A more detailed breakdown of the Rules for the FPL Global Challenge.
Network link for Global Challenge can be found here 2008/09 Global Challenge (requires Google Earth)
60 boats, 7 Legs, 15 crewmen per boat …
All calculations use Great Circle Route formulas and the WGS84 reference frame.
Great Circle Route - Wiki
WGS84 - Wiki
Aviation Formula V2.1 by Ed Williams
1. At the beginning of each Leg Boats line up along the Start Line - 1/20 nautical mile apart in 4 Pools of 15.
2. Each boat’s Crew consists of all 15 members of a skippers squad and each one’s Gameweek points constitute a Tack - making 15 tacks per GW. For squad captains base points are used - not points X 2.
3. The order the Tacks are taken in is that of the Player Number as they appear on a squads team page after auto-subs have been made at the end of a GW. The first choice Goalkeeper will always be Crew Member 1, followed then by Defenders, Midfielders, Forwards, Sub GK (always No.12) and then the remaining Subs.
4. To give some direction to those Tacks each Leg consists of a series of Waypoints to which an Initial Bearing is taken at the start of each Tack.
5. That Initial Bearing is then adjusted dependant on the Team the previous GW. Again Players (Navigators in this case) are numbered 1 to 15 and the difference between the Crew points and Navigator points is used to determine the Navigation Error away from the perfect line to the Target Waypoint. The Difference is an Absolute value - so 10-3 gives the same results as 3-10 (7).
6. If a Crew member is playing at Home the boat will be making a Starboard Tack - Away gives a Port Tack.
7. Once a Waypoint has been passed the target becomes the next Waypoint on the Route - until the Leg Finish line is crossed. A Waypoint is passed when a Track intercepts the Waypoint’s Wayline. The Wayline passes through the Waypoint such that the angle it makes with the Previous and Next Waypoints is equal. Waylines for the Start and Finish are at right angles to the next and previous Waypoints respectively.
When a Tack crosses a Wayline the Tack ends - however any “unused” Crew points are be added to the start of the next Tack. This is done so that each GW consists of only 15 Tacks and was the simplest way of achieving this while also ensuring that all points earned were used.
8. Each Waypoint has 2 values associated with it - the Distance per Point and Max Navigation Error and you can see these values if you click on a Waypoint within Google Earth - for example:-
Waypoint
Distance per Point. Determines the distance in nautical miles (nm) a boat travels on the Tack, per point scored, while the specific Waypoint is your current Target. This figure is smaller when starting a Leg than it is when in the open ocean and can also be adjusted to speed up/slow down the race should it fall behind/ get ahead of the planned schedule if needed.
Max Nav Error. While your Navigator determines your Boat’s Nav Error each Waypoint has a Maximum Error permitted. This figure is in Degrees and can be lower for early Waypoints and can increase to 90° when in the open ocean.
In other words - if a Target Waypoint has a Max Nav Error of 90° and the difference in points between a Crew Member and Navigator is large the Tack will be at right angles to where the boat really wants to be going.
Examples of how it might go - Good and Bad
Good
Not-so-Good
Incidents/Bonuses
Man Overboard
A Red Card for your Crew member translates as a Man Overboard. The Tack in question proceeds as normal with the M.O. occurring at the end of the Tack. Subsequent Tacks will be discarded - the number being dependent on whether assistance reaches the sticken boat.
At the beginning of the next Tack the closest 2 Boats (within the same Pool and who are Racing and have the same Target Waypoint) will immediately change course to come to their assistance (for 1 Tack only and on a direct Bearing). If either of these Boats reach within that Tack the affected boat will only lose only that Tack - if not they lose 2 Tacks worth of sailing.
A Boat is Racing if they are not involved in any incidents themselves - ie a Man Overboard or a Run-Aground (including Making Repairs or Returning to a Restart point).
If there are multiple Man Overboards and a Boat is one of the closest 2 to more than 1 Boat requiring assistance they will proceed towards the closest to them. In this case another Boat (the third closest etc) will respond to the SOS. This process repeats until there are no Boats left to respond.
Running Aground
If a boat Runs Aground (a Boat sails into any land mass, large or small) the remainder of that Tack and the next 1 will be discarded while repairs are made.
Once repairs have been made the re-start position will be the position the Boat was in at the start of the Tack that originally caused them to Run Aground. Depending on the new Bearing they could either Run Aground again or sail free of any obstacles. (Starting a Tack within a group of Islands can be tricky to escape from).
If a boat Runs Aground a second time from their original Restart position they will then Restart from the last Waypoint they passed. (This is to prevent Boats becoming completely stuck in places that would be impossible to escape from).
Note: If a Boat is returning to it’s previous Waypoint (after Running Aground twice) the Track displayed may cross land but as the Boat isn’t actually Racing at the time this is OK - it’s just there so there are no gaps in the Track.
Overall Leader Board
The Fleet is split into 4 [b]Pools[/b] of 15. This is to keep things manageable but each Boat will not necessarily be in the same Pool for the whole race. The Pool membership for each Leg is random.
Points are awarded in each Pool dependant on a boats Leg Finishing position with the Leg winner getting 15 points, second 14, down to 1 for last. Points will also be given to any Boat that fails to complete a Leg within the Schedule. This will be on the basis of their distance to their Target Waypoint and the order that Waypoint appears along the Ideal Route.
Non-finishers will also be allowed to compete in the next Leg.
The Overall FGC winner will be the Boat that accumulates the most points over the whole Race.
All the data used, Points, Bearings, Distances and Incidents etc will be clearly shown in the Placemarks within Google Earth.