Americas Cup not worth watching

 Ok, so it's been a while. What's little me doing? Busy sailing in first life, and busy looking after the kids. Well, and playing Minecraft with them, but this... this deserves a comment. 

Probably the ugliest mug in the world

 

Anyone read Scuttlebutt? Do it now - Read Scuttlebutt - click here!

And let me again refer to Jane Fossets quote! She said it first, and she said it best:

 "Weird plastic critters skittering across the water". (- Jane Fosset)

Amen to that!

Here's a few burst from that Scuttlebutt post - and they are about the Americas Cup and the (current) boats:

• Complete irrelevance
• Bizarre sideshow
• Seems to be a bit of action missing
• this diminishes the spectacle of the sport
• most exiting part is when they fall off the foils
• light wind foiling is really boring

Yup!

Let's put the sailing back into sailing. Get real boats. Use real rules. Make sailing relevant to sailors - not to lawyers and crazy scientists. 

Where is Heinz Doofenshmirtz, when you need a new type of Inator to stop the madness in Americas Cup? Let's have a MadRaceInator!

Wayyy back in 2011 after sailing with El Megro

 Happy sailing and Strawberry Margaritas. 

(More on Americas Cup) 

PS: Shoutout to Bruce Dawlish racing the Folkboat Rødhætte in San Francisco.

The world is upside down

 No words needed... 

Yeah!

...and yes, - I went to the local "Ukraine-shop" and gave clothes, toys, teddybears, pillows and even bikes. No guns though. This is Europe; We have laws against guns, so I leave the gun-stuff to the government.

What is a Sjogin

 Summer means sailing, and I've had my fair share of RL sailing these past five weeks. That's why I thought it would be fun to check up on SL, and it was. Look what I found:

That's a Sjogin

My First though was: Hey, - finally a followup to Beccas beginner boat, - the now famous baby sloop; I looked closer and the Megin came to mind. Then I googled Sjogin, and it turns out this is a pretty close replica of the RL Sjogin, which in turn is a close cousin of the Megin.

Nice craftsmanship

Obviously it will sail and quite nicely, if I may say so. The hull, rig and sails are all well crafted with a sweet attention to detail. I can feel the urge to just take off and sailaway, but let's check out a few things first. There's a click menu with poses and what nuts.

Weekend?

It's not a big boat, but there is room for a couple on a romantic weekend. Or just me reading a book while the waves gently splashes on the hull. There is a special sound in this type of boat, because it is a clinker. I suppose the built in sounds could reflect that. Ok, a tiny lamp woud be nice for night reading. Check out how Balduin had that back in 2011 in his beautiful Bolero.

Sails, telltales and all

Sailing is easy. Standard commands work but there is also a hud. No need for that when you can get real feedback. The sails flap when in irons, and the telltales almost work like real telltales. Almost. They don't move up and down quite as expected. They really should be in the first third of the jib, as that's where the wind enters the sailarea. Details, details. Oh, and it seems there is no wind-indicator. A windex might look silly on a boat like this, but a vane from the top of the mast would probably look both pretty and good.

 

Sunset sailing

Sounds are ok, but the speed has no impact on the sounds. Sadly. I thought I heard a bit of Flying Fizz sound at some point, but I was not able to steer or trim in order to produce the sound again. Strange. However, a look inside the boat reveals it is not a Fizz sailing engine. It does not look like a BBK sailing engine either. Perhaps it's a homegrown... dunno. Will find out.

Time to dock

The sailing seems fine, but the rudder is bit slow. Wakes are nice. Heel seems fair, and there is balancing, which is supernice. Trimming is fine and responsive, but something strange happens when tacking. Sometimes the sail stops working. Maybe it's just me. I will give it a decent sailing test sometime soon.

Cute thing

For now I'll settle with very cute, well made sailing "thing" with loads of nice details. The Sjogin definately deserve to be taken to sea for a few adventures in the virtual seas of SL.

PS: There is a dude on Instagram sailing boats like this in RL. Check the "SailingCraftsMan". You can hear that special clinker-sound there.

Yay for Anne-Marie!

 She did it!

Anne-Marie Rindom wins Olympic Gold

It wasn't easy, but she did it. Best danish female sailor ever! Congrats!!

Rule 18.3

 So this is rule 18.3:

Passing Head to Wind in the Zone

If a boat in the zone of a mark to be left to port passes head to wind from port to starboard tack and is then fetching the mark, she shall not cause a boat that has been on starboard tack since entering the zone to sail above close-hauled to avoid contact and she shall give mark-room if  that  boat  becomes overlapped inside  her. When this rule applies between boats, rule 18.2 does not apply between them.

This sorta like says: If I enter the zone on port tack, I am not allowed to disturb boats that entered the zone on starboard tack - not even if I entered the zone first. Not sure if that's fair, but at least it is easy to understand.

BUT

Why does this rule apply only to a port side passing? AFAICS the exact same thing can happen on a starboard side passing?

I can easily see myself entering the zone (first) on starboard tack, wanting to tack to port in order to pass the mark on starboard; Sounds easy, as I have right of way, but the minute I tack, I need to think of rule 11 and 15. 

If I tack, I might get overlapped from behind on the inside. Then I have no rights what so ever? Isn't that just weird? Because I tacked in the zone, rule 18 is off - or is it? Anyway, It would not help me. I just need to keep clear. Even if I tack clearly ahead, those port tack boats may catch up and overlap on the inside; I'll then need to keep clear as stated by rule 11 and with no warning - by rule 15. Or is it just 18.2.a?

Something is fishy, but that's not all:

Rule 18 starts of by stating it does not apply to boats on separate tacks on an upwind beat. Still, rule 18.3 seems to apply to just that situation. So is rule 18.3 on or off? Turns out it is on, - the minute someone tacks and the two boats are on the same tack - rule 18 turns on..

What does that mean? Rule 12 is off when tacking in the zone, but only on a port side passing? Why not on a starboard passing? Why does that make sense?

Like... Is the inverse 18.3 correct for a starboard passing?

Try this:

If a boat in the zone of a mark to be left to starboard passes head to wind from starboard to port tack and is then fetching the mark, she MAY cause a boat that has been on PORT tack since entering the zone to sail above close-hauled to avoid contact and she shall NOT give mark-room if  that  boat  becomes overlapped inside  her. When this rule applies between boats, rule 18.2 does not apply between them.

Naah, that does not make sense.

So 18.3 is there to favour those starboard boats already in favour? Why?

 

Finally someone said it

- Said what?

- It would be easy not to care!

- About what?

- Americas Cup - read more on Scuttlebutt 

Goodbye fugly mug

 

Who is that guy?

 Who is that guy, and how does he afford to travel so much? He seems to be everywhere...

Bernie travels a lot

Now he's even sitting here at the round table at Tradewinds YC! Since he's here  without actually being here, I suppose you could say he's virtually here - sorta. So what's it mean to be virtually there in a virtual world?