What's for summer

The summerholidays are sneaking up on us. At least for those of us living on the northern half of the earth. Last week the RL weather was very summerish. Now it's back to normal: Cloudy and below 20C. Still, I have high hopes for the rest of the month, cause I am gonna do this:

Ana's beautiful folkboat

That's right... and if the RL weather won't behave, I'll probably be sailing in SL as well; The destinations in SL are so nice. So many marinas to visit and explore...

A marina is popping up

Not only that... there are vast areas of water to explore... It doesn't have to be "nose in the charts" inshore sailing all the time... Still, you could argue that SL misses a really big ocean. I mean... you can cross the Blake in like five minutes. What would it take to make a true ocean? Just water, boats, birds and fish! Can't require that much computing power, can it?

What's on the other side of those islands?

Back in the boat! Are you paying attention? 9.5 knots in a Folkboat is quite alot. I suppose Ana has painted it with some secret sauce... Old secret family recipe of sharkskin soup perhaps :-)

Chillin

Makes me wonder: Would this lil Folkboat outrun my Ushuaia. That's something I gotta test next time I am inworld.

On my way to the great big blue

For now I'll just concentrate on the Folkboat, and here I am on my way from the (relative) safety of inshore sailing to the great big blue... Oh, and I see the telltales. I need to ease out on the jib sheet... Difficult to trim continously while "droning" around with the camera.

Arrived "on the other side"

This is what it looks like when approaching land on the other side... Better get that engine going cause I am not entirely sure where to go. Let's see, where's that knob to lower it... ahh... there!

Vrooummm

This boat has everything, - or close. Perhaps there is one thing missing! My Ushuaia has an espresso-machine. It might be too big for a Folkboat, but in RL I always bring one of those tiny two person italian coffee cookers for the stove. Doesn't take up much space, and the taste is way better than instant coffee. 

Motoring about

Besides, coffebags are easier to store in a boat compared to those glass cans they use for instant... Anyways, it's not yet coffeetime. I need to motor about and fine me a mooring spot, and since I don't have a coffe maker, it's gonna be...

A coke and a smile

A nice chilled coke... ahhh. Doesn't get much better than this. So that's my recipe for great summer holidays. Get a boat and get out there on whichever waters you have nearby; Real or virtual - in that order.

Bon voyage

Whichever type of sailor you are, I wish you fair winds, and if you're a virtual sailor... scroll through my pics here and imagine - if only just for a minute - doing this for real. No need to cross the Atlantic or sail around the globe like Troels Kløvedal did (R.I.P)... It really doesn't need to be fancy or expensive.

Just set sails with friends and meet for drinks and hotdogs in the next marina up coast. Or the nearest exotic island. That's life! Cheers... (and strawberry margaritas)

Folkboat sailing

This is just a short notice on Folkboat sailing. It is amazing. Anas new Folkboat is fast reacting, very lively, not too easy but superfun to sail. On top of that she is also super pretty, but that's beside the point. It's the sailing that makes this boat stand out from the crowd.

Folkboat sailing is super fun

Ahh, isn't that where we all wanna go? Sandy beaches, palms and temperatures that require only a tiny bikini to stay hot... And now you can go there in a truely lifelike Folkboat! No, I am not being paid to write this. Get your hands on a Folkboat and try it out for yourself...

Folkebåd, Folkboat

Sadly, I don't have much time for virtual sailing these days. However, there's no regrets as first life sailing takes precedence. Still... there are things in SL worth noticing. One of these things is Anas latest... the Folkboat. It seems to be called Folkboat out there in the english speaking parts of the world. The danish name really is the same as VolksWagon where wagon replaced with boat, so I tend to call it the Volksboat... not that it is a german boat in any way...

Anas Folkboat

Here it is. She is very pretty and very true to the original RL version. This is here is me and Ana having a boat talk a few days before the launch. It's Anas feet sticking up.

Details

There are loads of details. At a certain point we may have been concerned about the mesh-graphics, but now... There's no way we'd do without it. It has enabled Ana, Dutch, Rene, Craig, Qyv, Trudeau, Nomad, Burt, Victor and all the other boatbuilders to take their boats to another level of realism. At least on the visual side.

Instruments too

See! I can't remember ever seeing such a vast array of screens in a Folkboat cockpit. Ever. But never mind. The sailing is so interesting and challenging you won't have time to read those numbers anyway. A glance from time to time? Maybe... 

Ana explaining bits and pieces

What does that mean? I thought the Folkboat was easy to sail. Well, it is... sort of. It is just that Ana wanted something new, extraordinary and quite lifelike - as in RL like, so she kinda changed the way things work a bit. It is more RL and less SL like... you see, the two sails will need to be trimmed separately, whereas most SL boats do trim all sails as one. This is far more involving than you'd think, and I'll get back to that when I find a rainy day to go virtual sailing.

Volkboat II

SL never sleeps. While I've been busy with RL, Ana has been busy building something really cool. Check it out:

Ana's Volkboat

It's a pretty decent piece of work, and it is only version 0.8 or something. This is a little bit exciting. Not only does it look like a very real boat, it will also come with a superinteresting sailing engine, but let's get back to that in a future post...

Shape nailed 

For now I'll just be amazed by the accuratesse of the build. This time it is not the artists impression of a boat. It is a close digital replica. I think Ana nailed the shape pretty good here.

Wish list

Christmas is far away but still... Santa (and Ana too ;-) , this is on my wishlist. Definately. I can't wait to sail this around the northern islands - maybe even dock in Nyhavn and have a virtual beer. Woohoo... it's just like RL, hihihi.

PS: That other Folkboat I saw is here...

Real virtual boats

Sometimes I see a boat that makes my heart beat faster. It might look fast or comfortable or both. It might be just big. Not that size is the only thing that matters. This one took my breath away because it looked so real. In fact it is real. Sira built it after the well known Nordic Folkboat; Over here - in its home waters - we often just refer to it as the Folkboat. If you are a sailor, You'd already know it. There's more than 4000 boats out there in RL. Check it out. Its all there... even the curved seat for the helmsman. Haven't tested her at sea, but it comes with the BBK sailing engine, and therefore I expect it to sail well.

Siras beautiful and faithful Folkboat.

The boat can be seen at Tradewinds Yacht Club. It is really a good place, if you love boats. Right now there is a boatbuilder show. Lotsa things to look at. Remember to say hi to Tasha; She runs the place, and she is an endless source of knowledge on SL Sailing. Oh, a more modern yacht modeled after the real thing is the QSM40. A bit bigger. Modified BBK sailing engine. Very well worth a sail too.

Update as per medio february 2014: It seems people are still finding this post; Sadly I only took this one photo of the virtual Folkboat. That was back in october 2010. Sadly I never saw the virtual Folkboat again, and I fear it has been lost with Sira.