Flying

Flying seems to be a big thing in SL. I always thought of it as fun, and then immediately ditched the idea because... oh well... sailing has trouble with simcrossing. Imagine what trouble a jet will experience. It will be at the next sim-edge before it is done crossing this one... so to speak. One long sim crossing?

Flying with Rene

Still, I always kept an attack helicopter. It's fun flying, and it will shoot annoying males when they are just that - too annoying. It's a 10 year old freebie, and it looks like a lego toy compared to todays flying machines.

Ready for takeoff

It turns out many of my good old sailing friends appear to have a somewhat secret side to themselves: Flying. Liv has been bitten by a mad helicopter, and also Rene is flying... however she's into gliding, and perhaps that makes a bit of sense, as it's slow enough to not be at a sim-edge every other second.

Close hatches

So, Rene took me flying in this glider here. It was actually quite nice. Nothing compared to the real thing; No dizzyness, no stomach trouble, but still... there is a certain majestic silence when you are just gliding around ...

Two sticks

This one has two sticks, so I could actually try and control the thing; Rene seemed quite calm about it. She went on talking about upwinds and stuff. Dunno how they simulate that in SL, as we are having loads of trouble just making the sailboat see a sort of realistic wind.

Fly low or see nothing

Never mind the upwinds. We need to fly low anyway. SL only renders stuff within a few hundred meters - or whichever amount you choose in the settings - so if you're up in the sky, there's no land to see. No fun. Stay "under the radar" and you can see stuff while you crash, teehee.

Lower

That's more like it. I am pretty sure noone would do that in RL, but hey... it's not like anything happens if we crash. The plane won't get a single scratch; Neither will the pilots. Worst case scenario would be - maybe - a relog but only if we're very unlucky.

Approaching

No worries. Rene took us down safe and sound. Lot's of obstacles as you can see. The sim was actually very nice. Hangars, radio towers and other plane related stuff all around. It's worth a TP just to walk around and explore.

Touching down

Here we are almost touching down after a nice trip up in the air. Maybe it's not a full simulator, but the instruments worked and well... it kinda felt like flying. Perhaps I should get me a secret hobby too. Thanx for taking me flying, Rene.

Summer

It's cold, wet and windy outside. The darkness is taking over. Anyone else missing summer?

Missing summer

I know I am. Sailing, swimming, tanning. Drinking cold rosewine while listening to the endlessly repeating sound of cicadas. (Cigales)

A view over the ocean

In that respect Sl is selling dreams; So many dreamy places to go. So many amazing builds. I guess the builders of this place has the same summery urge.

Chillin...

 It's just too far away right now. Sigh. Big sigh.

Kayaking

Kayaking isn't what I've done the most. However, there is a certain kind of zen about it. Kinda like singlehanded sailboat sailing. It's just you and the element.

Splish, splash, splish, splash,...

That sensation, - the calmness of singlehanded sailing, - can be recreated in SL. The same goes for kayaking (and canoeing), and if the scenery is right, it's truly a breathtaking experience.

Ocean right here, mountains in the back.

However, it takes a rather good computer, as the viewing distance must be set high in order to see those distant mountains.

What kinda canoe is it?

I did a bit of kayak-polo in RL. This kayak here does not resemble those kayaks. It doesn't look much like the ocean kayaks they use in the local kayak club either. It's a little too big for my preference, but that doesn't change the kayaking sensation much.

Into the unknown

Perhaps it's the right size for sailing an ocean with waves and such. I dunno. In any case, it feels quite safe to sail, and I'd recommend it after af hefty day at work. Unless ofcourse you have access to a real kayak.

Seagulls are forever in motion

After a kayaking trip it's always nice to sit and think. Maybe rest a bit before sailing back. Luckily it's SL, so teleporting is also an option.

Exploring new things

It's been a while. New things on the horizon in RL as well as in SL. Stumbled upon this place. So quiet, so pretty...

Just amazing

I rode around for a while; Loads of beautiful places. Lots of things to explore.

Yay

Even met a friend there.

Such a vue

This will take hours to explore. Days even. So many great places with ambiance and all. Love it. I wonder if there's a boat somewhere - all this water screams for boats.

Giant waves do exist

Giant waves! An ancient myth now comes into existence through science, math and satellite images. Yes, they do exist, if only for a short while; And they possess the power to smash and sink almost any surface vehicle. Read more here: Rogue Waves.

Just imagine 30 meters of water crushing down

A brand new boat

Yeah that's right... it's a brand new boat. Just sailed it for the first time in this particular version. For-ish I think.

Whoooosh, swish, swooosh

So what is it? It's not Fizz-based. It's not really a BWind engine... As far as I can see it's not a Tako either...  Then what?

