Cinderella IV

I saw an amazing yacht in Copenhagen - just opposite of the Operahouse. Didn't have time to go over there and check it out, but... social medias confirmed it was the Cinderella IV.

Here's a few details. Ahh. Just what we need this summer. Retrofitted with a fireplace. Obviously. That category of boat is rarely seen in Copenhagen waters. That goes for the virtual waters of SL too. So, boat builders of SL, - here's a bit of inspiration.

Too much leisure boat? Not hard core enough for ya? Never mind the VO65s. They may "rock", but try this: LaSolitaire. That's for hard core sailing geeks!

Luxury cat

Cat people are special. That's common knowledge. Some sailors get bitten and they never return to monohulls. They spend their lives trying to convince all the other "normal" boaters that cats simply are better, faster and more fun. Me? I was never very fond of cats, but this one made my day...

A giant cat

Oh yes it's big. Perhaps not as tall as Craigs J, but the interior... While the J is huge on the outside, this monster cat is a giant on the inside. It's almost unreal. It just begs for someone to move in. Permanently. Let's move a little closer.

What's missing?

First you'll notice the Zodiac; Then there's the huge deck area with sunchairs. There's also a "winter-garden" with lounge chairs and spices growing in pots. If anything is missing it would be a windsurfer or some other small wind-toy. A Flying Fizz would be nice or perhaps a 2.4mR.

The spicy loungy area

It seemed noone was onboard, so I sneaked on board to have a closer look. Gotta try those lounge chairs and they are comfy. I could easily see myself having a nice little cocktail party here, but where's the pool? Oh, we'll come to that. First let's check out the bar...

The bar

You probably guessed it: It has everything. Fancy chairs, ice-cold champagne, loads of bottles with a diversity of liquids with which you can mix pretty much any cocktail or drink. In the back there's the captains chair with myriads of controls and stuff... way too complicated for me. I prefer a tiller and a couple of sheets to pull.

And there's two of these

Let's go find that pool. Here's a shot from the hall in one of the hulls. It doesn't look much like the inside of a sailboat, huh. In the hall there's a couch, stereo and TV plus lots of closets for all sorts of gear. Diving gear included. Note the oxygen-bottles on the "Winter-garden" picture.

Dining area

After a few cocktails or 25 I tend to get hungry. It's a good thing this cat sports a pretty nice kitchen and dining area. I didn't check all the drawers, but I have a feeling that not much is missing here either. It looks like an italian boat. There's a whole italian ham there at the back, and on the shelf there's one of those famous round italian winebottles with "straws" on the outside.

zzzzz

In the other end of this hull there's the master bedroom. Complete with huge closets, Botticellis Venus on the wall and the other wall is one giant internetscreen. Note the clock radio on the night-table, hehe. One of the things I love about sailing is that time is not important. I'd probably throw the clock radio over board.

The other hull

Here's a shot from the hall in the other hull. Not much to see here. It looks kinda like a bathing area. I cannot identify that picture there; Dunno if it is quite as famous as the Botticelli in the master bedroom.

Moving on...

The pool

Ahh, finally: The pool. It's perhaps not the perfect pool for a cocktailparty, but its' nice and loungy nevertheless. There are huge windows with remote controlled blindfolds so you can have privacy, or you can have an ocean view if that's your thing. What you (probably) can't see is the water running from the lion in the back. It gives a soothing sound of running water, and...

The sauna

... ofcourse there's a sauna. What's better after a nice swim in the pool to sit in the sauna and get overheated whilst enjoying a cool drink and a fantastic view out those huge windows. Push a button and blindfolds appear from the top. Just in case you're in the sauna with the love of your life. Too hot for you?

Shower the people

You can always get a cold shower to calm - I mean cool - yourself down. This sorta completes the tour of this totally unreal boat; Probably the best liveaboard vehicle I ever saw in this world. The only downside is that the harbour fee is gonna be rather expensive, but then again boats are made to sail not moor.

Sunset

What's that saying? Boats are safe in the harbour, but they aren't meant to be there. Something like that. Here's me enjoying the sunset from the deck of this giant cat; Have a great weekend, and go sailing... soon. Spring is nearing. Woohoooo!

Night sailing

Few things are as immersive as night sailing. That goes for sailing in RL, but it also goes for SL sailing. There are differences though. Virtual nightsailing it is not as inherently dangerous; Which is good because the buoys, markers and lighthouses in SL only make sense on rare occasions. At night it is even worse. Most virtual lighthouses just send out a white blink. There's usually (if ever) no zones indicating safe waters or anything. It seems these are called sector lights; We call them zone lights.

