ven the worst lockdowns won’t keep thousands of people making a trip around the world at the moment. Alongside the Vendée Globe’s circumnavigation epic, one of the world’s biggest e-sailing competitions is taking place, courtesy of race partner Virtual Regatta. By now, most people know how big esports has become, but it may surprise some that video game sailing is a huge hit, especially among sailors. Virtual Regatta is an online sailing simulation game platform, launched in 2006 by pro sailor, Philippe Guigné. Created as an online, browser-based experience, Virtual Regatta now also has a mobile app for Android and iOS. The game offers two experiences: Virtual Regatta Offshore, which offers strategic play with parameter setting against prevailing the environment, and an Inshore version, which offers real-time, reaction-based play – basically, real-time strategy and first-person shooter takes on sailing. The game is free to play, but it includes paid upgrades, such as options for better equipment, different kinds of sails, foils, better radio communications and even hull polish.
Virtual Regatta runs a virtual Vendée Globe alongside the real race, using real weather data that replicates the experiences of the professional sailors out on the ocean. The virtual Vendée Globe also features the positions of the real racers, so the e-sailors can compare their progress. Virtual Regatta participants even include real sailors – some of the best in the world – allowing them to compete virtually, alongside their real-world colleagues. One of the major things that distinguishes the virtual race from the real one is the number of participants. In this current Vendée Globe, there are 33 sailors. In the virtual race, by the end of the race in spring, the numbers are expected to approach one million. Philippe Guigné has been involved in e-sailing since its inception, advising developers as early as 1999 and, soon after, starting his own company. “My belief at that time was that gaming would be available to everybody over the internet and we could create a massive competition,” recalls Guigné, “so we focused on sports games. I’m a very competitive person.” He soon began focusing exclusively on sailing games. Now, Virtual Regatta Offshore has 60 races per year. And in 2017, Virtual Regatta partnered with the
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