A frigate overtaken

There seem to be a rather active community of warmongers cruising the virtual waters. Sometimes a sub pops up at Tradewinds, but it has been a while since my last "sighting". This time I was out sailing the Dolphin Moth; Didn't take long for me to get from Tradewinds to teh Blake Sea. In fact I was just thinking: 30 knots is too fast for these waters, when I saw this vessel...

A mighty big ship

Then I realized that I was outrunning the thing. I sailed in circles around it. Portside first. I a minute or so I was in front in this unequal race. After another minute I was about to be squashed between the ship and an island, so I tried to go the other way around.

Can't that thing go any faster?

Dunno if the skipper up there got annoyed by me, but after that he set a course consistantly forcing me to beat upwind; That kinda took a factor of 1.4 off my speed; At 21knots I was left in the wake, hehe. Now, I am not an expert, but I assume this is a frigate of sorts. Also, it looks modern - or at least not like a ship from WWII-movies.

Is that a frigate?

One gun only? It must have rockets of sorts then... also there is a helipad on the aft deck, but what really interests me is that strange thing on top of the bridge... It kinda looks like a old WWII mine. What is it, and what's it doing there?

Top view

Here's another shot, where that thing is even more visible... Does anyone know what kind og ship this is, and what that thing up there is? There's an English flag flying - look closely on picture three. Perhaps it is a replica of something real? 

Torpedo boat at TYC

We don't see a lot of warships at Tradewinds. There was a submarine craze more than a year ago, but these days it seems the warships are elsewhere. Not that I know where that is. Today this lil torpedo-thingy popped up...

A torpedo boat

It's not that I like these war machines built to kill people and destroy things, but they are part of the picture, and some of them seem to be pretty well made. I would assume a thing like this is pretty fast. They're using hit and run tactics as far as I understand. I guess that's why there's a big gun on the aft deck.

More on warships in the category warships.

Torpedo boats in Blake

Watch out for those fast moving torpedo boats. I met one in the south east corner of the Blake Sea. There's a distant roar and then a minute later something almost flies past you in a cloud of foam and bubbles, leaving you rocking in a huge wake. Hold on to your hats and beers.

A torpedo boat at warp speed

Luckily this one disappeared just as fast as it emerged. Peace restored faster than you can spell Warp Speed. I wonder if they're out chasing UFOs? They'd probably need help from a Harrier to shoot down one of those. More like a carrier full of Harriers ...

Another sub at Tradewinds

While they discuss if, when and where to have WW2-combats in the Blake Sea, we tend to see more and more warships just outside the Blake. Perhaps it is because the Blake is really too shallow for big ships. Anyway. This time I was just in for a relaxing sail at Tradewinds, when I heard this strange bubbly sound, and no... it was not a busload of champagne. I turned around and saw this.

A Japanese sub at Tradewinds

I really wanted to turn back and look at the beautiful Ernestina, but then something happened. A hatch opened and a plane emerged. I never knew they had planes on submarines!? Anyway, it's the plane that makes me think it is WW2. It really looks like a WW2 movie kinda plane. After a few minutes the plane took off, and the sub seemed to be unmanned. Here's a shot of the "hangar".

A sub with a hangar

It doesn't look much like a landing strip to me. I wonder if they just ditched the plane after it did - whatever it was supposed to do - recon or something. Dunno. It seems like a lot of effort. Bringing a plane on a sub where they could have had loads more torpedoes. It must have had some kind of  purpose.

Peace restored

I hadn't looked at it for more than half a minute before it started to dive. I was a little surprised, because the crew had taken off in the plane. I suppose there was a timer that made it disappear after launch. Whatever. I just stood there and enjoyed watching the sub disappear. Peace restored. Ernestina in the back btw, but now I felt more like going for a short sail. Get the ugly warship out of my head.

Here's more virtual warships. Brrr.

Carrier closeup

I was just out for a fun sail in my Laser, when I saw a huge shadow on the horizon. It looked kinda familiar, so I sailed closer, and sure enough...

Reckognized this

It's that carrier I saw a while back while racing the Nacra 17. This time it is moored. Looking like it's in dock for a repair or something.

Huge!

On that old photo it is only shown in the back, and it disappeared before I could get another shot; Still it seemed huge. On the pictures here, it is pretty obvious that it is indeed huge compared to a tiny Laser.

How many decks?

Here's my view from the Laser. It's massive. Impressive. Enormeous. It's really amazing what they can build. Just how many decks are there?

Aircraft Carrier in Siracusa

Here's a shot of an aircraft carrier passing by while we race in Siracusa. I only managed to get this one shot, then it was gone. You can probably see from the bow wake, that the carrier was in a hurry. Singlehanded racing in the Nacra 17 keeps you kinda busy; Too much fumbling with cameras and you're in the drink.

Carrier south of Tradewinds

Anyway, I thought I'd put it up here for completeness. I have a few subs and destroyers and stuff. This one is a new type of ship filed under warships. Some people seem to find those dreaded warships interesting. Me, I get the creeps everytime they sneek up on us. Especially that sub... Eeeewww! Creepy, - but the details in the builds are amazing.

Oh, - can anyone see what make it is? I'd say British. It's big but it's not huge like those American ones we all know from movies... The ingenious Brits have those planes that don't need an airstrip, so they could pretty much land on the foredeck of a Bavaria 45. Ok perhaps a 65er is needed.