Night sailing

The lighthouses and the buoys really deserve a separate post. They are closely linked to the missing charts of the virtual oceans. Luckily the virtual GPS - or rather the virtual electronic chart if you like - works great and just like you'd expect. Here's me and Dutch sailing the Cafe Del Mar in the beautiful virtual moonlight. I was in the passenger seat, so I am not quite sure, where we are, but it is somewhere south of Tradewinds.

Coastal

The wind was medium strong, but we were inshore so the waves were not too bad. The wave simulation is not described in the manual, so I cannot comment upon it. It's nice, but I dunno what to expect as BWind boats have no concept of wave simulation. Let's stay with nice. The boat tosses around and you get the impression that there are waves. In any case the Cafe Del Mar seemed to like inshore sailing. I was getting kinda sleepy from all those small rolls and the lovely sounds from the bow wake.

Dutch at the helm

Here's Dutch at the helm of his latest toy. Note that Dutch is so cool he has to wear shades even at night. Anyway. I suspect this is the one boat he likes the most; While I absolutely love the VO65, I gotta admit the Cafe Del Mar is a very nice cruiser. First of all it sails very nicely. It feels like a racer, not like a cruiser. The accelleration is good, and the rudder is very responsive. In fact it feels almost as the VO65, which is no coincidence, since it is sort of a touring version of a VO65.

Relaxation

Ok, it doesn't look much like a VO65, and I'll admit that at first I hated that boathouse he put on top of the deck. However, once you come to terms with the rooftop design, the hull itself has very nice and modern lines. And is it complicated to sail? No, it's supereasy and intuitive. As already mentioned, this boat is easy on the rudder and very lively. Almost like a dinghy. No need for huds and numbercrunching. Sail by feel. I love it. It works great - even on this rather big 75 foot yacht.

Sunup

Here's a shot of those lines. Looks like sunup. We must have changed course. Yes, even in the virtual world the sun comes up in the east. Sunup is coffeetime. Hehe. It's a good thing we're on a Cafe Del Mar. There's loads of stuff inside, and almost all the little gizmoes work. There is also a coffeemaker. Didn't see a watermaker, but then again I didn't look for it either.

Gizmoes inside

Here's a peek at those gizmoes inside. Besides the coffeemaker, there's a shower, a couch and a table plus a huge bed in the bow. And you can sail the boat from that panel right inside the cabing. It's great for foul weather even though this boat clearly is meant for easy sailing and easy onboard living. Yes, you can race the Cafe Del Mar, but no... it's not really meant for that. Still, - note the telltails. They work, but they are positioned somewhat strangely. For instance I cannot see the headsail telltails while steering.

Blue water cruising

This is what the Cafe Del Mar is really meant for. Yes, you wanna click this picture and fullscreen it. It's virtual cruising. Blue water cruising even. At least in SL. It would need more long distance cruising gear to cross the pond in real life, but it sure is big enough. Size matters differently in SL. I sailed around the new Seychelles in SL in this, and for that it is too big. I'd much rather be Fizzin around those islands.

Blake Sea cruising

For Blake Sea cruising it doesn't get much better than this. If you are looking for a cruiser that is more than a daycruiser, the Cafe Del Mar is a step up from earlier times. I know I've been looking for a boat that sorta supported virtual on board living. There are others, but the Cafe Del Mar takes it to the next level. It sails nice, it looks nice and you won't get claustrophobia from staying on board over the weekend. Even if you bring a few friends, there's enough space.

More nightsailing here.
More liveaboard here and here.

Tallship on display

I've seen quite a few virtual classic tallships a la Pirates of the Caribbean. They usually suffer from the technical limitations of the virtual world. Putting so many details into a moving, sailable object is simply not possible. This one is a bit different.

Ahab and me talking about spring and blizzards

There are at least three differences. It can't sail. At least not yet. It's quite detailed, while still being work in progress. It is more of a modern ship than the typical romantic pirate ship. It looks like a somewhat modernized tallship with an iron hull and wooden decks. Technically speaking it's a Barque.

Through the window

Details, details, details... here's a picture taken through the window of the boatshop at Tradewinds. You can hardly see it, but the hull is definately not made of oak like those oldtimers we used to have, back when my country was a superpower at sea. Crazy thought btw.

Obviously a modern ship

What you can see is that there are no canons. This next shot here shows the deck house and low parts of the mast. Lots of details, and obviously it is a modern ship. Those round things in the windows, "wipers", dunno what they're called. Does anyone know? Anyway, they clearly need electrical power to function.

