2 A float - Weir Wood Sailing Club

Afloat Autumn/Winter 2009
24
D
The 'Boat' simulator
fixed to a stationary steel box section
cradle. Unlike conventional dinghy
simulators the cradle did not have
pitch, roll and yaw degrees of freedom.
The hull could not move. Hull and
deck was a rebuilt stern half, centre
of plate case to transom, of a fireball.
Overall mast height was 10ft, the sail
had a 6ft luff and 3ft foot. Health
and safety regulations at Olympia
largely governed the dimensions of the
standing rigging. Boom rotation was
30 degrees port and starboard from
a for and aft centre line and brought
about by guys attached to the boom
in a never ending line and through
a reversible cog drive powered by a
small motor. There was a single rope
centre main sheet, from boom, to sole,
and then hand. The rudder stock was
attached to the transom in the usual
fashion; as was tiller and extension to
the stock. Whilst it was possible to
create resistance on the main sheet,
there was no resistance on the rudder.
Everybody reading this article would
conclude that sitting on the deck
of this half boat with a sheet in one
hand and tiller in the other had little
or no resemblance to the experience
of sailing a boat. They at least would
not be tricked. The Sun took a bit of
persuading that the boat did not float
and they could not sail it down the
exhibitions halls of west Kensington.
Guest “sailors” were subject to four
sensory cues. Their eyes saw what they
would have seen if they had been the
helmsman of a Flying Fifteen in force
5 gusting to occasional 7. (Lots of
white horses, grey skies, grey water,
spray, a healing boat, water over the
gunwale, an over active crew and a
sometimes flapping mainsheet.) The
visual display was on two small screens
inside goggles and showed a 2 minute
video clip taken with a helmsman’s
head mounted camera. In their ears,
through headphones, they heard the
sound of the water under the hull and
the wind in the rigging. Wind and
spray was on their face, (albeit coming
from the wrong direction, given the
tack the boat was on). A small smell
device emitted odours of the sea. Note
they were not wearing the cycle helmet
virtual cocoon.
A succession of distinguished and not
so distinguished visitors took part in
the little pretend sailing experiment
from roughly 9.00 in the morning to
around 5.30 in the afternoon. Most
saw it as a bit of fun. Sitting largely
motionless their main reaction was a
smile to the unexpected slight shower
of spray landing on their face. Some
people though did respond to seeing
the healing boat, particularly when
water came over the side, by leaning
backwards and trying to spill wind. A
few reacted in conventional fashion
of depowering through movement
of tiller as well as sheet. No formal
records were taken as to whether the
visitors had sailed or not but a straw
poll suggested the sailors were not
fooled. Some non sailors
apparently were.
A
The system (courtesy Daily Mail)
One obvious last question; other than
having a bit of fun what was the real
point of the Warwick/York exhibit?
The short answer was to get a public
reaction to the idea of a virtual cocoon.
This came as bit of a surprise. The
virtual cocoon was covered by radio,
television and print journalists from
most major EU countries, the US and
Canada. Google recorded something
like 90 press hits at the end of the
day. It featured in three BBC radio
programmes. Possible applications
were seen in training surgeons,
creating virtual rather than physical
prototypes products, at much less
cost, maximising safety in engineering
design of complex and dangerous
environments like deep water oil rigs,
and reducing air travel.
There are no plans at either Warwick
or York Universities to build further
cut down versions of abandoned boats.
The death sentence that hangs over
an old wooden Miracle among other
abandoned boats in the boat parks
is unlikely to be commuted. Normal
club practice and procedures will be
resumed. These procedures are that
lapsed members with boats in the boat
park will be chased, asked to remove
their boat or pay for the space it
occupies. Otherwise……