The sailing plywood box

A couple of days ago I met Petra; She's a sweet and very energetic person, and some of her energy went into building a little Optimist. It's cute. Very cute. Actually it's even more cute than the other Optimist, because this one is sized like the real boat. Oh and it is wooden. Until you paint it and you can't see the difference. The realistic size means the two of us will barely fit inside the boat.

Squeeze me, squeeze you

Perhaps it is also floating a bit high considering it has two grownups on board. The optimum weight for an opti sailor is probably less than 50 kilos. While Petra is kinda skinny, it is safe to assume that the two of us weigh in at a hundred or more. Still, - or maybe because it ignores the weight - it sails pretty nicely. I suppose smaller boats are less work to render, so "smooth sailing" comes easier. The graphics engine is simply more relaxed, so we get better FPS readings.

Smooth sailing

Petra said it is WIP, and it is... the sails are flat like a pancake. There's no sheet, no downhaul, no outhaul and no line to adjust the gaff tension. Also, the sail sorta flies magically by the mast. It isn't tied to mast or boom with those hundreds of annoying little reefknots that I hated as a kid. Felt like hundreds anyway, and they were sort of a hill to climb everytime I wanted to get out there. From a distance you'll hardly notice these things; Sailing the boat their absense becomes more present. So to speak.

Wooohooo

The sailing engine is - for now - a BWind 1.5x or thereabouts. It does a pretty good job. It is not very modern, but it sure is low lag. That's what the BWind is all about. It was designed with two simple goals in mind: Be a simplistic, low lag sailing engine. It was never meant to be an advanced sailing simulator, and it really isn't. BWind has no concept of balance, waves, currents, sailtrim, planing or any kind of funky wind stuff like shadowing, bending or local variations. However, it's still e great sailing engine. If you wanna have a go at building your own boat, BWind is probably where you wanna start.

Love the poses

The Shelly Fizz has most of those features, and that's probably why the Shiprats like it. That and possibly the windvane, which - to a dinghy sailor - is even more important than it is for a keeler. The Shelly Fizz might not be as cute, but the "wrong" size can actually be the right size. You see it fits a grown person. I can slip right into it and feel like I am 13 again. Braces and dimples not included.

In any case, We had a nice little Opti-trip. This little right sized Opti sure is a fun project. I understand it is not neccesarily meant to compete with the Shelly. It'll be fun to see where it goes from here.

Ultimate oldies

So what was Easter like? Mostly I took a break from SL. After all there is an RL or FL as some people call it. Easter lunch with family and friends is a big thing here. I really didn't have much schnapps, but I had lotsa raw heering. We love that in Scandinavia. One thing did happen in SL though. I raced again...

The virtual optimist aka the Shelly Fizz

If you look at the second picture in my last post (click or scroll down), you will see a couple of small sails in the back. Virtual Optimists. There's actually three boats out there to race. They are sailed by Bea, Motor and Colin. I joined them, and we sailed a couple of rounds in a nice southernly wind.

The race course (We only did one lap per race)

Here's the course. Start and finish at the green line. If you scrolled down and looked, the red "I" is the Tradewinds lighthouse. The red "II" is the buoy on which I sat. The island to the south is where I moored recently. Right under "laps" is Balduins Boat Yard. Where was I? The race... I joined the race, and I expected to get beaten badly. I haven't really raced much lately, and you know what they say:  Time on the water...

Measuring wind angles

Still, I took my time and did the usual stuff. Measuring the upwind courses on both tacks, measuring wind angle, checking the line, and then off we went. I didn't really time the perfect start, but I tacked well on the shifts, and I was first at the first mark. Bea right behind me, looking for the inner lane. On the first reach, she was just about to pass me on the outside. However, I luffed a little to stay in clear air. Then I remembered to get the centerboard up, and I fell back to the shortest path. That did it. Kept her right there... behind me.