Interior

The interior wasn't quite finished, but here's a glimpse of it. There's a lot of tricks applied in virtual boat building. This one works quite well; Until you try to walk through the door. It's sort of a bonk-auch- wtf-experience.

Size is big

There's room enough though. The size of this thing is... It's not like the aircraft carrier, but it is comparable to this oiler. The word is BIG, and I wonder if it will ever sail. Perhaps it will be able to sail by engine, but by sail? I seriously doubt it. Hope to be surprised though.

It's tallship day at Tradewinds

Here's another shot that indicates the size. In the back left side there's a tiny Nacra sitting in the sand. Back center the Tradewinds lighthouse sticks out. Back right side there's - lo and behold - another tallship heading north it seems. I have no idea what kind of sandspeeder is hovering beside the tallship in the back, but that's the virtual world. You never know what you're gonna get.

Full view

Here's a full view picture of the ship in all it's glory. It is - of course - built by master builders over at Kiku Craft. Check the details on the Kiku site here. It appears as if Kiku Craft expect this to sail eventually. Whoa! Talk about a liveaboard. Better keep an eye on this one.

PS: You can catch a glimpse of a true classic, wooden tallship over at Timo's. Oh, and I also posted a few pics of them when I sailed the Nautilus submarine.

Liveaboard show at Tradewinds

Tradewinds is at it again with (yet) another fabulous boatshow. This time the theme is Liveaboards; They come in all shapes and sizes; Small, big, narrow and bulky. Windpowered or gazoline powered. Old fashioned or modern.

Liveaboards at Tradewinds

In the middle you see one of my all times favourite liveaboards, the Morning Star; Or that's what I thought. It turned out to be a shorter version. Right beside it, there is a cutter moored. Looks like ReneMarines beautiful Cutter. In the back - barely visible - is ReneMarines fabulous RM20. Probably the prettiest boat ever made in SL.

Liveaboards at Tradewinds

Here's a shot from the other side of the TYC boatshed. Wildwinds, Loonettas, Trudeaus and many more. And how does all this make sense? I mean, really, how many people go for a virtual weekend cruise? Dunno, - but that's not important. It is great fun to see all these fantastic boats with so many fantastic details.

Liveaboards at Tradewinds

Here's a shot from the opposite direction. Two very different boats in the front. The one to the left is from ReneMarine. There's also a multihull, and if you look closely, there's even a canoe. I think it is Manuls cruising canoe.

Liveaboards at Tradewinds

Walking around, looking, I also found another old friend, - the Tetra 35; I decided to sit down and clear my thoughts, figure out what to write, so here's me taking a rest after looking at all the boats. I'll be back soon with a few more pictures of selected goodies. Ciao...

PS: Click here for all posts on boatshows at Tradewinds...

Floating home

A few weeks ago, I saw a very nice floating home at Tradewinds. Actually, it was moored by the east pier of Balduin Aabyes Boat Yard. It's gone now; It was probably part of the boat show, though it really didn't look much like a boat. Still, it was not just a house on a raft.

Floating home

See? Almost a floating house with a targa top. Sort of. There's lots of stuff inside, and on the sun deck, there's a steering wheel with a dashboard, a lounge area and a bar. The only thing missing on the sun deck is a pool...

Sun deck

Inside you'll find whatever you need to support modern life. All very nicely made. The only thing missing on the inside is maybe an office with a computer and a good uplink.

Kitchen

The kitchen looks pretty much like a kitchen at home; It is not a galley at all. You could make any kind of food here. The bath is pretty complete too. Very detailed.

Bath

It is kinda funny to note how some people put in a fully featured bathroom. I guess it is for completeness. I like to wash of the salt after a swim; It is also nice to wash off the sand from the dunes at TYC. Other builders they seem to leave out bathrooms because - lets face it - virtual people rarely wash or brush their teeth.

Bedroom

Bedrooms are never left out. People may not wash, brush or pee, but they most definately log in to fall asleep. Hey listen, - I woke up after having this weird dream, and I had keyboard marks on my forehead!! Can you believe it? Hehe...

Back porch

Anyway... At the back end there's a porch. I suppose the box is filled with chairs and parasols. Stairs leading to the sun deck and the bar of course.

Nice one

So... what do you think!? My response to the salesperson would be: I like it, and I don't like it. It is nice because it feels very much like a real home, but perhaps it is a bit too much house and a bit too little boat for my taste. I like boats to be a bit more boatly, - even floating homes. As a houseboat this is no doubts a very good buy. My preferred liveaboard? It is shown in this post here. It is a boat made into a house, not a house made into a boat... see the difference?

