Wednesday, July 30, 2008

SimSail Land Sailing Simulator


Written by Jack Loftus
Philippe Kahn and his ambitious Pacific Cup sailing trip from San Francisco to Hawai'i got me all inspired this week to go sailing, but there's one problem: I suck at sailing. In fact, the last time I went sailing was in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where I almost got smashed on the reef that protects the beach there. So you'll excuse my excitement today over the SimSail, a full sized "land yachting" simulator for two. It's not quite the same thing as sailing on the water, and it's certainly not even remotely close to what Kahn's up to these days, but for me, at least, it's a start.
SimSail offers custom locations, weather and, yes, those land yachts are full-size. A roughly 7'x5' screen displays the virtual course for the two "sailors" and the two or three people gathered to watch. SimSail