Exciting times

It is exciting times. While I have been busy living my RL, the boat builders in SL have been busy building new boats. A quick walk around at Tradewinds confirms this. There are at least four very different animals there. First there is the superfresh Volkboat; Here's a freshly squeezed lemon edition:

A freshly squeezed Volkboat, lemon edition

Right next to the Volkboat is the next delicious dish served from Craigs Kitchen. It is the Cirya; A beautifully crafted and well sailing classic with loads of details, - and... and quite possibly even with an interior. That's a new thing for Ktaba boats:

The beautiful Cirya from Craigs Kitchen

Right opposite the Cirya there's another new and very modern boat: The supercool RM 30 from ReneMarine. This is no oldtimer. Rather it is a supermodern cruiser with double rudders and an extreem torpedo keel; Sails like a dream, and there's the usual high quality interior of RM boats.

The supercool RM30. I want one for my RL holidays

And finally the Shields project. This was not on display, so I had to go and get me one. It's a - Oh I dunno what it is, but it looks great; Kinda like a cross between an Soling and Manuls Ten. Or sumding. In any case it's a yummy day cruiser, and I look forward to loads of easy cruising with her. Apparently she is raced quite actively too, so get one if u wanna race. The price cannot be beaten as she is free.

Update: Thanx to ZZ I now know what a Shields is. It is an updated IOD mostly seen in the US.  I certainly never saw a Shields in Europe. In case you dunno what an IOD is, here's a few links to IODs already found in SL: T-One, Ktaba 20 and the Bolero. ZZ was kind enough t o provide a link about the Shields in her comment. I'll repeat the link here. Thanx, again ZZ.

The yummy daycruiser, the Shields

On top of these four boats, I have at least 10 other boats waiting to be tested in my inventory. Gosh. It is almost stressing me out. Nah... just kidding. It's gonna be loads of fun. Just need to find some more playing time. Oh, well... and bad weather. Otherwise I'll be out playing with real boats, getting soaked in real waves. Till next time...

Fun in the kitchen

Craig and me having fun in the kitchen

Dunno what the h... happened here. Really.

What's a spin anyway

Boat talk. I've always liked boat talk. In RL is is usually about sailing faster or repairing something. In SL it is often about making the sailing experience better. Right now sunshine is on the top of my list, but having both sunshine and boat talk at the same time... Doesn't get much better. I caught Craig "J-man" Ktaba tuning his lovely Ktaba 20 Teleri somewhere in the North Sea. It wasn't exactly a clear blue sky, but a piece of blue is also good.

Clear blue sky and boat talk

I wasn't really looking for blog-stuff, but I just had to snatch the picture above. Especially as february carries on with the sunless days we saw in january. As mentioned in the former post: January 2014 was  the darkest month in 45 years.

The North Sea is a pretty sailing area, but this won't be a sightseeing post. Craig had a really interesting issue to discuss: How does the spin-trim - or lack hereof - affect the boatspeed at different windangles. Now, Craig knows perfectly well what a spin is. The real question is: How to make a good approximation of all the wonders of spin-trim in SL. That's a question that won't fit into a short happy-go-lucky post.

Let's delve into it. Say you already have a boat that sails pretty much according to a polar. How does the spin then affect performance? Easy. Compare two polars from the same boat; One made without spin and one made with spin. The only real challenge is to get polars from a J-Class, but we can take a spin from a smaller similar boat and check that out. The IOM for instance. In low winds, going close to the wind, the spin can double the boatspeed. In strong winds most boats will be doing max hull speed. Unless the boat can plane or foil - and a J-Boat can't - it is impossible to cross the max hull speed. (See this for details. Scroll down).

Gulls and seals

Then there's the matter of trim. The polar may show boatspeed at certain wind angles, but usually the polar assumes optimum trim. This makes it a bit tricky. On a dead run you'd have a pretty rounded spin; Not too round cause it should also be wide enough to catch as much wind as possible. Not too wide though, cause then the wind would just glide off. Let's call that medium round trim. It's easy to find on a dead run. When the log maxes out you'r there. But... How do you graph that?

On a reach the spin works entirely different. Reaching means getting the wind from the side at some angle less than 180, and that means the boat will heel. If you heel too much, the keel will have less effect and the spin will just drag you sideways. So max speed on a reach doesn't neccesarily mean max power. You may very well need to depower in order to reach max speed. Not only is the position of the spin important. You'll also need to change the shape.

On a dead run you'll want a nice round spin. The airflow is kinda like a bag on a stick. We all did that as kids, right? Bamboo-stick, piece of string and a plastic grocery-bag. Now, on a reach you'd want to stretch the spin - flatten it - to make it work more or less like a giant genoa. The airflow gradually changes (with the apparent wind angle) from kite-like to wing-like. (See my post on telltails).

Let's go for a swim

The smaller the windangle the more flat you need the spin to be, or it'll just heel you over and drag you sideways. At around 100 AWA a normal spin stops working. A little less in low winds, a little more in strong winds. That's why real racers have many spins for different angles and windforces. So the boost from the spin depends on windspeed, boatspeed, windangle apparent windspeed and trim and some of these parameters are (very) interdependant. Now, all we need to do is to convert this gibberish into math - et voila - we'll have a great simulation of the spinakker.

