Ahoy!

Welcome to the eighteenth post in the series “VR Sailors - MarineVerse Community” - introducing sailors racing in MarineVerse Cup.

Today, we are chatting with Pete Hoffswell from Holland, Michigan in U.S.

In virtual reality, you can meet Pete in MarineVerse Cup as Pixtel. In MarineVerse Cup Pixtel is racing in a “Pro Series” and as of today is #12 in the world.

We have asked Pete a couple of questions..

What is your sailing experience?

I taught myself how to sail at the age of 12 while attending a youth camp in Wisconsin. The waterfront had a few small boats and I was intrigued. The camp counselor handed me the Red Cross Basic Sailing manual and let me loose.

I was hooked. We purchased a Butterfly sailboat that I sailed through my teens and still have to this day. My passion for sailing grew - I served as commodore of my collegiate sailing club will attending university and was the commodore of the National Butterfly Sailing Association.

What is your favourite sailing memory?

That’s a tough one. Sailing has many great memories for me. After graduating high school I was looking for a college to attend. My mother suggested Southern Illinois University. I asked: “Do they have sailing there?” She replied yes. Good enough for me. My first week I went to the club, grabbed a crew, hopped in a JY, the collegiate racing boat. We proceeded to be terrible. My crew, John Powell, graciously suggested that we try a different tack. We won by a mile. John’s quiet and humble and turns out to be an awesome sailor. He’s been a best friend and still is to this day. Great to make friends in boats.

Still sailing after all these years. John and I returning Mrs. Jones, a Mumm 36, after the Chicago-Mac race:

Tell us something about your experience with MarineVerse Cup?

Life has pulled me away from sailing over the past few years. When MarineVerse Cup became available on the Oculus Quest, I jumped at the chance to “easily get back to the helm”.

VR sailing fires the old synapses devoted to sailing in my brain exactly as if I was sailing a real boat. My sailing passion is rekindled. I also enjoy the competition in practices. Whether it’s chasing a perfect mark rounding by Markouus or heading windward bow-to-bow with bot33, McDermol, Clare, or Boatbrain. What a rush!

*"Hey, get back here, bot33 and McDermol!"*

MarineVerse Cup Quest

Who and why should try MarineVerse Cup

MarineVerse Cup brings an authentic sailing experience to your living room. If you are an experienced sailor, MarineVerse Cup will help you get better at starts, laying lines, managing wind shifts, and mark rounding. New sailors can learn fundamentals and practice easily to develop strong skills that will translate to real-world sailing experiences. And it’s fun.

Any tips for those new to sailing that want to race in MarineVerse Cup?

Practice practice practice. The practice races will let you “chase” other sailors around the course. This is how I taught people how to sail in College and think it’s a good way to learn in VR as well. If you can find some live races, other sailors will be happy to give you pointers in-game as well.

Anything you would like to add?

MarineVerse Cup has rekindled my passion for racing. I’m currently trying to decide what kind of racing I might want to do. Big boat? Small? There are many options and MarineVerse helps me contemplate that as well.

MarineVerse Cup

MarineVerse Cup is all about the community. If you would like to try sailing join us. You can meet VR sailors at our Discord chat server and you can downland MarineVerse Cup on Steam or via Oculus Quest AppLab.

We hope you enjoyed this blog post in “VR Sailors - MarineVerse Community” series - stay tuned for more soon!