A club night is a session set up by a teacher, a club coach or a parent: everyone sails the same lesson, drill, passage or race in the same conditions, and the results are compared afterwards. There are two ways to run one. Each sailor can use their own device with a scenario code, or everyone can take turns on one device (pass-and-play). Nothing is uploaded, and no one needs an account.
Making a code
- Choose Club night from the menu, or open the plotter’s Racing tab, then choose Make a code.
- Choose what to sail: a lesson, a drill or a skills check (a drill with no coaching), one of the timed passages, or a race, either against the clock or against the club’s seven skippers.
- Set the conditions: where the wind comes from, how strong and how gusty it is, the state of the tide and whether it is springs or neaps, fog, the assistance everyone sails with, and whether ships and ferries are about. A lesson keeps its own wind unless you choose otherwise.
- Choose Make the code. You get an eight-character code, such as 5XEH-2E3U, a link and a QR code. Write the code on the board, read it out, or send the link.
Using a code
- Choose Have a code? from the menu, in the plotter’s Racing tab, or at the club (the CLUB NIGHT button by the desks). Type the code and choose Sail it. Capitals or small letters, with or without the dash, all work.
- Codes never use 0, O, 1, I or L, so no two characters look alike. The last character is a check: if a character is mistyped, or two are swapped, the game says so rather than starting the wrong session.
- Everyone who enters the same code gets exactly the same session, on any device. A code made on a newer version of the game asks you to reload the page first.
Pass-and-play
- For a family or a small group with one phone or tablet. Choose Club night, then Pass-and-play. Type two to eight names in the order you will sail, choose the session (enter a code, or make one), then choose Start.
- The game says whose turn it is. Pass the device to that person, and they choose Start my turn. While they sail, the bar at the top shows their name, with Retire to stop the turn early.
- A turn ends at the finish, or when the sailor retires, which counts as a DNF (did not finish). After each turn a hand-over screen says who is next.
- You can end the night at any time with End the night. Anyone who has not had a turn is shown as DNS (did not sail).
The results board
- Places go by time. Seconds are added for what the rules or the seabed would have cost: 60 for each penalty not taken in a race, 30 for each grounding on a passage, and 15 for each lesson step that had to start again (30 for a step skipped). Equal times share a place, shown as =2.
- Each sailor also gets one note on how the sailing went, from the debrief: the angles sailed, the trim, the tacks and the heel. The note is about the sailing, not the sailor, so use it to talk about what to try next.
- Choose Another round to sail again with the same names.
Names and privacy
- Names stay on the device and are never sent anywhere. They are cleared when the night ends, unless you tick Keep these names on this device.
- The game counts, anonymously, that a code was made or used and that a club night was sailed, with the number of sailors. It never sends the names or the code.
Tips for teachers
- A race against the clock, one lap of a 400 or 500 metre beat, joining the start sequence at one minute, takes five to eight minutes a turn: four to six sailors in half an hour.
- Passages take half an hour or more each. They suit sailors on their own devices, each with the code, better than pass-and-play.
- Give everyone the same assistance (Learner for beginners), so the times can be compared fairly.
- Afterwards, ask each sailor to read their note and say one thing they will try next time.