Second reach, centerboard up

Second reach went well, but after the third reach, Bea was right behind me again. I think she gybed better, knowing the polar better than I. It was very close race, so I chose to cover her on the last leg - upwind to the finish line, and would you believe it... I won! I know, - it is just a game, but the racing... it is just like RL... high pulse and everything.

Training session

The second race went even better. I saw a windshift at the start. It made me go for a port end start on starboard tack. Even if I didn't time the start perfectly, I was right behind Bea when I first crossed on port tack. I then tacked in another shift, right on layline and I rounded first; Bea tacked in the same shift, but too early, so she had to pinch too much. Not sure if she had to take two more tacks to fetch the mark or not.

Anyways. Never looked back after that. Not true. Bea is quite experienced, so I looked back a lot to  make sure I covered. Ended up winning again, but this post  really isn't about me winning. It is about the Shelly Fizz and the realism it provides.

The sailing view

This is what sailing the Shelly Fizz looks like. You get the sail, boom angle, telltales and apparent wind from the vane. There are waves and currents too. In the picture above, you'd be able to see the current from the sideways movement. Add to that the global windshifts and local wind variations, and it doesn't get much better. There are only two or three boats in SL able to provide the level of racing realism depicted in the photo above.

Beating around the island 

Here we are again. Just a fun race around the island off the Tradewinds coast. It's a perfect course for a training session. Lots to learn for beginners, especially when you have to tack several times to get around the back of the island. Back to the race... Motor asked me, what is the point of having currents, when they are invisible. That's the point right there... it is not invisible. It just isn't visible to the untrained eye. Boatracing is fun, because it is difficult. Sometimes you don't even realize what's going on.

I am still not completely confident that I know what happened out there. I think I have a clue, but maybe I was just lucky. Maybe next time Bea will be untouchable. She has been annoyingly fast at other times, so there's no telling... I will just have to try again.

Getting back

The Shelly Fizz is an oldie. A superb one. She may not be as hip as those shiny new boats with highly detailed hulls and curvy sails, but the sailing... the sailing is almost unparalelled in the SL sailing universe. Half of it is the boat. The other half is the WWC windsystem. If you are beginner sailor looking to actually learn something about sailing, the Shelly is probably the best boat available. It has all the concepts and gizmos of a real boat, except balance. It is very affordable. Free actually, and you can get it at Tradewinds. Probably elsewhere too.

PS: One of my first posts was actually about the Shelly. Back then I wished for a compas. Now I have learned to use the minimap as such.

Virtual Optisailing

While I am at it... We all started in the opti; At least the saying goes, that all god sailors began in a dinghy. Hehe. Windsurfers might disagree, but hey... what do they know ;-) It is all about feeling the wind and the waves. Anywas, the story of the Optimist is amazing. Started in NY sometime in the fiftees; Then spread out world wide. Probably the most succesfull class of all times, - now spreading in SL too.

Me in a Shelly Fizz somewhere in Fruit.

When I was new, someone gave me a rusty old Shelly. Kinda like in RL -  only my first real Optimist was wooden. Today you can get a brand new and shiny Virtual Optimist aka Shelly-Fizz at the Tradewinds YC... for free. So wipe your eyes and go get one.

Why would anyone wanna sail that little critter, you might ask. For one thing it has been reckognized as a prime beginners boat thoughout the last thirty or forty years. It is affordable, it is easy to build your own, it is easy to sail, and the box shaped hull is stable. Besides, we have fun; Check this out:

Shelly racing somewhere near Tradewinds Yacht Club.

Back to the realism thing... What makes the Shelly so realistic? There are five things...

1) It has a Fizz engine, so it sails very well.
2) It has working telltales and sail sounds.
3) It has a working windvane.
4) There are no numbers, huds, displays or instruments.
5) It has mouselook sailing.

Add to that the WWC Windsystem with wind variations, waves and currents.

Me again... Shelly in Fruit Islands.

The Shelly-Fizz in fact provides one of the best near real life sailing experiences available. You just gotta love that, if know what you're doing. The only RL thing I miss in the Shelly is a compas for detecting windshifts. U need to see windshifts, if you are in a race.