Virtual Optisailing

While I am at it... We all started in the opti; At least the saying goes, that all god sailors began in a dinghy. Hehe. Windsurfers might disagree, but hey... what do they know ;-) It is all about feeling the wind and the waves. Anywas, the story of the Optimist is amazing. Started in NY sometime in the fiftees; Then spread out world wide. Probably the most succesfull class of all times, - now spreading in SL too.

Me in a Shelly Fizz somewhere in Fruit.

When I was new, someone gave me a rusty old Shelly. Kinda like in RL -  only my first real Optimist was wooden. Today you can get a brand new and shiny Virtual Optimist aka Shelly-Fizz at the Tradewinds YC... for free. So wipe your eyes and go get one.

Why would anyone wanna sail that little critter, you might ask. For one thing it has been reckognized as a prime beginners boat thoughout the last thirty or forty years. It is affordable, it is easy to build your own, it is easy to sail, and the box shaped hull is stable. Besides, we have fun; Check this out:

Shelly racing somewhere near Tradewinds Yacht Club.

Back to the realism thing... What makes the Shelly so realistic? There are five things...

1) It has a Fizz engine, so it sails very well.
2) It has working telltales and sail sounds.
3) It has a working windvane.
4) There are no numbers, huds, displays or instruments.
5) It has mouselook sailing.

Add to that the WWC Windsystem with wind variations, waves and currents.

Me again... Shelly in Fruit Islands.

The Shelly-Fizz in fact provides one of the best near real life sailing experiences available. You just gotta love that, if know what you're doing. The only RL thing I miss in the Shelly is a compas for detecting windshifts. U need to see windshifts, if you are in a race.