Rounding the downwind mark

Here's one that's fresh from the racetrack. Two boats on port tack approaching the downwind mark. The first boat gybes to starboard (2) right at the edge of the zone. This kinda opens up the overlap zone. Both boats carry on and at the mark (3) Yellow yells "no room" and tries to close the gap. Blue seeks the space between the mark and yellow but fails to execute the turn and slams (4) right into yellow. Yellow protests!

Fresh from the race track

What did the jury say? What should yellow have done? What should blue have done?

PS: That Boat Scenario program is supereasy to use. If only those animated files could be made smaller.

Ernestina meshed up

I was just in for a short break at Tradewinds YC, when I saw a familiar hull. Masts, sails, fittings and everything else was missing, but it looked pretty much like the Ernestina hull. I walked over there and sure enough. It was the Ernestina.

The Ernestina will be meshed

The Ernestina is a world famous Schooner, - at least in SL. Here's a gallery by her builder from sometime in 2008. She's been blogged numerous times. Jane Fosset took some great pictures and told the story of the virtual Ernestina back in 2009. She looked amazing already in 2008, and it will be fantastic to see the level of detail that's possible with mesh. I'll keep an eye on the boat yard...

That question

So... The times of wonderful summer cruises are over. At least for 2013. It's august, and it's back to work. Some call it the chaingang, others call it the treadmill. Whichever name you prefer, it is true that it's somewhat of a transition: From a mindset of complete laissez faire to a stressfull workday with goals, deadlines and bosses bossing you around.

Relaxing in Havna

I've been offline for almost a full month. No phones, very little internet, just a few papers and lots of water. It's most recommendable. After a few hectic days back at work, it's great to hop online and just sit and relax in Havna. I think I'll go there for a sail one of these days. It kinda reminds me of Nyhavn i Copenhagen, except Havna is more quiet.

Beautiful Berdav cruiser

I found this beautiful Berdav cruiser. It looked very inviting, so I sat there and just enjoyed a magical moment. No stress, no people, just me, the waves and the virtual sun-up to the east. That's when that question popped up. Not fair actually. I mean, I am just back from my vacation, and this question usually pops up some time in february. I tried to make it go away, but I couldn't...

The question is

The question is: Why don't I sail more. Right now it is raining in RL, so it is more of a work day than a sail day. The thing is, this question is pushing for an answer, which I cannot provide. I begin to fear that I'll have to make changes so that I can sail more. RL & SL. The more I think about it, the more it seems right. Sailing is the answer to so many questions.

The answer is

Hmm. I'll start planning for more sailing today. No wait. No time for that today. I'll set a deadline for when I start making plans for more sailing. Hmmm. It is nice to get back to work, but sometimes the vacation mindset just won't leave. That makes it hard work gettting back to work, dont' you think?

Windshifts and stuff

There's so much talk about windshifts in this virtual world. Some people hate them, some people love them. We have that extra challenge, that our virtual windshifts cannot be seen. They can only be "felt", when they hit the sails. This makes the discussion somewhat theoretical.

Over at Impropercouse there's a couple of really great shots showing just how much effect shifts and puffs can have... If you're a virtual sailor only, - go see...

I've added Impropercourse to my blogroll. Already there's good sailing stuff over there, and Doug told me there's more to come.

Planetside ??

Yesterday I watched a clip from the Extreme Series. Not very interesting. It was from a river somewhere in Portugal. The river was like 70 meters wide; The wind was crazy and turbulent, and it really didn't look much like a sailboat race. However, the speaker kept chanting how big a success this event was and then the camera panned over the crowd. Future of sailing. Duh.

Planetside II Warriors?

Then I read in the paper that Tom "Maverick" Cruise had visited the AC circus arena. Wooohooo. I even found a clip of that too. Tom seemed to like it. I quickly decided not to blog about it; It just seems so irrellevant to real sailing, but then Bea posted the above picture on the slboatporn site with an interesting question. Hmm...

I say: If this is sailing then why the heck do they look like troopers from Planetside II or something? Or is this really a shot from Top Gun?

Summer sailor

lazy winds blowing

choppy waves and clear blue sky

bow splash lullaby

...

Had a beautiful day at sea in the dreaded first life. There's a few pics over at my tumblr for those who care... Besides, I promised Bea to post some real life sailing pics from my summer cruise.

Talent required

Never saw this one before:

WTF

It must require direct injection of a potion labelled super-sailor or sum-ding... I wonder how many 360ies u need to clear this :-D

To all sailors, virtual or physical, have a great summer... I'll be out there trying hard to avoid the above situation, teehee.