Sailing

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Instructions for
Commodore 64/128 Cassette & Disk
Amstrad CPC Cassette and Disk
Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k/128k/+


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| A C T I V I S I O N |
|______________________|
|ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE|
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LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

Spectrum: Type LOAD "" and then ENTER.
CBM64 Tape: Press SHIFT and RUN/STOP together, then start tape.
CBM64 Disk: Type LOAD"*",8,1 and then RETURN.
Amstrad CPC Tape: Press CTRL and small ENTER keys together, then start tape.
Amstrad CPC Disk: Type RUN"SAIL and press ENTER.

FOR THOSE WITHOUT A JOYSTICK

Q = up A = down O = left P = right SPACE = fire

OTHER KEYS

Spectrum: Change Level = Joystick left/right
or O or P keys
FX on/off = F
Pause/Unpause = H
Commodore: Change Level = F5
Sound on/off = F3
Music on/off = F1
Pause/Unpause = RUN/STOP
Amstrad as Spectrum but with:
Music on/off = M


Introduction

Sailing is a game of strategy and simulation designed to capture the thrill
of competing in top-level yachting competitions. You will need all your wits
about you as you design your boat to take part in this international challenge
and that's before you even start racing!
As you take to the water ploughing through 20 foot waves, you can see your
opponent rounding the buoy ahead. Have you got the skill to catch up? Is your
design ill-suited to the conditions? It's all in your hands. Prepare yourself
for the sail of the century!

Starting up

From the initial screen of the game you must decide what level to start at and
whether you want the sound effects and music (not Spectrum) on or off. The
level represents at what stage you enter the competition and how long you have
to reach the top.
After deciding on the above conditions, pressing fire moves you to the design
screen.

Design

This screen displays a blueprint of your ship design and allows you to modify
this to suit the weather conditions (the long-range weather forecast scrolls
along the bottom of the screen). After naming your boat (Keyboard) and choosing
your country you get down to the serious business of designing the boat. Using
joystick or keyboard you can change the Overall Length (LOA), Waterline Length
(LWL), Freeboard and Mast Length as well as adding wings to your keel and
changing the Hull Material. Choosing the correct design for the weather that
you will experience involves careful thought. For instance increasing the
length will increase your sail area but decrease your manoeuvrability. Adding
wings will increase your stability but also increase your drag through the
water. You will just have to experiment with different designs in different
conditions in order to best harness the elements. In a close race having a
slightly better design could mean the difference between victory and defeat.
When the design is to your satisfaction select RACES and press fire to move
on to the competition proper.

League Table

At the start of each race you will be presented with a league table showing
your present standing highlighted and also your next prospective opponent
highlighted. This is because in the lower positions you have the option of
challenging up to 2 places above you by moving the cursor up/down. To help you
to decide who to challenge you may view a blueprint of your opponent by
selecting left/right. Fire then returns you to the league table. This also
enables you to observe how different ship designs fare in different weather
conditions.
Once you have selected your opposition, pressing fire catapults you into your
boat on the starting line abreast of your opponent and heading for the first
buoy.

Racing

The display throughout the race is split into 2 halves. The top half shows
the view from the prow out over the sea where you can see your opponent (if he
is ahead of you). The bottom half contains your gauges which are vital to
getting the best from your boat.
On the left are the wind gauges; absolute wind speedometer and the relative
wind direction meter which shows the relative incidence of the wind on the
sails which needs close monitoring.
In the centre the 2 gauges show your heading and boat speed while on the
right the radar shows your position on the course (North is at the top of the
screen). Your boat is depicted by a flashing cross while your opponents boat
appears as a non-flashing cross. Also on the screen are the 3 buoys with the
next buoy for you to round flashing. Buoys must always be rounded anticlockwise
- aim to the right!
The bottom line shows the current status of your spinnaker sail - the big
billowing sail that is used to obtain more power with a following wind.
Control is by joystick (C64) or joystick/keyboard (Spectrum/Amstrad) -
left/right controls the hand on the tiller and the spinnaker is hoisted/lowered
by "winching" it up and down. This is achieved by pressing fire and then
rotating the joystick lever anti-clockwise for up and clockwise for down. If
playing with a keyboard this means pressing up, right, down, left, up etc. in
quick succession for clockwise and the reverse for anti-clockwise - with
practice sail changes can be achieved fairly rapidly.
While winding you cannot control the direction and so the quicker you can
change the sail the less you will slew off course - the wind is constantly
trying to turn the boat one way or the other.
As soon as one boat has successfully completed the course or been
disqualified (you may not go outside the bounds of your radar) the game jumps
back to the league table. After 5 days of racing you will be given 1 week to
re-adjust your rig for the next bout of racing, and at the end of the
competition you will be given a score to classify your performance. HAPPY
SAILING!

NOTE:

In trying to make this game as playable as possible a certain amount of
licence has been taken enabling us to incorporate features which would not be
available to the professional yachtsman such as boat speedometers. Also the
action has been highly condensed to emphasize the ups and downs of sailing. It
is hoped that these additions improve the playability of the game and in some
small way, bring the game to life.

TERMINOLOGY

L.O.A. - Length Overall
L.W.L. - Waterline Length
Freeboard - Height of side of boat from waterline to deck
Wings - A winged keel increases the stability of the boat and enables the boat
to capture more power from the wind on a tack.
Spinnaker - the spinnaker is a parachute-like sail which can be carried
downwind on a reach - i.e. a leg where the wind is behind you.

SAILING TIPS

Design is very important and can make a big difference to the handling of
your boat. It is a good idea to select the top level just to have a look at the
designs of the top boats as these have the best designs.
When racing, tacks are all-important and especially in the winward legs (into
the wind). It pays to hunt for the wind shifts to try to achieve a better
tack-line. Also, the spinnaker should be used sparingly, especially in high
winds. Use it only if the wind is right behind you.
It is up to the player to experiment with the design of the boat to see what
effects the various variables have. As an example; increasing the L.O.A.
increases the sail area and the water drag but decreases the manoeuvrability.
When rounding a buoy, ensure that you approach it at an angle which gives you
room to turn the other side. If you try to get too close, you may over-run
badly.
To add to the excitement of the game, the wind drag and water drag have been
kept very low enabling a well-designed boat to equal or even exceed wind speed
when tacking (a feat usually only achieved in ice-yachting).
If you do exceed the wind speed then the relative wind direction can give a
misleading reading if you turn so that you are travelling with the wind but
faster than the wind. This will give you a relative wind direction of against
you and a true wind direction of behind you. This will cause you to slow down
until the relative wind direction is once more behind you. The true heading of
the wind should be remembered at all times to enable you to deploy your
spinnaker when necessary.