse purchase while out shopping yesterday.

Although I have no sailing experience at all (Unless "Age Of Pirates 2" counts) I figured what the hell, the sea is in my blood as my uncle was a deck chair attendant, so how can I fail.

Sadly I seem to have been pitched overboard before I've even begun, so can one of you captains throw me a life jacket?

The box blurb promised a tutorial, "A full tutorial will help you learn to sail first in single player mode", but I can't see any reference to this in either the manual or the game interface.

I'm sure I must be missing the bleedin obvious, <choke!> (Sorry..got a mouth full of salt water) so can anyone point me in the right direction?

Many thanks

Badger

[Admiral]

"tutorial" would mean "how to" use the game interface...

Learning how to sail would be something else.
Basically don't start out sailing in strong winds, and sail in a boat that has lots of stabillity and which is selfrighting so you do not go bathing all the time.
I suggest you sail with the Bavaria for starters.
You will also need to get out the manual so you know what buttons to klick. (pdf on the DVD/CD or in the games installation diectory.)
Then you may consider actually joining online races.. get clear of the course and
drop anchor so you don't get in anybodies way then see how others do first...

You should also consider installing teamspeak http://www.teamspeak.com so you can communicate by voice,
and maybe ask some questions and have some things explained to you while on the water..
There are some regulars meeting up here http://vivarace.de/ or here https://www.facebook.com/groups/wffsailing/

Though some may forget now and then, we all started out the same way..... (knowing nothing.....)

Cya on the virtual waters.

[Badger]

Thank you for the quick response Admiral.

Badger

[Rojoyinc]

I only have the demo so far. I found it very easy to use. I just clicked and explored things. The program did start with several help pop ups that helped me get started. I've only tried the laser so far. But i do sail H16's, self taught through experience since getting help from real sailors on forums is nearly impossible.

Still it shouldn't be to difficult. You have a rudder for steering. The help said use the mouse to stear. Drag down on the block and tackle icon to pull in the sail by taking in the main sheet I just started clicking things to see the result.
Yeah, i got hung up on the island once... And the opposite control is used to steer. As is on real boats but you can swap the control to make it more intuitive. I sailed for an hour, then tried multiplayer. I have never really raced before, but it was all pretty logical too. Watch the start time, go over the start line when green.... Follow the arrows.

The whole thing is quite amazing, i'm real surprised that i haven't heard of this before now... Appears to have been around for a couple years. So needs to be marketed better! Surely on sailing forums. I'm running the demo at 1600x1200 with all graphic options set to high. Performance is smoooooooth and fast on my old... 9yr? Old pc. But GTX9800 +. Geforce card. My only complaint is my graphics card seems limited to only 2x anti alizing... So distant waves are edgy and give almost a bit of a morie effect, i wished i could soften that.

My only complaint so far is lack or responses and lack of friendliness of the forum users. Most posts are old, but have no responses. The few responses i do see are often snide or unfriendly sounding. But I've found this to be true on most sailors forums.