The Virtual BCN Challenge 2020

[RebelMike]

15 minutes ago, Tim Carter said:

Well done Team Rebellion on taking William round the Challenge, enjoyed following it, come and visit the boat for real when things get back to normal.  

Thank you!  Sorry we didn't quite manage to repeat your 2016 success.  We should be heading up the Grand Union and passing Weedon Bec once it's safe to cruise, and it would be lovely to see William for real!

 

For those on other teams - we contacted Inland Navigators out of the blue, asking if we could virtually hire William for the challenge - just on the basis that we thought it would be fun to be on a more traditional boat than Rebellion given the theme of exploring the history.  We didn't know anything about the boat other than what was on the Inland Navigators website, and didn't even realise that William had competed (and won!) in 2016.

 

Tim and Bridget very kindly gave us their blessing and supplied us with some photos both from their challenge run and elsewhere, which was very handy for illustrating our posts, especially as they'd sent one of William in the snow!  Though in the rush to research and create content for all the historic branches we didn't use as many as we had originally expected to.

 

I have very little idea of the practicalities of running a Bolinder engine, so apologies for the lack of detail on that in our posts - I hope we might be able to take a look at it when we visit!

[Scholar Gypsy]

8 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

... hic ...

 

 

I am reminded of a boat on the tidal Thames, we locked out with them at Limehouse. They called up London VTS on the radio and then tried to spell out their boat name. Shosholoza  (an African song, not a drunk Irishman). 

[cheshire~rose]

On 05/05/2020 at 17:19, Golden Boyz said:

Tuesdays Challenge "  You are struck by the unusual lack of wildlife on the stretch of canal you are navigating today. Perhaps you can do something about that? Please create a swan in any way you choose and share a photo of your creation with us on your BCN Blog Thread. Hint: A towel sculpture or some Origami might be an easy way for some of you to complete this task"

 

Challenge in Progress!!

 

Our finished swan sussing out the map at Headquarters

Our finished swan getting a breath of fresh air by the canal

Many of the teams who took part have expressed that they had little time to read the other threads. Well now you are not so busy working on your own challenge it would be lovely if you can head across and have a read of the others, don't forget to add greenies, smilies and other reactions where you can to let the writer know you have read their offering and appreciate it.

Now why have I shared the wonderful post about the Swan from Urban Moorings thread?

 

That is because this absolutely splendid swan has been donated by D.V. Designs

They formed part of the team that are based around the Urban Moorings CIC - more info here: https://www.facebook.com/urbanmoorings/

 

They have very kindly offered to donate the swan, - it could go to the winning team and be engraved or, as we have already supplied a virtual lorry load of vitual kegs of virtual ale to the winning team perhaps those taking part would like to use it as a "participants choice" award?

 

We want to ensure a donation is made to Urban Moorings CIC in respect of the fantastic work they are doing of regenerating a little corner of the BCN you have all come to love through the last week but perhaps folks would like to go and spend a couple of days reading through all the threads to see what they have missed and drop me a note with who they want to vote for as their Participants choice

 

 

It has also been mentioned that a plaque would be nice. I don't know how many people might be interested in a plaque if one could be made at reasonable cost BUT if you are interested then step forward and let me know and I will see how many of there you are so we can find out if it can be done or not.

 

 

[TheBiscuits]

3 minutes ago, cheshire~rose said:

We want to ensure a donation is made to Urban Moorings CIC in respect of the fantastic work they are doing of regenerating a little corner of the BCN you have all come to love through the last week

https://www.urbanmoorings.co.uk/

 

There is a paypal donation link on the site.

 

 

[mrsmelly]

44 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I don’t know I go away for a couple of hourS to do stuff, and the results come out.

 

Well done to the Indigo Dreamers, and a big thank you to everyone who took part, and of course the organisers.  It provided a very good distraction to the current situation, but I had not appreciated how much work it would be.  Going to take things easy this week!

 

ps.  How do you get negative points?

Ya have to be whizz kids to get minus points  Dr Bob is a genius

[TheBiscuits]

On 05/05/2020 at 22:32, TheBiscuits said:

This game is going to finish with a winner scoring around 500 points,

 

Wish I'd been betting on it now ...

[BEngo]

1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Wish I'd been betting on it now ...

Get that automatic scene sucker flashed up again.  There's bound to be a bookies runner in The Fountain, or other pub of your choice.

 

N

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, BEngo said:

Get that automatic scene sucker flashed up again.  There's bound to be a bookies runner in The Fountain, or other pub of your choice.

 

N

 

Sadly my "automatic, systematic, hydromatic, greased lightning" never worked.  It was the canalworld prototype, and we never got out of 2020 with it.

