The Norwegian Sailing Association launched their eSailing National Championship for 2021 on 19 February.
Players who are members of a sailing association in Norway and registered via Manage2Sail are invited to join the Championship, as the race to become the best Norwegian eSailor in 2021 begins.
There are first five initial regatta rounds, each consisting of up to five races. Registered participants are divided into groups of 20 sailors who sail against each other. Points are accumulated from round to round, and when all five rounds have been completed, the top 20 progress to the Norwegian eSailing National Championship Final.
The first regatta round kicks off on 1 March, with the following rounds scheduled for 15 & 22 March and 5 & 19 April. The Final is set for April 26. All rounds will start at 20:00 local time.
The top ten eSailors from the Final will qualify for a place in the eSailing World Championship PlayOffs. Additionally, the winner will be invited to form a team with nine other eSailors to represent Norway in the eSailing Nations Cup.
“Virtual Regatta Inshore is a fairly low-threshold programme, and I would think most sailors get into it quickly after trying a bit, and have a lot of fun with it,” said Thomas Nilsson of the Norwegian Sailing Association.
“We plan to stream the Norwegian eSailing National Championship Final live on social media with commentators and guests.
“We are all pretty new to this game here, so you just have to join and try.”
“The Norwegian Sailing Association has invested in this system to be able to bring Norwegian eSailors out into the world,” said Per Christian Bordal of the Norwegian Sailing Associaton.
“Perhaps most importantly, it helps to create activity around the sailing associations during the winter, when sailing, for natural reasons, is not as common as in the summer.”
eSailing has slowly grown in popularity throughout Norway, and KNS (Royal Norwegian Yacht Club) is one of the associations that has jumped on board the bandwagon. They have already established a separate eSailing Committee, which holds weekly club regattas.
Kristian Fodstad of KNS has been involved in eSailing for many years, taking part in, amongst other things, several eSailing editions of The Ocean Race, which run in parallel with the real-life regatta.
“eSailing has become huge in many places in the world, but we in Norway are currently far behind,” said Fodstad.
“At KNS, we have been using eSailing in real-life training for quite some time already. You can take tactical lessons and knowledge of the racing rules from Virtual Regatta out with you to sea.
“eSailors from KNS will definitely be taking part in the Norwegian eSailing National Championship.”
Play Virtual Regatta Inshore now via Desktop, iOS or Android.