Classy power?

By sheer accident I sat on the pier, thinking, when this here thingy sailed by. At first I thought - oh well, just another noisy, gazoline burning stinkpotter, but then I looked again...

Classy power boat?

... and it struck me, that powerboats can have so many shapes and forms. Most are ugly, but some can be beautiful. I pinched me to make sure I was awake. Then I thought I had too much sun. Overheated. 

Live-aboard?

But no.. it moored right before my eyes, and I was still kinda thinking... oh, this is nice. Didn't have much time though, but I managed to take one picture of the interior, and whoa... It definately looks like a live-aboard.

Nice huh!

It has all the basic "life-support-systems" plus more. I mean, - take a look. It is a nice living room, right?  And there's cabins down the stairs at the back. Many cabins. No pics though, cause it suddenly sailed off, and besides... I was needed elsewhere.

Ciao

Next time I see this boat, I will ask the owner for a guided tour. See it all. Maybe even have a cold beer  on deck to make sure I am not having a fever. The dreaded power boat fever, hehe. 

If you like livcaboards, then you might like the giant cat here, and if you aren't into multihulls, then here's another really nice liveaboard. 

A giant cat

Been wandering around Tradewinds Boatbuilder Show to see if there's any new stuff around. Yesterday I found this giant cat. Luckily it has no teeth, so I dared to get a few closeups. I've seen it before somewhere... dunno if it was in RL or in SL.

A giant cat

It could be a live aboard. Clearly it is big enough, but it appears to be more of a party boat. The bar seems to have been very important to the builder. Here's a shot from the inside.

Tequila anyone?

This next shot might give a better impression of how the bar is sorta in the center of the living room, - ehm... living deck...

I am sure the bar has just about everything

Lotsa space on the outside too. Sundecks and tanning spots everywhere, but I wonder... would it hold together in a North Sea storm? Probably not... It looks a little too transparent and glasslike, right?

Lotsa tanning spots

But who cares about the North Sea? This is clearly built for Mallorca or even Ibiza. All we need is power, an amp and a couple of huge speakers. Party hard... Tequila works wonders on hangovers, right?

Which button?

So, what button do I push to start the disco? I'd expect giant speakers to emerge from hidden compartments in the hull and ofcourse a mixing device up here in the "captains corner".

Giant means huge

Ok, just one more shot, - to give you an impression of the size of that cat, and then that's it for now.

Here's a more dangerous cat, and if you're a cat person, - here's a fun cat...

Liveaboard

A few weeks back I was at Tradewinds, rigging my Flying Fizz, when something sailed by. That something caught my attention and made me think. Think liveaboard.

Liveaboard at Tradewinds YC.

Living on board is but a dream to most RL sailors. It's expensive to get a boat with the facilities needed for a 24/7/365 operation. Most people will have to sell their house, their summerhouse and the skiing lodge to afford a boat that big, and still it will get you nothing compared to the comfort of a real home. Oh, well the view might be nicer, but claustrophobia moves right in with you. Even on a Swan 65.

Psst, it's moored, so let's go have a look.

In SL it is different. Trudeau has affordable liveaboards, Cigaryachts has too. ReneMarine builds beautiful liveaboards, and Clay Ellison has something in the works as well. These four I mentioned here are so different, they actually deserve a post each.

View from the bridge

So what does this baby have to offer apart from the classic and classy look? Kitchen, bedroom, living room, library, lounging area and more. Oh, and it sails too, so here's the view from the bridge. I have no idea how many of the knobs and handles actually work, but there are lotsa details.This next shot is me in the the belly of the beast. Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom. It's all there.

Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom.

Looking aft from the kitchen through the living room, which is at the center of the boat.

Living room.

Finally, aft we have the library. Smells a bit too much of cigar maybe. Didn't find any brandy in the closets but I am sure it is there somewhere.

Cigar bar?

I guess that's about it. I took a million pictures because there are so many fantastic details, but this will have to do.

Outdoor lounging as well...

Oh, on top of the library and the living room there is a beautiful outdoor lounge area. Here it is. I'd get a few plants in pots to create some ambience. I know. Plants on board are considered bad luck by some people, but hey... we're moored. Besides, rosemary, lavendar and thyme grow quite well in salty air.

I am so ready to move in...

So, - how about it? Could this be home sweet home for you? Works for me, though I must admit, I'd hate to drop the skiing lodge ;-)

PS: I am told the builder is Twohead Janus. Sadly, the story goes he is no longer active in SL.