 

 

 

 

[john6767]

4 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Only because it was on a non-scoring section, hence "similar".  On a scoring section, failure to reach an approved junction at the end of the day gets negative points based on how far away you are from one.

 

Trying to earn enough negative points to offset the challenges and quizzes and random bonuses is a lot harder than it looks.

I never managed to get that level of information about the penalty out of Andy.

[TheBiscuits]

2 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I never managed to get that level of information about the penalty out of Andy.

 

Nor us.  We did know there was a penalty from the original rules, but he refused to tell us the exact formula for it.  It's almost as if he suspected some of us were attempting to game the system in the fight for the wooden spoon.

 

I only know you got zero penalty on a non-scoring section because you told us!

 

 

[peterboat]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Ya have to be whizz kids to get minus points  Dr Bob is a genius

He is a genius I think as a team we all were appallingly bad which is always good if you want to lose Capt ?

[TheBiscuits]

This was the exchange that made me do the late night boat on a trailer run from Skipton onto the Bradley Arm:

 

 

My email to Andy:

 

Scoring rules clarification please.

 

In view of the fact that any "travel beyond these limits" is a disqualification, I will be unable to move from my starting location at the "recognised junction" - Skipton Junction on the L&L.

 

This makes my daily calculations quite simple, as they will all be 0 miles and 0 locks so I don't get disqualified.  The penalty points for not being on a valid overnight mooring are a little bit trickier.

 

Canalplan reckons the best way to get to the finish from here is up the Wolverhampton flight, so by that reckoning Aldersley Junction is my nearest valid overnight mooring

 

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Skipton%20Junction,Aldersley%20Junction 

This is a trip of 171.82 miles and 96 locks from Skipton Junction to Aldersley Junction.  

 

This will take 128 hours and 49 minutes which is 18 days, 2 hours and 49 minutes at 7 hours per day.

 

So for nightly penalty scores, how do I calculate that?

 

Is that 129 hours (the trip linked at 1.5 mph and 5 minute locks) means  minus 129 points every day except finish day,

 

or is it scored as 1 point per lockmile so 172+96 = minus 268 points every day except finish day.

 

Finish day is an extra penalty of the daily penalty plus the Aldersley Junction to Bradley Basin trip which is a further 21 locks and 7 miles away, and scores 32 points on the scorecard.

 

If it's time based, 

 

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Skipton%20Junction,Bradley%20Basin 

 

This is a trip of 179.09 miles and 117 locks from Skipton Junction to Bradley Basin.

This will take 135 hours and 25 minutes which is 19 days, 2 hours and 25 minutes at 7 hours per day.

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

 

Part of his reply:

You can’t get the virtual wooden spoon that easily! The boat has to be on a recognised junction to pass go and so start the points process.

 

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

Urban moorings have access to a laser cutting machine.

 

Would an engraved plywood one do?

They are quite nice, the BCNS used them

[Capt Ahab]

6 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Nor us.  We did know there was a penalty from the original rules, but he refused to tell us the exact formula for it.  It's almost as if he suspected some of us were attempting to game the system in the fight for the wooden spoon.

 

I only know you got zero penalty on a non-scoring section because you told us!

 

 

There are times when messing with time travel its best not to be drawn on some technicalities. I can endorse the comment that the accumulation of negative points was hard won, especially after plan A was thwarted. Anyone would think that we had to make some of this up as we went along......... Glad you all enjoyed it.

[john6767]

7 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Nor us.  We did know there was a penalty from the original rules, but he refused to tell us the exact formula for it.  It's almost as if he suspected some of us were attempting to game the system in the fight for the wooden spoon.

 

I only know you got zero penalty on a non-scoring section because you told us!

 

 

And that was all I managed to get out of Andy, of course I don’t know if that was actually the case in the final scoring, but it is done now, and was a great distraction to what is going on.

[TheBiscuits]

4 minutes ago, Capt Ahab said:

Anyone would think that we had to make some of this up as we went along......... Glad you all enjoyed it.

 

Very much so, to both parts of the comment!

 

Thanks for your input, both in running the challenge itself and improving the original idea - adding the other 60 miles made this a much better game than the original plan would have been - but having seen the sheer amount of work generated I'm very glad I was a challenger and not on the committee!

 

 

 

 

[Keeping Up]

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so many thanks to the organisers. I'm so glad we went for the lunacy prize (did we win that?) by going backwards instead of taking it seriously, because otherwise we would have been really really pi$$ed off at somebody gaining zero points penalty for adopting an "after hours" strategy that we had considered and then rejected as being both cheating and immoral. 

