That J-boat

I guess by now most SL sailors are aware that - after many iterations and refinements - Craigs magnificent J-boat finally hit the shelves. Orca was there at the launch event, and she wrote about it a couple of weeks ago. Check it out here. You get Craigs own words, so it's just a bit biased. Just one tiny bit. The J-boat itself is anything but tiny.

A small j with a big J inside

This picture shows how the J-boat is delivered. It comes in a nice little J-shaped box, if there is such a thing. Though the J-boat is in no way inflatable, the entire full sized boat is inside this little one. My immediate thought was: If only this had an RC option  we'd have a ball. Besides, it would fit the virtual waters nicely. Sizewise that is. But let's unpack...

A small j with a big J on the side

Here it is in all its magnificense and magnitude. Huge is the word, though I've seen bigger boats in SL. This tanker was pretty big, and the aircraft carrier was even bigger. However, they aren't nearly as much fun as a sailboat, a working sailboat. The J-boat coes with main, two headsails and spinakker, so there's work to be done or it won't move an inch.

Live aboard it's not

True engineering is about sacrifice. The J-boat sails really well. It comes with full WWC support, so theres waves and current to take in to account when racing. What's been sacrificed is the interior. It's simply not there. Essentially the J-boat is a daysailor. Still it works great for mooring and relaxing in a secret bay. Thinking big thoughts. From where I sit in the above picture the mast top is visible up among the clouds. Allmost.

Down south with a friend

But it's the sailing that makes the J-boat interesting. It works great as a cruiser, and there are so many details that many of these will have to wait till another post. Sailors will immediately notice all the lines, sheets and stays are working. This may not influence the sailing experience directly, but it does have to do with the immersiveness. The illusion of sailing simply gets better from all these details.

The "Rock-shot"

We sailed south for a while - pretty much in silense - as we were so impressed by this huge ship sailing, heeling, rocking, luffing and much much more. It's truly amazing what Craig did here. After a while we reached the middle of the Blake Sea, and ofcourse we took the must have "Rock-shot" rounding the Fastnet Rock. So many Kodak-moments in the Blake Sea, hehe. Or is it called jpg-moments these days?

Going back up

After the "Sharp-Tooth Island" my friend left to do stuff in RL; Duh. I was left to do the harsh beating back up north by myself, and here I am approaching NYC from the south-east. It's a good thing I was wearing my sweater, cause the NYC area is covered with wintery-white snow. Brrrr. As if the RL snow isn't enough, hehe. No, really... the snow looks pretty. And cool... and cold...

Ahoy

Over at the westside og NYC at least the trees are not covered with snow. Perhaps that's the first sign of spring? Dunno. These last two pics show some of all those beautifully made sheets and stays. They are fully functional in-as-much-as the running stays are loosened and tightened according to trim and boom position. Well, - to me fully functional would mean that I could decide the tension and adjust it according to windspeed, but that remains a feature of the future. For now we'll have to do with this, and right now it is pretty unique.