In the green

There's bits and pieces from other boats... the keel looks kinda BWind-ish. Also the boom uses the same colour coding originally introduced by the BWind boats. Or was as Balduin Aabye actually the first to use that?

Looking good

If it reminds me of anything from RL it's a classic 80ies design such as the L23 or thereabouts. Perhaps there's a bit of Drabant 24 in there, or maybe it's a cross of the two.

Check that compass

Yeah! I am a sucker for really nice details. Check out that compass. It's so close to the real thing it's almost too much. I am sure I have seen one just like it very recently.

Yay

Nice foam and waves too; Still things are missing such as windvane and sheets and more details on the rigging, - not to mention the interior where apparently less is more, - and ehm... nothing is everything. Still, interesting work from a (to me) completely new boatbuilder. Looks very promising.

Which ones?

Shades... Important in the sun, important when u wanna look cool, important to remove when swimming.

New shades

These are new... get them for free at Tradewinds YC in Dex... They come in three colours...

Fav shades

These are my good old favourite DG shades...

Blue shades

And these I kinda found in my inventory... Not quite sure what I think, but I'll give them a go... Till I figure out which ones to use...

The famous Elvstrom quote

Here's a little something I wanted to do for a long time... First the "thing" itself: That famous Paul Elvstrøm Quote: "If in the process of winning, you have lost the respect of your competitors, you have won nothing", Paul Elvstrøm. There you have it Tillerman - That's what he said.

The original sign from Nassau Yacht Club

Now, I haven't actually heard Paul say precisely that, but he might very well have said something similar, when he visited us in opticlass. It's a goes back a few (many) handfull of years. Memory is one thing, but at the time I was probably too young to take notice while practicing my bowline knots.

Regardless, after racing a bit in SL - Yes there's racing going on, I felt like sticking it on the wall at Tradewinds YC.

Fiddling with signs at Tradewinds

It's rather unreal, but someone actually sent me a real life photo of the sign. It's on a wooden fence or wall. Presumably near the dinghy "parking area" in Nassau YC. (Yes, that Nassau; More civilized now). I cut it out - keeping the screws and all, and here's me fiddling with signs, screws and stuff at the red shack of my favourite virtual yacht Club: Tradewinds YC.

The final result

And here's the final result. That famous quote from Paul on the sign from Nassau Yachtclub is now a famous quote on the wall of the famous red shack at Tradewinds Yachtclub. Wooohooo. I like! U like?

What's for summer

The summerholidays are sneaking up on us. At least for those of us living on the northern half of the earth. Last week the RL weather was very summerish. Now it's back to normal: Cloudy and below 20C. Still, I have high hopes for the rest of the month, cause I am gonna do this:

Ana's beautiful folkboat

That's right... and if the RL weather won't behave, I'll probably be sailing in SL as well; The destinations in SL are so nice. So many marinas to visit and explore...

A marina is popping up

Not only that... there are vast areas of water to explore... It doesn't have to be "nose in the charts" inshore sailing all the time... Still, you could argue that SL misses a really big ocean. I mean... you can cross the Blake in like five minutes. What would it take to make a true ocean? Just water, boats, birds and fish! Can't require that much computing power, can it?

What's on the other side of those islands?

Back in the boat! Are you paying attention? 9.5 knots in a Folkboat is quite alot. I suppose Ana has painted it with some secret sauce... Old secret family recipe of sharkskin soup perhaps :-)

Chillin

Makes me wonder: Would this lil Folkboat outrun my Ushuaia. That's something I gotta test next time I am inworld.

On my way to the great big blue

For now I'll just concentrate on the Folkboat, and here I am on my way from the (relative) safety of inshore sailing to the great big blue... Oh, and I see the telltales. I need to ease out on the jib sheet... Difficult to trim continously while "droning" around with the camera.

Arrived "on the other side"

This is what it looks like when approaching land on the other side... Better get that engine going cause I am not entirely sure where to go. Let's see, where's that knob to lower it... ahh... there!

Vrooummm

This boat has everything, - or close. Perhaps there is one thing missing! My Ushuaia has an espresso-machine. It might be too big for a Folkboat, but in RL I always bring one of those tiny two person italian coffee cookers for the stove. Doesn't take up much space, and the taste is way better than instant coffee. 

Motoring about

Besides, coffebags are easier to store in a boat compared to those glass cans they use for instant... Anyways, it's not yet coffeetime. I need to motor about and fine me a mooring spot, and since I don't have a coffe maker, it's gonna be...

A coke and a smile

A nice chilled coke... ahhh. Doesn't get much better than this. So that's my recipe for great summer holidays. Get a boat and get out there on whichever waters you have nearby; Real or virtual - in that order.

