Flying Catfish

A few weeks back I was at NYC. Don't really remember why, but it's a beautiful place. Reason enough I guess. Anyway, I walked around a bit, and in the shop I saw yet another cat for sale. It was positioned like todays bargain, right in my face, and since there was a test version, I took it for a spin.

The Flying Catfish 33

So here it is. Doesn't look too bad, right? The sign didn't say anything about the age, but once rezzed it was pretty obvious that this old cat was in bad need of a makeover. It's from 2007 or so. In SL a couple of years is a long time. Look again and note the strange keels on the hulls. Also there is a pretty weird finn between the keel and the rudder blade.

Details

There's a lot of good details though; Check the image above. Lines, winches and furling genoa. The mast however, it appears to be a little too massive for a cat. It's more like a mast from a 30 foot keeler buildt in the sixties or sum ding. All in all it looked a little too heavy for me to handle, so I called Orca. Luckily she was glad to help out.

It sails

So we took off. Sailed around the Blake Sea for a few minutes. Mostly in silence. Then we looked at each other with disbelief. Really not worth sailing. I mean, it sails. It's trimmable, there's a wake, there's a genn and that's about it. There's flat sails, no sounds, no waves and current. Not very exciting compared to the Hepcat and the Nacra17

To the untrained eye

So the sailing isn't really up to date. The looks aren't either. This is one of those elderly boats that look great, provided you look at it from just the right angles, but when you change the angle only a little bit, weird details pop up. On top of that the positions in which we can sit are... Let's just say some of them look kinda unnatural.

Orcs takes pics

There's also the usual suspects: No compass, no windvane, no telltales. Not that they are present on  those modern cats. Conclusion? Don't spend you money and time on this one. It's a experience of a lifetime, but it's a bad one. Not worth repeating. While this boat might have been good in it's day, it's really a mystery why NYC choose to still place it as a premium product in the shop.

Here's Orcas' few notes on the experience...

The Laser test

A few days back Jane posted a really thorough test of the Laser on her metaversailing blog. It has the usual high technical standard - plus it's not too much of a sales pitch :-D

I'm gonna get ya

It's a must read for virtual sailors. Check it out here... Nice huh! The Laser still isn't perfect, but it sure is a nice ride. Question is how far it can go...

A normal boat II

Here's a little quiz... Guess what the three of us are looking at? Not just water north of Tradewinds. Could it be yet another modern sexy boat, - or could it be a normal boat? Not that the latter category is well represented in the virtual waters of SL...

Boat talk

Impossible to guess, I know. Here's a picture from another angle... We're looking at Ana's 50 footer; Work in progress... A normal boat. A real sailboat.

Spin design

It's normal in the same way as the Bianca 107; Perhaps it's even better than the 107. This one is designed to sail first. Lil bigger and maybe like 10 years older in design. It reminds me of the Oceanic when it comes to level of detail. Fifty feet of normal boat. (Assuming 50 feet is normal). Anyone reckognize it? Could it be a Sparkmann & Stephens inspired thingie?

A normal boat indeed

It does look a little like a Sagitta 35, no? Too big to be Albin Ballad inspired, but the scent of the 70ies is definately there. Any other bids on the RL counterpart? This is definately a trustworthy boat. Rocksolid, well sailing and one you'd be proud to moor anywhere. It's also one of those boats you'd buy cheap, spend a month or two on updating; Then cross the Atlantic. It'll take you almost anywhere. Safely and slowly. In any case, it looks so much like a real boat. Unlike certain modernistic boat. I'll drop no names, but they're built all over Europe, and probably also in the US.

Cabin cruiser or Camper?

So is it a camper? Not entirely. Actually, not at all. This is an ocean cruiser, not a cross between an autocamper and a kite. I am so looking forward to the release. Not because of the sailing in itself; This boat won't plane unless there is a hurrycane. It's because this will enable virtual sailors to go long distance cruising like never before. Virtual bluewater sailing will never be the same again. 

PS: I just realize there's a plane crashing on the little island in the third photo. Must be right before the explosion. Funny.

PPS: At any given time there is at least one Sagitta 35 doing a circum navigation. There is one now. Singlehanded.

Laser Launched

The virtual Laser was launched a few days ago. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the event, but I hear they had a wonderful race. As in full of wonders; Crashes included, teehee. Anyway, here's a few pics of the final version. So far.

Hiking hard in the afternoon sun...

There's a couple of things worth mentioning. First, the steering. I haven't mentioned it before, but on the test versions the steering was... shall we say less than optimal. Not flaky or bad, - just not precise enough to satisfy racers. In a boat this lively, you need to do small and precise adjustments on the direction. Continously. It's been fixed. Weeee.

Who's shadowing who?

Then there's the fittings. Look closely at the picture above. Can you see it? There's carbon blocks all over. Well, except for that thing there on the mast. The test version had Harken ALU fittings, but they (Harken) have a whole series of Laser carbon fittings including the tiller extension available at a bargain price. (Not). All that extra gear is now included in the standard virtual Laser. Woohooo.

