Gday denmo71,
Yes, Bass Strait is an interesting place, but it won’t be as much fun until the new sea model is available in Ship Simulator 2009.
In the present sea model, wave height is limited to 4 meters for two reasons: The model is not able to produce realistic waves much higher than that, and the ship dynamics can’t handle higher waves and produce realistic ship reactions.
More important for the Sydney-Hobart, wind does not act directly on ships, so sailing vessels have no realistic power. That, along with the need for a more complex set of user controls, is why there are no player sailing yachts in the present simulator.
Hopefully, 2009 may see a much better sea model, along with a chart table and a set of tools.
Regards,
Marty
http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,3598.msg39737.html#msg39737 (http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,3598.msg39737.html#msg39737)