That J-boat

I guess by now most SL sailors are aware that - after many iterations and refinements - Craigs magnificent J-boat finally hit the shelves. Orca was there at the launch event, and she wrote about it a couple of weeks ago. Check it out here. You get Craigs own words, so it's just a bit biased. Just one tiny bit. The J-boat itself is anything but tiny.

A small j with a big J inside

This picture shows how the J-boat is delivered. It comes in a nice little J-shaped box, if there is such a thing. Though the J-boat is in no way inflatable, the entire full sized boat is inside this little one. My immediate thought was: If only this had an RC option  we'd have a ball. Besides, it would fit the virtual waters nicely. Sizewise that is. But let's unpack...

A small j with a big J on the side

Here it is in all its magnificense and magnitude. Huge is the word, though I've seen bigger boats in SL. This tanker was pretty big, and the aircraft carrier was even bigger. However, they aren't nearly as much fun as a sailboat, a working sailboat. The J-boat coes with main, two headsails and spinakker, so there's work to be done or it won't move an inch.

Live aboard it's not

True engineering is about sacrifice. The J-boat sails really well. It comes with full WWC support, so theres waves and current to take in to account when racing. What's been sacrificed is the interior. It's simply not there. Essentially the J-boat is a daysailor. Still it works great for mooring and relaxing in a secret bay. Thinking big thoughts. From where I sit in the above picture the mast top is visible up among the clouds. Allmost.

Down south with a friend

But it's the sailing that makes the J-boat interesting. It works great as a cruiser, and there are so many details that many of these will have to wait till another post. Sailors will immediately notice all the lines, sheets and stays are working. This may not influence the sailing experience directly, but it does have to do with the immersiveness. The illusion of sailing simply gets better from all these details.

The "Rock-shot"

We sailed south for a while - pretty much in silense - as we were so impressed by this huge ship sailing, heeling, rocking, luffing and much much more. It's truly amazing what Craig did here. After a while we reached the middle of the Blake Sea, and ofcourse we took the must have "Rock-shot" rounding the Fastnet Rock. So many Kodak-moments in the Blake Sea, hehe. Or is it called jpg-moments these days?

Going back up

After the "Sharp-Tooth Island" my friend left to do stuff in RL; Duh. I was left to do the harsh beating back up north by myself, and here I am approaching NYC from the south-east. It's a good thing I was wearing my sweater, cause the NYC area is covered with wintery-white snow. Brrrr. As if the RL snow isn't enough, hehe. No, really... the snow looks pretty. And cool... and cold...

Ahoy

Over at the westside og NYC at least the trees are not covered with snow. Perhaps that's the first sign of spring? Dunno. These last two pics show some of all those beautifully made sheets and stays. They are fully functional in-as-much-as the running stays are loosened and tightened according to trim and boom position. Well, - to me fully functional would mean that I could decide the tension and adjust it according to windspeed, but that remains a feature of the future. For now we'll have to do with this, and right now it is pretty unique.

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.

Complicated

I just sat here, thinking how complicated a sail simulator really is; First there is wind. It has a general direction and force. Then there's the shifts. Shifts are puffs and lulls, lifts and headers moving down the course with a certain rythm. Any two boats experiene different wind unless they sail close together, and if they do, they will generate shadowing and bending. On top of that, there's local wind variations due to geography.

A good thinking spot

Then there's the waves. Waves vary in height and distance, and they travel. Just like the wind, the waves have a direction and a speed; Boat A and B meets the same wave at different positions, and if the depth is different, then the wave will be different in length, height and force. Waves typically become smaller on the lee side of an island. On top of that the waves attack the boat differently based on their direction relative to the boat direction. Waves from the bow are choppy. Waves from aft come slower and make you surf. Waves from the side make you roll.

The view from another good thinking spot

Currents add to the fun too. The current also has a speed and a direction. Both may vary. Typically the speed varies with the depth, and the direction changes with local underwater geography. The current may also vary in both direction and strength over time, - as the wind changes, or the moon generates tide.

A good sailing spot

All these things make racing more fun and more challenging, and guess what... all these things are actually in the WWC system. It is really a wind, wave and current simulator in itself. The WWC receiver and interpreter provide all the data needed to make a boat sail under all the above mentioned conditions. I guess that's why I love the Flying Fizz... It acts like a boat, and it has a sailing engine with full support for all the WWC features. Just add seaspray and you're virtually out there...

A Dragon talk

Here's a few shots of a beautiful - but still unfinished - piece of work... the Dragon. This version has a FizzKit sail engine inside. Now, what kind of sense does that make to the average virtual sailor? It is all about getting that sailing experience close to the real thing.

A Dragon-like Dragon

First, it means the Dragon can be made to sail and behave like a real Dragon.Secondly, it means superb WWC support. That includes full support for wind, waves and currents, - with shifts, localization and variation. Thirdly, it means the boat has those key instruments built in, - compass, speed and wind indicator plus telltales...Finally it means the crew can trim and balance too. Someone can trim the main sheets, and someone else can trim the jib and the gennaker. Oh, and the sailshape can be trimmed too!! Flat sails for flat water and so on...

The builder, Victor Cruiser on the right

The FizzKit is obviously a true sail simulator kit. It is designed to simulate anything from a foiling Moth, - over a planing Dinghy such as the International 14 footer, - to a traditional long keeled classic such as the Dragon. It is a massive piece of work. Several months of full time work actually. There might be small and unnoticable glitches, but it works great and the Flying Fizz and the Shelly Fizz are both very good examples of what is possible. However, even the Flying Fizz does not use all the features of the Fizzkit sail engine.