Close race

These pictures? We didn't really race. It was more of a cruise. I know I had coffee while underway. Was looking for a cupholder. Dunno what Dutch had. We sailed from Tradewinds down south, all around the Blake Sea and then back home. Such a refreshing sail. The boat really sails very well. The feeling is great, and it's dead easy to sail. Still, it requires so much attention to sail it fast. 

Beating around the... island?

Bottom line? It's a really nice and fun boat. It has serious limitations when it comes to racing though. No windshadow, no bending, no currents and waves and no local windshifts. More on that in a future post. For now lets focus on the fun. Even with the missing WWC features, I'd say it is worth the money. Nuff talk. There's a free demo available at Dutch's hide-away. Go try it and decide for yourself. Then maybe come back here and share your thoughts. 

A virtual Bianca 107

What about normal boats? Are there no normal boats in the virtual world? Sure, they exist. They just  don't get as much attention as their more sexy sisters and brothers. Enough definition for ya, or do I need to use the c-word?

A virtual Bianca!

Here's one shot at it. It's little known in the virtual world, and the builder has kinda disappeared. Before he did, he made me this... It's called the Bianca 107. It's not quite finished. Looks more like a mix of the 101 and the 107, but the concept of "normal boat" is definately there. It is probably the only inworld boat inspired by the famous Elvstrøm & Kjærulff Yacht Design.

Classic finn keel

Looking at the underwater hull, the normality is maybe even more obvious. Thousands of boat types designed from the 60ies till the 90ies all have keels like this one. Then they started to make them less swept, deeper and sometimes with an ellipsoid curve at back edge. The back swept finn is pretty much the standard keel for boats of "type c" of the last thirty years. Like I said, it isn't quite finished, so let's not talk about the rudder and the aft underwater shape.

Looking for dolphins

Topside it looks pretty nice, but it doesn't quite meet todays standard. Qyv is pushing it with the Melges 24. Dutch is pushing it with the VO65. Renemarine is pushing it with the new RM12 aka Tofinou 12. Sorry, I only have pics of an unfinished version. Ofcourse there's the classic boats from Trudeau as well; They are nice, but they really don't fit into the c-category. Neither does the fantastic Ktaba 20. So the c-word isn't "Classic".

Look! There's something inside

The c-word has a lot to do with what's inside, and this one has a lot inside. There's been a few attempts in the old days too. The Tetra 35 was a pretty good attempt. It had a few problems with the sailing, but overall it was very nice for its time. Today, mosts boats have "something inside", but traditionally builders have focused either on the sailing, - or on the accomodation.

Top view

Motor Loon took the accomodation to new levels with his Oceanic. It's a fantastic build with functional  gizmos everywhere and a truly amazing level of detail. However, both the rigging and the hull are - well - not very boatly as seen from a normal boat perpective. Loons second build, the Loonetta is much better on that account. It's not a beauty queen, but it looks like a modern c-work boat sooo much. It sails well, and there's loads of details. I'll snatch a few pictures of a Loonetta one of these days.

A strange detail

The Bianca 107 has details too... Obviously it is from the time where sheets were only available on luxury boats. The spreaders are positioned a little weird, but look at the jib. It has leather reinforcements in the clew, but that's not all... There is a rope on the bottom side. They probably used that hundreds of years ago. I never saw it on a modern boat, and I have no idea why they did so in the old days? Reinforcement?

Large spin

So, the virtual Bianca 107 really isn't that bad, but it's been outdated by the latest development. The level of detail has been raised via the use of mesh-technology. The sailing engines has taken a few evolutionary steps as well. The really interesting question is, will we see more normal boats in the future. I think we will. More importantly: I think they will sail well and have lotsa stuff inside. Just like a modern c-type boat. There it is again, the c-word. Get it?

It seems I have a todolist on the normal boat subject: RM12, Loonetta and possibly the RM20 too. Did I miss anyone? In the meantime, what's a normal boat to you? Real or virtual...

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?

Send more sailors

Weekend's gone. Monday's gone too. It's so back to the chaingang. Time for a little daydream. Let's dream of fast and smooth sailing. Tacking right on top of the fleet. Those first few super-important moves right after the start. Heart pounding like crazy. Here's a pic I took last week; I call it "Send more sailors".

"Send more sailors"

I know. The Laser hasn't been launched yet. Told you it's a daydream. Just imagine twentyfive of these moored at TYC, while we're outlining the course back at the round table. Then the RD shouts "lets get out there", and twentyfive sailors rush to their boats, set sail and steer south.

Daydreaming

Right south of Tradewinds is the starting line in Siracusa. Oh the fun of having seven close races in less than two hours; Loads of tacking, luffing and room shouting, then planing downwind looking for that extra puff. While we're waiting, check Tillermans ramblings on propercourse... There's a few good points on upwind tactics. They're good no matter what boat you sail. Mmmm. I like daydreams; Especially the wet ones... how about you?