In September 1983, the whole of Australia was in a state of jubilation after Australia II ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year domination of the America's Cup. This was clearly the inspiration for this little yacht-racing simulator, in which you are urged to win the cup for Australia by beating Liberty.
Australia II was owned by businessman Alan Bond's syndicate, and at the time Bond was seen as a national hero. Seven years later though he was being released from jail for defrauding shareholders of $AU1.2 billion. But this is a yachting simulation, not a financial simulation, so you'll need to know how to steer a real yacht.
The rudder, mainsail, jib and spinnaker positions, and the tightness and tension angle of the sails are all under your direct control and depicted in simple but effective black-and-white vector diagrams. The game comes with detailed instructions on how to control your boat and on techniques such as tacking. You will of course need to avoid collisions, as well as pay attention to the changing wind conditions and the yachts' wind shadows.
While it's hard to fault Yacht Racing Simulator on its realism, it's really only suited to yachting enthusiasts. But if you do win the race, don't expect to receive - as Australians did courtesy of Prime Minister Bob Hawke - a national holiday.
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
A very well done and simple simulator for sailing enthusiasts. The 2 boats have exactly the same performance but Liberty (the New York Yacht Club defender) is advantaged, according to the instructions, becasue the American team can better predict how the wind turns. That is always the case for the defender in the America's Cup ad it gives a big advantage to the AI that controls Liberty. What I am pretty sure happens is that the wind actually turns in favour of Liberty, based on their position in the regatta, almost all the time giving again the AI a huge advantage.
To play the sim I suggest to run Dosbox at very low cycles to give you the possibility to control Australia II properly: when you have to control rudder, sail tension, change sail and continously check wind direction to put yourself on the most favourable tack requires some thinking.
Very interesting is also the pssibility to play the multiplayer version of this simulator with a friend at your side on the same keyboard; in this case the control buttons are completely different and not reported in the instruction inside the game but I have been able to found them all through attempts. Here they are:
Australia II
Esc=Esc
Main=a
Jib=d
Spinnaker=g
Left rudder=z
Home rudder=c
Right rudder=b
Sail_0=2
Sail_1=3
Sail_2=4
Sail_3=5
Sail_4=6
Sail_5=q
Sail_6=w
Sail_7=e
Sail_8=r
Sail_9=t
Sail tighter=1
Sail loose=y
Liberty
Esc=backspace
Main=k
Jib=;
Spinnaker=~(alt+126)
Left rudder=n
Home rudder=,
Right rudder=/
Sail_0=8
Sail_1=9
Sail_2=0
Sail_3=-
Sail_4==
Sail_5=u
Sail_6=i
Sail_7=o
Sail_8=p
Sail_9=[
Sail tighter=7
Sail loose=]
Fair winds guys!
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.