We’ve been busy improving our flagship product - VR Regatta.

Recently someone asked, what is the ultimate MarineVerse vision. Let us illustrate it with a story:

Jessica, 10 years old from Te Anau ( small town in New Zealand) is bored at home.

It’s July evening and it is dark and cold outside. As the last night, Jessica starts her home VR to play some games. Browsing through available titles she finds a VR Regatta - intriguing, cheerful, Caribbean themed sailing game - that looks cool. She never tried sailing before but decides to give it a go anyway.

A couple of hours later she has explored virtual Akalana Islands, had some fun and without knowing it got some intuition about how sailing works. Next day, after school she is excited to play the game again. This time she joins an online race. There are 8 people sailing in her race - from all over the world. There is one more person from NZ ( Auckland ), but also someone from Japan, an older lady from Perth and guy from Sydney. She comes 7th in the race, but at least she beat the Sydney guy.

Fast forward October, Jessica gets e-mail from her MarineVerse account. Her local Marakura Yacht club is organising an Opening day of the Summer Sailing next week. She is unsure, but there is also an online VR info session tomorrow. She joins the session, gets to know a local sailing coach and gets comfortable with an idea of attending the Opening day. She literally can’t stop talking about it, so her parents take her to the club. The Opening day goes well. VR sailing is fun, but THE REAL thing is so much better. The instructor she is sailing with lets her steer for a bit and is surprised to see how well is she doing, given she just told him its her first time sailing.. “I may have sailed in VR before,” she says.

Jessica joins the club and enrolls in her first course. After each weekend class, she gets assignment to practice at home in VR mid-week. Coaches love it, as they can see how students are performing with their home assignments, giving the coach a clear idea what to focus on during the next class (and who needs the most attention).

Next weekend, the sailing is “off” - the wind is too strong. Luckily, it’s not a big deal, as class gets to practice some theory in the VR Sailing classroom. The instructor loads a training scenario - this week they are learning racing tactics. Jessica gets so watch on a big TV screen, as one of her classmates goes through the scenario, while the coach gives real-time hints and comments. Then Jessica gets to try and does even better.

After the course is finished, Jessica is back to her VR Regatta sailing at home. During the course she met 3 more Te Anau-based kids that are into VR competitive sailing - they form the e-sport team and get to compete in NZ national championships. More importantly, the local sailing coach is still in touch with them via VR Sailing. The coach convinces the kids to come back to the club and join regular weekly real racing - and they do (easy to ignore an e-mail, much harder say no to the coach in VR ).

Jessica grows up to be an accomplished sailor. In fact, when she is 25 she wins the Olympic Bronze medal at the 2032 Olympic Games, followed by the Gold in 2036 when she is 29..

Many years later, Jessica is already 85. It’s winter again. Tonight is a special night - a couple of sailors from the Olympics where she won the gold decided to recreate the race in VR. They are loading the exact same location, time of the day and even weather conditions, as it was when the original 2036 race took place. She gets to meet with her friends again and have some fun sailing. She comes second, after very exciting race.

Looking back at her life, she smiles - so many good things in her life are thanks to sailing: adventures, family (she met her partner on a boat) and career to name a few. Jessica is just one of many people who gets the benefits of sailing - 80 years ago no one would guess that sailing popularity will grow so much! VR Sailing was a part of the beginning and the sunset of her career, and Jessica treasures the opportunity it has given her.

If you like this vision, please help us spread the word - share it with your friends & family!