Red October at Tradewinds

We saw some good racing at Tradewinds this weekend, and I'll get back to that in a bit. This post here is about a giant submarine that surfaced - right at the starting line - minutes before the sunday heats. It was only visible for seconds before it disappeared into the depths of the virtual oceans:

Red October (?) south of Tradewinds

Before it vanished, I managed to take this one picture. Not entirely sure what it is, but the sheer size of it made me think: Red October. I googled for that, and I think it could be right. Look at the size of that thing. It is huge. The little boat in the center is a Flying Fizz. There is a shadow behind the stern, which is one of those big coastguard boats with helipads.

More shots of subs here...

Another warship

This thingy here was observed at the north-east end of the Blake Sea near Pslande. It was coming out of Blake at very high speed, setting a course up the coast towards Dex.

Heading north, Spyglass in the back

I am not entirely sure what it is, but it was fast. I only managed to get this one shot before it disappeared. I looked at my telltales for a few secs and it was gone.

More of its kind filed under warships...

Another Destroyer

It's been a peacefull while since last time I spotted a warship off the Tradewinds coast. Yesterday it happened again.

Another destroyer

Lotsa details, so even though I really don't like these grey shadows, I must admit they're well made.

Quiz time

This one is kinda different from the other destroyer. They are flying the same colours, and they are patroling the same virtual waters, but something isn't quite right. There are a few significant differences between the two...

Helicopter perspective

Of course I didn't know it, but I clicked the thing and learned... hehe. So anyone dare to guess? Hints? Time, place, usage??

American flag, Japanese destroyer!! (WWI hence the small size)

Frigate south of Tradewinds

There I was. Happily splashing around in my brand new Nemo3; Completely into testing, trimming and what nuts, and then all of a sudden this dark, frightening shadow silently pops out of nowhere. I am pretty sure he sneaked up on me on purpose, - to say booh!

Booh

Gaaaah. That was the end of Noodles happy go lucky sailing. Battlestations! If only I had Captain Nemo's boat. There are no guns on the Nemo sailboat. I'll write the builder and point out this essential missing feature. Guns, we need more guns. More and more warships turn up off the coast of Dex and Tradewinds YC. Should I drop the bikini... and get one of these uniforms?

Yeah, do sail on

I sat still, watching the ship, hoping it would just pass by. I am really not into warships, but a little image googling makes me think this is a WW2 frigate of sorts. Can anyone confirm this? It's flying american colours. Anyway, right after this picture was taken, the gun turrets started turning. I started wondering what was gonna happen next.

It's not polite to point

Clearly, no shots were fired as I am still here, blogging. After all it's just boys with toys, and I suppose this was just a little boy, hehe. I've seen a real battleship somewhere in SL. Huge. Scary. Massive. Intimidating. Invincible. If I can remember where I saw it, I'll go back and snatch a few pictures for the boys. Till then it's gonna be no guns and more happy sailing. 

More on virtual warships. 

Another sub on the loose

It was just another afternoon at Tradewinds. A handfull of sailors were talking about boats, when all of a sudden a series of explosions occurred. We looked but saw nothing. Very strange, - but after a while I heard a faint pinging sound, and...

Unknown sub 

This sucker was fooling around right off our coast. We contacted the skipper, who seemed a bit autistic. No response at all; We kinda gave up on the dialog after ten minutes or so. It was very one way. Kept an eye on the submarine, though.

Unknown sub with no communications

A little later we discovered what caused the explosions: Seamines. Not a nice thing to have right off the coast of a marina. So we tried to talk to the skipper again and make it stop. No luck.

Sub on the run?

Finally, he was done, and here's a picture of the sub running off. No idea where to, but hopefully it will stay away from Tradewinds YC. I wouldn't want to sail slalom between seamines, when I am out for a short evening cruise.

The first sub was a WWII model; There was also the steampunk sub.

U-Boat observed at Tradewinds

You never know what you get - sailing the SL waters. A little while ago, I was at Tradewinds to get my usual dose of sailing. All was good. Clear blue sky, rather flat water and good winds, when a strange shadow in the water caught my eye.

Uhh!

There was a gurgling sound and then a diesel started and this monster broke the surface. Gaaah, I got the creeps. Reminds me of the U-96 from Das Boot. Probably the creepiest movie I ever saw.

Not excactly a cosy view

I followed it for a bit. It sailed down south. It stayed topside. Probably because of the shallow water off the coast of Tradewinds. Not sure what it will do down south. Hopefully it won't try to sink my friends oiltanker. That's gonna make a h... ehm... a mess.

Japanese

Here's a top view. Looks Japanese. I wonder if they really had wooden decks on their WWII subs. It's probably less slippery when wet, compared to an iron deck. Below, is a clear sideview. A rather "dark side-ish" view, don't u think? The details of the ship are good though. Maybe that's what makes it creepy.

A threatening view

There are other creepy ships in here. I've seen a huge battleship. Can't remember the name, but it was the size of Iowa. I instantly decided not to cover that kinda stuff here, but... This sub turned up right under my feet, and it got to me. Giving me the shivers.

Entering the Blake Sea.

This is where I left it, - disappearing into the depth of the Blake Sea. Brrr... I am gonna stay out of there for a while. It's a good thing, we have the beautiful North Sea, though I suppose those subs are there too. Anyway, I rushed back to Tradewinds and went smooth sailing in my lovely Bolero. Such a nice way to get rid of dark and negative mindsets. Pure zen-sailing. 

PS: Just another brrrr.