In other words: We're looking for a formula that takes windangle, windspeed and leeward and windward sheet positions and produce a power factor which we can convert into speed and add to the speed coming from main and jib. I think that's what they call a VPP. Have a great weekend...

PS: More on the Ktaba 20 updates in a future post. Here's a hint...

Let's build a boat

There are so many fantastic boats in SL. For a long time I wanted to try to build one myself, but the process is rather cumbersome and lengthy. Building a boat like the Laser takes maybe 200 hours; If your into it. Starting from scratch will take much longer. So, it is hard to find the time for it. However, here's an initial experiments of mine. I decided to share it; Perhaps it could inspire someone else to get started building. I know I needed a push to get started. Thanx Jim.

Start with the simplest building blocks

Creating building blocks is easy. It only takes a few seconds to click and voila - there's a cylinder, a box or a sphere. That's what I did in the image above. I got six simple shapes - aka prims or primitives - from which I will build a boat. The simplest possible boat would be something like a sphere cut in halfs, then slightly elongated. In RL it would float, but it would not provide any stability. You could go with a box. That would help on the stability, but not in SL. More on that later on. For now I decided to make it just a tad more difficult and make a sailboat.

Adjust the width, length and diameter

In the first image it is probably not very obvious what will happen. Check this one. These are the same building blocks, but they've been adjusted to suit my needs. Left to right you see a mainsail, a mast and a headsail. The latter has not yet been flattened. Then there's the hull consisting of the aft, the center and the bow part. All all I need to do is to position these correctly and glue them together.

Just add waterproof glue

Here it is. Five minutes after I started I have something that appears to be a little boatlike. Just in case you can't see it, it's a sailboat with a mast, two sails and a pretty clumsy hull. All made of plywood. Yes, even the sails are plywood. Remember Plywood Marina? Plywood is the default appearance of prims, so all parts of the boat will need to be textured to look like real materials. The system itself (SL) has a handfull of different materials, but they seem to make little difference.

On with the building. There's no rudder. We'll add that later on. Sailors would also complain that there's no keel. Not a problem. The SL physics works in mysterious ways. More on that in a while. Right now let's just see it float.

OMG! My shoes...

Here it is. It appears to be floating, but it is really not. Right now the thing is simply hovering - like it did on the previous picture. This time it is just hovering at a height that makes it appear as if it is floating. The weird thing is, it won't float. The water doesn't work. Even though the boat is made of plywood, it will sink the minute I set it to be physical. If I set gravity to zero, it will stay at a certain height. If I set gravity to a positive value, it will sink. Negative values will cause it to be very unboatlike. It will fly like a rocket to the sky and never come back.

Well, almost ready to float

So here's what happens when the boat goes physical. Not much fun. The physics engine isn't really made for this kind of action is seems. In fact the boat sank to the bottom and then it started tumbling further down to the deep side on the left. Boats simply need to hover, and it that respect all virtual boats are really spacecrafts carrying an anti-gravity device. So that's why there's no keel. The water does not provide any bouyancy, so a keel would make no difference; Except for the appearance of course. SL is nothing but an illusion. Surprise, hehe.

So! This post shows how boats were built in the old days. The Tako was built kinda like this. Then came the sculpts. They are just a weird way of controlling the shape of these basic building blocks. Still, amazing boats were built using sculpts. The Flying Fizz is one. The virtual 2m from Qyv is another. Today, boats are built with mesh technologies. Modelled outside SL and imported to the grid. While this facilitates much more complicated structures, - it is also a bit sad. The idea that you can build inside the grid is very nice; I guess merging SL with photoshop just isn't an option. The important thing to know is, that the Laser is built with mesh, so there's no reason to learn sculpting.

All in all it seems boatbuilding is pretty simple. There are three phases: The shape, the texture, the script. There is a fourth phase and that is to get some kind of wind blowing. That built-in SL wind is no good for sailing. Here's a note on that, but that's another story.

Spyshots

So I was sitting at the dock watching the sunup at Tradewinds... It was early - way too early - and I was kinda sleepy. I must have blinked or dozed off... cause all of a sudden there was a ship out there. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like it came out of nowhere.

Not a bad way to start the day, huh?

And it wasn't just any ship. This was a rather big sailboat. A yacht actually. Couldn't really figure out what it was. Needed to get closer. I launched my zodiac and sailed a bit north to hide behind the island. After a few minutes I landed out there and climbed up the island to see this:

It's still there...

Now that looks like a J-class to me. It seems there's noone around. The island is deserted and the boat looks deserted too. Let's see if I can sneak down the right side of the island and get a better shot from behind a tree or something... 

