To the end of the world

Virtual sailing can be so many things. Racing, boatbuilding, yachtclubs, cruising, exploring, navigation  and more... A few days back I went cruising with Dutch. It was a nice change after all the pretty hefty testing and racing with the Nacra17 and the Laser.

Late afternoon sail

We took off from Tradewinds in one of the classics, the Cotton Blossom II built by Balduin Aabyes Yacht Design. This is the absolutely opposite of a racer. I think Dutch said it quite well, when he murmured: I have no idea how fast we're going, but who cares in a boat like this.

Who cares about the hud

Ofcourse, the Cotton Blossom II has a hud; We turned it on, watched it for a while, and then we turned it off again. It's true. It really doesn't matter. This boat is all about leaning back, relaxing and enjoying the ride, the view and the sounds. Yes, even the sounds are slow and Zen-like.

The views

Hard headed oldtimers will probably wonder, how the Cotton Blossom can be trimmed and sailed, when there's no hud. The answer is simple: Balduin built a couple of boats with telltails. This is one of them. The other one is the Bolero. I didn't look much at the telltails though. I simply enjoyed being in the passengers seat.

Uncharted waters

I wasn't even following the route on the charts until I began to see coastlines that I didn't remember seeing before. That's one of the beauties of being in the passengers seat. You get to see new places. This cruise actually went all the way to the end of the world. I've been there before, but this was another end of the world, hehe.

Navigator?

I usually go south-east, north or north east. Dutch chose a course that was kinda south-westerly; Nice area for a cruise, and as you can see above, the navigator has to stay alert (or online if it's a gps) all the time. No sleeping on the couch. Not even if it looks inviting.

A peek at the couch

So what's happened since the release of this pretty boat? After all it is a year and a half old. Not much actually. The Cotton Blossom has no sheets, but apart from that it is on par with the latest boats. The Cotton Blossom II is a modified BWind, just like the  Nacra17 and the Laser.  The only difference is: The Cotton Blossom has no sheets, and admittedly that does make it look a little old fashioned - in an weird SL Sailing kinda way.

Where are we?

Those new boats... they have sheets, but they don't have telltails. More importantly - the Cotton Blossom has pretty much full WWC support, so there's wind, windshifts, waves and currents all with local variations... Those new fancy boats, they have nothing of the kind... That seems like a strange step backwards?

Anchorage at the end of the world

In fact it seems the Cotton Blossom II is more of a sailing simulator than many of the newer boats. So here's a question: As a sailor, which would you choose: Invisible sheets or invisible telltails? Think about it! While you think, here's us anchored at the other end of the world. Tea and bisquit time. Now, where did I put those Digestives?