Sports
Sail Away!
If you prefer your boating without mechanical propulsion, take a look at Sail Away! (Scanrom) and Interactive Sailing (Swifte). Although these titles come from different creators and different publishers, they work well as a combination; Sail Away! is an instructive, text-and-video heavy disc with dry catagories such as Small Boat Handling, Knots and Cordage, Rules of the Road, and Weather, while Interactive Sailing is a graphic simulator that doesn’t waste time teaching, but provides the perfect forum for virtual practice. In terms of visuals, Interactive beats Sail Away! hands-down. Comparing the simulator’s fancy, high-tech 3D graphics to the instructor’s plain-looking menus and uninteresting videos is like comparing Johnnie Cochran’s suits to Lanco Ito’s robes. In terms of other aesthetics, Sail Away! doesn’t gain any more ground – the feel-good, easy-listening soundtrack will quickly put you to sleep, and the sense of humor (‘are you ready to WEATHER this quiz?’ the program asks before the weather quiz) speaks for itself. But learning to sail isn’t all glamour, wit, and rock’n'roll. Before you’ll be ready to uncork a bottle of champagne with Interactive Sailing, you’ll need to put in a few hours behind the far more prosaic wheel of Sail Away!
- November 1995
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