Who is that guy, and how does he afford to travel so much? He seems to be everywhere...
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| 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?
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| A Flying Fizz Cat?? |
So it's New Years Eve! Congrats and all...
I haven't been inworld much lately. Busy playing PlanetSide2. Try it. It's not kids stuff. Most people will spend a couple of days dying... like learning to windsurf. Climbing up, falling down... and then you begin to think you can...
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| Trying to forget the old year |
Kinda like Corona. Holding us all back. Nuff bout that. I feel like wishing everyone I know i SL - and others - a happy new year! We've had so much fun inworld, and I kinda miss it. And the people. Well, most of them anyhow.
It's been a crazy 2020 - Corona and all; The Vaccine is here, so lets just wish for a new year with lots of sailing - and racing with friends - inworld and IRL. Imagine a world where you are allowed to have a party; Even have a boat race. Currently we're not allowed to do that.
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| This is where I wanna go sailing in 2021 |
Anyhow, it's winter. Our PM has prolonged the strict restrictions, so right now there's only virtual sailing.
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| Thank You Dutch! |
I can sail around the world singlehand - with my computer... it's a bit lonely. Luckily I can also take any of my SL boats for a spin. This here - above - is one of my favourites. It's a VO65. I love it. Thanx, Dutch...
So here's to a better 2021. Yay!
Sometime before the summer vacations I received a cute little thingy for testing. It's LadyJanes Harbourmeister, and she's moored right alongside my Ushuaia.
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| A cute lil motorboat |
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| Take me for a ride |
Splash! There she is; It's almost as if she's begging to be taken for a ride, right? So let's hop on board and have a look.
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| Working instruments |
There are loads of instruments to check; I mean, there are the usual ones such as speed, rpms and fuel, and then there's the fishfinder. It has depth and speed but it also shows fish, and that's where the fun starts.
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| Off we go |
Let's turn the key and see what she's got for us. Hmm, and where's the reverse gear - oh - it's supereasy... keys up and down plus right and left. Yeah!
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| Full speed ahead |
Easy peasy... and full speed ahead gives me around 14 knots. Not a lot but quite enough to get around the Blake with a bunch of friends in no time.
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| Rrrrrrrrr |
She has a nice feel to her - if you can say that about a speedboat. The controls react as expected - swiftly and with style, and the boat leans into the curves in a very natural way. It's almost fun to speed around, hehe.
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| Going back |
So she sails well... but what's all that fishy talk about. Yeah well I really dunno yet. The fishfinder seems to work great, but I have yet to find the fishing rods. I will get back with another post, once I discover where they've been hidden.
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| ... and stop! |
All in all a nice sailing experience... What I could wish for is some race comitee functionality... starting procedures and all that, but that lies somewhere in the future. If you wanna go fishing with friends - this is a good one, and you can even sleep in the cabin, if you hate to come home empty handed.
Gotta love a sunrise like this one:
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| Goodmorning... |
Just gotta!
Yeah, I know... it's unreal. Not because it's not real, but because it's unreal like the real ones.
Ahoy! I'll admit it's been a while. First life is keeping me busy with loads of delicious sailing, and that's all good and sweet. However, today I received an email from a dear old friend in Second Life, and I tumbled down the rabbit hole, - or rather memory lane...
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| Morning yoga |
Obviously, first life comes first, but I still have friends, fond memories - and unfinished projects - in Second Life, so my heart started beating a bit faster.
I logged in to check if SL is still there, and sure enough. It's there. Tradewinds YC, the red boatshack, the round table, the lighthouse... everything. Give or take. So I launched my favorite cruise, the Ushuaia, and started the day with a bit of sunrise yoga. That's the kinda thing I'd do in RL too.
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| Scrubbing Unwind |
Boats never like being abandoned. Green stuff grows everywhere. Perhaps not so much in Second Life but still, I felt like giving her a good scrub after all this time. After a few hours of scrubbing plus a coffee break - Unwind has an espresso machine onboard, she was her good old shiny self.
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| Unwinding |
Time to take her for a spin. It was sweet. Not that I had forgotten, but still... I was a bit surprised just how much it felt like sailing. It's actually pretty good. You need to constantly steer and trim, or she'll come to a halt. There are still things to do, in order to make the SL sailing experience better, but that's a subject for another post.
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| The sun sets behind the Tradewinds Lighthouse |
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| Sunset thoughts? |
Anyway, here's me and Unwind moored at Tradewinds thinking about that email. The subject being? The Flying Fizz! Still my absolute favourite racing boat in Second Life. In case you wonder, what it is, it's moored right behind my lovely cruiser on the picture above. Thanx for writing, Liv. I'll get back to you about that.
PS: Turns out my little blog here needed a scrubbing as well. Several comments were - ahem - rather unboatly; I sprayed them with barnacle remover and gave them a good scrubbing, - et voila.
