What's a Hanuman anyway?

A few days back I got a call from ElMegro. He invited me for a ride in a Hanuman. I wasn't quite sure what it was, and googling didn't make it much better; Wikipedia says Hanuman is the Monkey God. Duh! It helps alot to google for Hanuman Yacht: Then it becomes clear that it's a J-Class yacht.

The Hanuman Yacht from ReneMarine

This one is the Virtual Hanuman from ReneMarine. Some yacht, huh! It's big. In fact it is way bigger than these small pictures are able to show. Hmm... Let's have a close up with something in the back; Just to give you an idea of the proportions...

Proportions

That's more like it. Now the Hanuman looks like a small yacht, hehe. She's 42 meters of super classic beauty with an extreme overhang. The waterline is just under 28 meters. Talk about old school design. This baby has to heel to go anywhere near maximum speed.

The tiny RM20 in the back

It turned out we were in a race against another beauty from ReneMarine, the RM20 from ReneMarine. I didn't quite catch the name of the handicap rule. The RM20 is much smaller but still kinda big. Not huge, but big... at least in the virtual waters of SL. The shot above shows ElMegro and me in the Hanuman with the itsy bitsy RM20 in the back.

Smooth sailing

Despite her size, she sails quite well. I guess its due to the ReneMarine sailing engine. Usually, virtual boats this big have problems updating fast enough. The smoothness is replaced with cranky, stuttering moves. Kinda like electric boogie. That makes the sailing experience uninteresting. Not so with the Hanuman.

Blue water cruising

She's definately a sailor. Probably a little too big for the virtual waters as they mostly offer inshore sailing. The Hanuman feels at home out in the open; Blue water cruising or long distance racing seems to be more  her game. There is another problem with the size. Silly technical limitations restrict the amount of details on moving objects in this virtual world.

Full speed ahead

The differences between a real boat and a virtual replica can be few on a small boat. On a bigger boat, compromises must be made. At least when using the technology available at the time, when the Hanuman was built. Today, we're getting used to new levels of details as seen on the Oceanic and the VO70.

Tall ship?

So, the virtual Hanuman sails surprisingly well. She's lively and fast. She looks great under sail too, - especially from a distance. The sails themselves are also well made, and the woodwork looks great. The interior is also nice. In fact this is probably the best J-Class available in SL. Still, I am not overly enthused by this fabulous build. Why?

In the cockpit

Somehow the virtual Hanuman doesn't quite have the sleek elegancy of the real thing. Whether it's the proportions or technical limitations I dunno. The deck and the interior is well made, no doubt. It is just that the the real thing has sooo many more details. To me the virtual Hanuman appears too clean cut. She is still a fantastic build, but seeing the real thing... oh my... Perhaps the virtual world isn't quite ready for this type of Yacht??

PS: Check one of Rene's latest builds with amazing details;