One thing that all SailX users experience when they start is the 'strange' way we have to control our boats in this virtual environment.

Unlike other simulators, users are not given direct control of the boat (wheel, rudder). SailX is like you being the coach: you give a command and the skipper obliges.

The commands you give are mapped to the keys, we have a key to TACK, a key to tell the skipper to drive by the telltales....

Steve Hunt has created a couple videos to help newbies to use the keys.

We will provide the links in several places for guests and users who have not finished races yet hoping to shorten the 'learning curve'

SailX Page with the videos with this button:

Direct youtube access to Part 1: http://youtu.be/UhzOeB_SloE

Direct youtube access to Part 2: http://youtu.be/qgwrFnRSGMs

FINISHING THE FIRST-EVER “VIRTUAL SAILING CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS”

EVENT FINISHED !

Sail Canada is proud to join US Sailing and RYA in collaborating with the award-winning inshore sailboat racing and training game SailX.com, and the co-hosting of the first ever “Virtual Sailing Canadian National Championships”. This free-to-play online regatta kicked off on the 18th March 2013 and has continued for a total of six weeks.

The event was FREE for all SailX registered users and races took place everyday at 2100, 0000, 0300 and 0600 GMT.

Click HERE for more information.

If you missed the six previous videos from Steve Hunt, all-round sailboat racing legend and 'S1D Coach of the Year' (congrats Steve), then this video is for you. Alternatively if you, like us, could do with a recap then you will find that this video is a good use of your time! Please share this as widely as you can (we have also announced it on Facebook and Twitter) - Steve put a lot of work into this Series and we would like to return the favour with some profile-building. If we are lucky he might even agree to do a more advanced series. We have discussed it ...

For those of you who don't know Steve, as well as being one of the top ranking sailors on SailX (aka flow) Steve is a professional sailor and coach of the highest calibre: seven-year member of the US Olympic Team in the 470 Class, two-time Etchells World Champion, Congressional Cup Winner and recent tactician to Bill Hardesty, Rolex Yachtsman of the year ... need we say any more?! Not much except that we are super proud that Steve enjoys SailX and that he has got enough from it over the years to feel like 'giving-back' to the SailX community in this way.

The idea came about when Steve gave a coaching seminar at his local yacht club in San Diego using SailX and posted a short video of that session online HERE. The coaching was very well received - including by many who had never seen SailX before. Quite by chance we saw the video and contacted Steve to see if he would be interested in doing some more of the same. The end result is this six-part video coaching series which Steve has loosely based on a popular series of coaching articles he wrote for Sailing World - HERE.

Enjoy,

The SailX Team.

You may have noticed the appearance of a new "Groups" item in our menu bar. This is a new (free) feature we have recently added to SailX which allows groups of sailors (e.g. sailing clubs, schools, programs, boat classes, websites, even national federations, etc) to create their own private areas on SailX.com.

In these new areas, group leaders will be able to pass special messages to their members and offer extra SailX services such as private racing & training. This feature will also generate a member ranking as well as lots more useful and interesting information on individual and group performance to help the group build a real sense of community and friendly rivalry within themselves and with other groups online!

So how can YOU help us get your club involved?

1. First please read the presentation referred to below. If you have any questions please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so we can answer your questions

2. Next, please approach your club, programme, school, etc and explain in your words (much better than ours - but we are right behind you!) why you think your club should join SailX

3. Finally encourage the appropriate person at your group or club to email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it asking for the group or club to be set up

Thats it! We will take it from there (recognising your help appropriately!) and with all of your help we hope to create the first inter-club competitions this summer!!

Click HERE to download a short presentation of the new Groups Offer.

Click HERE to see an example of how a new group page looks.

Click HERE to go to the forum topic on this new offer and to give us feedback.

Thanks!

The SailX Team

PS: In line with our vision for SailX we have tried to keep most Group services "free-to-play" but there is a subscription offer for clubs that want a higher level of service (which costs us real money) e.g. guaranteed access to their own private and custom-branded race areas 24/7/365. We imagine most clubs will use this service for free though - and we are happy to encourage that.

PPS: This new feature will replace the old SailX groups feature and is meant to be more formal (to encourage real clubs to participate) but if you can present a good argument as to why we would keep or create an informal group within SailX then just let us know and we will do what we can.