Definately a J-class yacht

Yay! It's definately a J-class. Doesn't look like the ones we already know. The woodwork is beautiful, and look at all those ropes. This has got to be a new mesh J-class. Noone around? I'll get out there and have a closer look:

Woohooo

I barely managed to get this shot. I right clicked and got the name of the builder. Not unknown. Not unknown at all. Then it poofed. No warning or anything. Sometimes SL works in mysterious ways, but who cares as long as this boat comes to life. What a boat. Phew. 

A new marina

They're building a completely new city with a marina. Dutch, Ana and possibly a few more ppl. I never saw it done like this before, but it's great fun. You can follow the process from start to end. It looks very much like those mockups you'd do in RL. Ever seen a city in plywood?

Welcome to Plywood City

You have now. There's a church in the middle, a marina top right and there's canals, bridges and small coffeeshops along the canals. It's kinda like a cross between Paris, Amsterdam and Venice. It's gonna be very nice, once it is finished.

To make this post just a little bit boatly: Here's a view from the Marina side. See? It's a complete plywood mockup. It even has plywood boats with plywood masts and plywood furling jibs. How about that, hehe.

Plywood Marina

Traditionally plywood has been used by boatbuilders - mostly for the inside structures because it is strong and it doesn't change shape if soaked in water. Some boats also have plywood hulls. The Boheme 10m is one such example, but I guess the most known plywood boat would be the Optimist.

I am sure there's more plywood dingies out there... How about the Mirror? Ahh, and the Olympic Star. It has the shape of a (once) plywood construction. Any others?

See the sights

Here's me in the Plywood City central square. Not much to see yet. No crepe shops, no cafes, no bars, but at least you can see bits of a (plywood) tallship in the back. These pictures are a week old or so. I know that - right now - the city is being textured with "roadpaint", "wallpaint", "roofpaint", "tallship-paint" and much more while trees are being planted and shops decorated.

Real boats in Plywood Marina

In the end it will be a fantastic place with lots of living things. Bridges that open so that boats can pass. Churchbells announcing the sunset. Bikinishops and shoeshops and I suspect there will be a boatshop or two. Here's a small taste of the skyline as seen from another angle in the Marina. Apart from the missing texture the only complaint I can think of is that carrier in the back. It's Ana and me talking boats here. Gosh, I wish I had time to build. It looks like so much fun.

Here's more virtual Marina shots. Here's even more... (and more).

Don't miss Orcsies response post on the matter of plywood.

The Fizzkit 1, 2, 3

Boattalk. I love boat talk. This time I met with Ana, and we took the FizzKit for a spin. Don't know what it is? It's what makes the Flying Fizz so friggin fantastic. The boats in this post is the raw, test boat  that's inside the kit.

Beating

It's meant to have a boat built around it. If you wanna see something more recent and boatlike, - check Orca's blog for posts about Manul's beautiful Waddensea cruiser. Manul also built a trimaran with the FizzKit, and it sails great. I couldn't find anything about the FizzKit on Jane's blog, but this will give you a glimpse of the evolution that lead to the FizzKit. The Fizzkit holds the essence of all the knowledge gained from the Fizz 1, 2, and 3.

around

So this actually works? Oh yes it does. The Fizzkit comes with all the features that a sailor would expect such as windvane, compas and telltails. Three (or more) sails. Support for four people on board, and they can all balance and trim the boat. If they don't, it will (optionally) capsize. It can be tweaked to act like a keeler, a dinghy, a planing dinghy, a foiler (see the Moth posts) or even a multihull. Ofcourse you can sit in the cockpit, but there's also a trapez.

the 

It has full support for all the WWC wonders. There's windshifts plus (optionally many) local variations. There's a wave simulator with a direction, speed, length and height. There's current with speed and direction. Both waves and currents come with (optionally many) local variations. Currents and waves are also adjusted according to depth. Shallow waters means less current. For all three, wind, waves and current, there is a option to set variance, so even if the waves are set to 1 meters high, and 5 meters long, they'll never be the same.

island.

There is built in shadowing; Tweakable ofcourse. Classboats can have realistic races, but the tweakable shadow allows for true multiclass races. The sailshape can be adjusted from open over several states to rounded. The sail is visibly changed to reflect the trim. The steering is precise and you can choose to use wheel or tiller. The dynamics are great. Heeling works fast, and the boat will lift its snout when planing. There's live sheets and trimlines everywhere. There's audiofeedback as well. Several different sounds depending on speed and sailing state.

Boattalk with Wanda, Ana and Brutus

On the inside it's completely modularized; The entire WWC, wind, water and current simulations are located in separate modules, so they don't mix with the sailing engine. The sailing engine is held completely separate from that. It just reads the WWC to "get" the attributes of the physical environment.  The core sailing engine is closed source; However, all the settings can be tweaked via notecards, so there's really no need to fiddle with the highly optimized sailengine code. The kit is by far the most advanced sailing engine available in SL, and the code isn't just an afternoon read.

The FizzKit was built by sailors to get an absolutely first class and realistic sailing experience. Get it at Tradewinds Yacht Club. The fully sailable testboat is in the box along with extensive documentation, help, sounds, animations, wwc interface, several test tools and more.