New York 30 Solstice Challenge

Some of us remember the lovely One World Cup last spring. It was a great event, well organized and lots of fun. Now, - Jane's at it again. This time it is called The New York 30 Solstice Challenge, and here's the poster:

The official poster

Looks very exciting. This time it is for fun and fund (-raising). More details on Jane's site right here.

PS: More on the One World Cup here.

Long way home

Sitting there thinking, I got inspired by those virtual VO70 boats. They are fantastic machines. Thought a littlebit about the feeling of being on board a real one:

Long Way Home III

Having buckets of icecold water thrown at your face for days and days and yet more days while eating astronaut food; Sleeping only a little at a time, in hard bunks and in a complete inferno of noise. Gaaaah... Presented with facts like this, a nice and cozy two hour inshore race sounds like a nice walk in the park. Very nice! The "Seanamagraph"? Oh well, it's not perfect, but it is...

See the virtual VO70 here. See the category for more seanamagraphs. My favourite is still the first one; The one with the virtual 2.4mR.

In a great big way

Spent some time exploring. Saw a few new and beautiful places. Then I got stuck sitting here thinking... In a great big way, we should probably all spend more time just sitting, thinking, in a place like this.

Clear your mind I

Perhaps non-thinking would be even better. Just hearing the surf and the gulls, watching the ocean, clearing the mind. Perhaps also clearing a cool Corona... Then Craig popped up.

Clear your mind II

We sailed around in his boat, passed a few more pretty places and all of a sudden, I got that thought again. It is important to spend time like this. No plans, no stress, no target to make. Just being somewhere, going with the flow. I rushed to check the RL weatherforecast. Not too good right now, but I'll be ready.

A strange day at sea

Went out for a short sail in my latest toy, - probably one of the prettiest boats ever built in SL. Cruisers, racers and all inbetweens taken into account. Just look at those lines and curves...

The RM20

It's the RM20 from ReneMarine. The instructions are lengthy, and the boat has so many features I gotta try out before I'll even think of writing about it, and to be honest, I kinda forgot to take notes today, because...

Mayday?

This is what I met on my way to the Blake Sea. Running aground at high speed may lift the stern a bit, but this? This would require a speed way over normal boatspeed. This was not the only incident. A few minutes later I saw...

Dive, dive, dive

This... Very strange! Especially since my RM20 seemed to sail just fine. No glitches what so ever. Not even sim crossing problems. I scratched my head and thought ReneMarine must have done something right here; Then I headed back home, and...

There's a UFO south of Tradewinds

This one nearly hit me. I mean a flying saucer dressed up as a sailboat? Is that allowed in the Blake Sea? Where's the air traffic control when you need it?

Smooth sailing; At last :-D

The rest of the trip went pretty smooth. When I finally arrived safe and sound at Tradewinds, I realized that something new was going on. The Boatbuilders show has closed, still there's loads of boats. I am sure it will be announced on the Tradewinds website; If not, - expect pictures here. Soon.

More fantastic builds from ReneMarine here. Be sure to scroll down and check the Zeeschouw.

A new boat yard

We've been so lucky as to have both ReneMarine and Balduin Aabye's Yacht Design just around the corner from Tradewinds YC. Now, there's even more. While the Boatbuilders Show was on, the Mesh Shop landed to the NE of Tradewinds.

Looking south

Dutch from the Mesh Shop is building that VO70, and here's me onboard a VO70 in Dutch's boat yard, camera pointing south. You can just see the roof of the Tradewinds boatshed and the lighthouse in the back.

Different angle

Here we are again. Same boat, different angle. Boats are definately being built here. It all looks very modern and very marina-ish. Great fun to walk around just looking at stuff. Little details everywhere. I mean, - not just on the boats.

Travelift

There's even a travelift with a VO70. Not sure where it is going, but it looks great, and you get to study the details of the underwater hull. It's clearly not just a toy boat. Eventually this will sail.

Swing keel

There's just one tiny problem... Not many virtual boat builders have experience with swing keels. In fact I am not sure I ever saw a standard boat building kit swing keel support. I saw a virtual swing keeler once, but it is so long ago. Didn't take pictures, totally forgot the details...

Tradewinds in the game

Maybe it was from the now closed Wildwind boat yard. Hmm. I guess the important thing is that Dutch is very keen on making these monsters work; I wonder if there will be some kind of race, once Dutch is done building. Incidentally, here's a VO70 in Tradewinds colours. Hehe. I better go check if there is a poster, where Liv is looking for crew...

Here's more VO70 action. Here's even more shots...

A new one

Here's a new little cutie. It was on display at the Tradewinds boat builders show, but only for a few days.  It's from ReneMarine. Not sure if it is released just yet, but it was a boat builders show, remember?

What's it called?

It looks like a lot of fun, though the design is a bit old school. I wonder if this is the smallest ReneMarine boat yet? Sure is different from the Hanuman. Somehow it also looks familiar, but I can't quite figure out what the RL version is called. Can anyone help?

Between the sheets

This is not a post about Craig and me being naughty. Nor is it a post about a cocktail inspired by boatly devices or weird liquids such as the Windex. Incidentally, that is an interesting question: What would be in a drink called "Between The Sheets, sailors edition"?

Tight sheets

Anyway, here we are, - all relaxed and between the sheets. Oh, I don't mean in the sense of being physically entangled in the sheets. Let's leave that to real life sailing, hehe; The important thing is, there is a sheet. A working sheet.

Loose sheets

See the stretching? In, out... Tight sheets, loose sheets. What a pleasure. If you check the other virtual boats in SL, very few of them actually have sheets. The boom and the jib might rotate, but there's no ropes to make them do so. The Flying Fizz is the exception.

Sheets on wheels

On the KTaba 20 there's even a set of blocks, one at either end of the sheet. All we're missing now is a twofold fiddle block configuration. Not entirely sure if that's the correct english term. In any case, it is very nice.

Since it is friday, it might also be nice with a drink... How about composing a "Between The Sheets, sailors  edition" !! I suppose you'd start by gently pouring some boat-rubbing, but... then what?