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, Keeping Up said:

otherwise we would have been really really pi$$ed off at somebody gaining zero points penalty for adopting an "after hours" strategy that we had considered and then rejected as being both cheating and immoral. 

 

If it was cheating, then there wouldn't have been a rule explaining the penalty scoring for it.  Why bother to mention a penalty rule for failing to reach a "safe mooring" junction when the exact speed and distances were well known in advance if you don't intend to allow it?

 

I do agree that the penalties could have been higher to discourage this, but I consider it to be well within the rules as published.

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

5 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so many thanks to the organisers. I'm so glad we went for the lunacy prize (did we win that?) by going backwards instead of taking it seriously, because otherwise we would have been really really pi$$ed off at somebody gaining zero points penalty for adopting an "after hours" strategy that we had considered and then rejected as being both cheating and immoral. 

You did well to keep that up (I typed that before I realised the pun!). I still can’t get my head round why it makes the locks fall the other direction though. I’m too logical for my own good.

 

I enjoyed the observation about Lapal being palindromic. But I was horrified at you motoring through. Very reckless.

[Captain Pegg]

1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

If it was cheating, then there wouldn't have been a rule explaining the penalty scoring for it.  Why bother to mention a penalty rule for failing to reach a "safe mooring" junction when the exact speed and distances were well known in advance if you don't intend to allow it?

 

I do agree that the penalties could have been higher to discourage this, but I consider it to be well within the rules as published.

 

 

It’s been organised by a small group of people with loads on their plate, much more than they anticipated I suspect. John is more numerate than the organisers or at least has more time to study and understand where the balance lies. That’s my reading of it.

 

I have no doubt that had the organisers had time to understand and study what was done and how it helped I have no doubt they would have imposed a harsher penalty.

 

Given that Firefly scored 44 more points than The Workers in cruising scores and 41 more points in the final score it appears the committee haven’t really penalised them to any meaningful degree. Had he won I suspect peer pressure would have come into play more than it has.

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Keeping Up]

19 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

If it was cheating, then there wouldn't have been a rule explaining the penalty scoring for it.  Why bother to mention a penalty rule for failing to reach a "safe mooring" junction when the exact speed and distances were well known in advance if you don't intend to allow it?

 

I do agree that the penalties could have been higher to discourage this, but I consider it to be well within the rules as published.

 

 

But the penalty was specified only as "a deduction ... in respect of the time it would take to reach the nearest safe haven" which I took to mean that the penalty would be points relating to the time rather than to the scoring multiplier of the section in question.

 

I wonder what the penalty would have been if I'd gone with my initial assumption that 4mph was permitted on non-scoring sections outside the BCN, if somebody hadn't sought clarification and therefore received an (open) notification that only 1.5mph was allowed - hence I didn't do it.

 

I am so glad that we never expected to get a competitive number of points, so couldn't care less about such matters. All that is important is that it was fun!

 

[peterboat]

For me it was all about the fun and the story,  really enjoyed it thanks to all that made it happen 

[TheBiscuits]

39 minutes ago, peterboat said:

For me it was all about the fun and the story,  really enjoyed it thanks to all that made it happen 

 

That's not what you said when you were driving down the M1 in an open tuk-tuk in the snow last Sunday.

[peterboat]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

That's not what you said when you were driving down the M1 in an open tuk-tuk in the snow last Sunday.

True ? no heating and open sides are a bit of a downer

[KiwiBill]

9 hours ago, cheshire~rose said:

A huge thank you to all the teams for all your hard work.

 

Now....... can we have a drumroll for the results:

 

1.      501.75 - Team Indigo Dream ?

2.      491.87 - Team Firefly ?

3.      468.75 - Team Rebellion ?

4.      450.25 – The Workers

5.      433.75 – Urban Moorings

6.      393.00 – Whisky Galore

7.      391.30 – Team NB Styxl

8.      359.45 – Team Pugnipeek

9.      338.50 – Steaming Behind

10.   245.50 – Sugar & Spice

11.   242.75 – Anado Solo

12.   40.5 – Team Willum

13.   21.75 – Team Biscuits

14.   -3.37 – Barnier’s Stern Gland

Thanks to the organisers again. Plus special thanks from me to all the other challengers who entertained, informed, amused and amazed me over the six days.

My raw stats as submitted were:

Locks  34

Miles  83 (including duplications)

Points  226.75 (without bonus, quiz, penalties etc)

 

Is there an expanded version of the above table with approved points, daily challenge points, bonuses, penalties locks, miles crew size, etc, etc...  ? Those of us who don't have boats, experience, books or knowledge just love statistics.

.

KiwiBill