The real deal

Since the FizzKit is so much about recreating the true and realistic sailing feel, here's a shot of a real Dragon. Note the slight difference in fullness on the bow. Apart from that tiny detail the hull of virtual Dragon looks pretty picture perfect. The sails still need some work, so I won't show them. Not just yet.

Imagine a fleet

The sails are there, and they work. Absolutely. They just need a little adjustment before they look perfectly Dragonlike. I know Victor is fiddling with that. There's much to be done with sails. Shapes, telltales, luffing sales and also decicions about sail technology, - tweaking of the type of sailcloth used... Yes, the FizzKit supports different types of sailcloth as well as myriads of other boatly details...

Stay tuned for more on the Dragon... or click dragon right under here (category), if you must read more.

Real virtual sailing

Easter is a great time to sail. The calendar is virtually littered with Easter regattas. That goes for the virtual sailing calendar too, and thank you for that. Where I live we still scrape ice off the car every morning.

Mmmmhmmm

So, my Easter is about virtual sailing, and I chose to sail the virtual 2.4mR Norlin MK III. Here's a shot from where I left off last time. Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

A quiet morning...

It's probably no surprise I like a quiet morning sail. In fact I like sailing all day and night, but the morning has a special sort of quietness over it. Even the birds are kinda sleepy and moving in slow motion...

Virtual sailing at its best?

Sailing a boat like this makes it even better. Whereas many other virtual boats claim to be realistic, this one virtually is... The feeling is so authentic. Probably because the water is so close. The sailing sensation is absolutely present. 

Variating wind with puffs and shifts is one thing. Add luffing sails and winddrift and some people think that's it. However, more than half the weight of a boat is in water, so let's not forget what happens below the surface... Waves & currents? Both with local variations. 

ahh

All three in one package? Wind, waves and currents, - and all with local variations... that kind of realism is unique to those boats which support the WWC windsystem. If you want realistic racing, then WWC is the way to go. Very few boats are able to top this level of realism...

Sailing

I love this shot. It has so much sailing in it. The boat, the sails, the trim, a tad of seaspray and the intriguing background with so many promises of interesting places to explore.

Land...

Looks like I "struck" land here... but oh no... absolutely not... I won't go there. Not today... The North Sea has many lovely islands and coasts to explore, but...

Sea

Today I sail the 2.4mR and nothing can make me do otherwise... Get a 2.4mR and feel for yourself what virtual sailing is really about. It is fantastic...

What's in a virtual boat?

So... what's in a virtual boat these days? Got me thinking. Back in time, Kanker Grenacre invented the Tako with left and right rudder function plus main sheet in and out. He also invented a windsystem, because the virtual wind of SL  was (and is) unsuited for sailing. Virtual sailing in SL  was easy, simplistic and far from realistic. Then Moth invented a new windsystem, The WWC, with support for shifts, gusts, local variances, waves, currents, shadowing and more.

Thinking about virtual boats

The WWC was a quantum leap towards realism. Not as simple as the Tako wind, but much more realistic and way more fun for racing. After a while someone added hiking to a boat. Then live flapping sails appeared; The T-One from Trudeau may have been the first to have that. Then Becca released her BBK boat building kit with yet another windsystem. The much simpler BWind. Soon after that, the Q2m appeared with luffing sails, BWind and - woohoo - full WWC retrofitted.  The Q2m therefor has windshifts, gusts, waves, current and even drift. A must have for dialups in Matchrace.

Looking at boats

Then came the Bolero. It has all the features of the Q2m plus working telltales. The modern Trudeau boats such as the LeetleCat II come with rudder, sheet in/out, hiking, luffing sails, capsize and reefing but sadly no telltales, no waves and no currents. There's also ReneMarine's beautiful RM8. It has wwc, luffing and there's an adorable little windex in the mast. Let's not forget the RM20 with a redesigned steering system. Then there's the ACA boats, the AC cats and the WildWinds; Lately the Nemo II entered the scene with its own interesting wind system too. So many boats to choose from.

Fizzin with El Megro

Finally there's the Flying Fizz. Still the most complete package on the virtual sailing scene of SL. It has rudder, sheet in/out, working visible sheets, kickinstrap, hiking, luffing sails, trapez, capsize, compass, telltales, crewed trimming, planing, waves, currents, windshifts, gusts, speed dependant sunds and saildepth adjusting. It even has a low lag mode. By any measure still the most advanced boat in SL. It only misses a few things. Drift is one of them.

That sorta defines a virtual boat in SL as of 2011. Makes me wonder if the Flying Fizz is the end of the journey. Some people seem to think it's too advanced already. Kinda weird, when it has a beginners mode. Then there's the usual suspects always saying it can't be done, no matter what they talk about. They said that about luffing sails. They said that about telltales. They said that about importing real wind to SL.

Tai Chi: Clear the mind

Nevertheless, I wonder what will be the next step of the evolution? More trim features? Better physics? More teamwork support? Boatkits already exist with support for up to four sailors. The options are endless as long as we can fit it within the constraints of SL.

Real boats have so many more trim options. Mastrake, shroud tension, backstay tension, running backstays, main sheet traveller, kickingstrap, cunningham, halyard tension, spinakker pole height, barberhaul, outhaul, leech-line, battens.... just to mention a few.

Watching the ocean from Seagull Islands

I don't know what's out there, in the future, waiting to be sailed. It seems development never stops, so I'd definately expect more features and better boats. What do you think? More trim options? Better racing conditions? New delicious hull designs? Realistic winds? How far should we take it? Or will we lean back as an old couple and rock only the chair we're sitting in, satisfied with the way things are - mostly because we're too tired or lazy to go and change them?

Really?

PS: Here's a taste of sailing with the built in SL wind.