Bon voyage

Whichever type of sailor you are, I wish you fair winds, and if you're a virtual sailor... scroll through my pics here and imagine - if only just for a minute - doing this for real. No need to cross the Atlantic or sail around the globe like Troels Kløvedal did (R.I.P)... It really doesn't need to be fancy or expensive.

Just set sails with friends and meet for drinks and hotdogs in the next marina up coast. Or the nearest exotic island. That's life! Cheers... (and strawberry margaritas)

Fizzing around

Just went to TYC to have a look around... Had a nice chat with Ana, said hi to Dutch and decided to go fizzing with Liv... After some fiddling with the Fizz we figured out there was another windsetter nearby - messing up our wind. Who need 25 knots for a relaxed afternoon sail?

Sailing south

Eventually we figured out how to "override" it, and we sat a course for Blake. Sails up and away we went... Turns out Ana was right: The Fizz works quite well, now that the SL platform has caught up with it in terms of computing power.

Smooth sailing

We kinda raced though neither of us said so; Probably we were equally rusty on the delicate details of Fizz-trimming. Here it says 4.7knots, but it maxxed at 5.4. Sometimes it stayed at 5.3 for a while. It takes precision steering to find the sweet spot, which is a bit hard to do while taking pictures.

Crash and burn

Not everything is perfect, so my boat crashed while I was taking pictures and at the same time crossing a sim border. Bang! I sat at the seafloor - still hiking. So I had to TP out of there and get me a new boat. Chose a slightly older version - for stability... different paintjob too.

Race rock in sight

Liv was already rounding the race rock when I had it in sight, so we yelled hi as we passed... Me round the rock and back up north trying to catch Liv. She's not that easy to catch as she probably spent way more time in the Fizz...

There it is

The race rock looked like it's good ole self. Some things never change. However the wind did, so I had to beat upwind to get back home. Eeew.

Hiking up north to get back to TYC

Eventually I gave in and TPed to Liv; She was just south of TYC, so I flew back home and took a landing shot.

Mind the pier

And here she is... landing at the pier at Tradewinds Yacht Club after a nice sail; In the same boat all the way. Such a nice ride round the Blake, and yes... the Fizz isn't easy, but it is still worth a try or two. Amazing since it's from 2007. Not entirely sure when I discovered it, but here's my first post with the Fizz... back in 2010. That post is my second post ever. I think the Fizz 3 came into existence in 2009. Or thereabouts...

In the right place?

Dunno how you did it but you did it quite well
So white and so funky - everyone could tell
your music picked me up on more than one occasion
and now that you have left to another location
I just wanna send you a thanx and tiny rhyme
to say I hope you've found the right place at the right time

R.I.P. and thanx for the music... it's been Such a Night!

Rounding old friends

So today the weather was truly nasty. Strong winds, low temperatures and rain. Yuck. I therefor decided to go virtual. Virtual sun is better than no sun at all.

Rounding an old friend

Tradewinds YC was almost empty; There was one guy at the pier. Unknown to me, he gazed at the sea. I think he watched me as I set sail, but I can't tell for certain.

Going east

Obviously, I could have stayed and chatted - possibly spending my time talking, but hey... I was there for the sailing, and SL never lets me down on that. Just check the picture above. It doesn't get more yummy than that.

Kite time

Perhaps a bit more yummy is this: Kite time. I went further south, to check out some smaller islands. People everywhere in the Blake Sea today. Nice.

Wooohooo!

I wonder how long ago it is I discovered this place... Crows Nest. I remember sailing around the Fastnet Rock in Roar Ege. That was in 2011.

Voila la mer et le soleil

See why I love the virtual sailing? It's almost so hot I wanna loose my sweater. And where did I put my shades?

Arriving at the remote isles

Anyway, here are the remote islands. I kinda remember this place as desolate. Today it's quite busy.

Busy day in the south of Blake

I counted ten or eleven boats. One had single girl aboard. She was having a party; Drinks and dance and loud music. Other boats had couples relaxing or having a picnic. Some where walking around the isles, and one boat had a couple in the cockpit - ahem - whoopee. Not very discrete.

Back up north

Me I just dropped the anchor and had a coffee while observing all the activity around me. Just a little surprised as I had expected a quiet time. Not so at all.
Coffee down, anchor up, engine on steaming up north due upwind.

Back at Tradewinds YC

After a while I set sail and headed upwind past spyglass, where I met another old friend; This time not an island. It was my Swedish friend Sven in his Folkboat. It must have been years, so we had some catching up to do before I returned to Tradewinds YC. Good old.