What's for summer

The summerholidays are sneaking up on us. At least for those of us living on the northern half of the earth. Last week the RL weather was very summerish. Now it's back to normal: Cloudy and below 20C. Still, I have high hopes for the rest of the month, cause I am gonna do this:

Ana's beautiful folkboat

That's right... and if the RL weather won't behave, I'll probably be sailing in SL as well; The destinations in SL are so nice. So many marinas to visit and explore...

A marina is popping up

Not only that... there are vast areas of water to explore... It doesn't have to be "nose in the charts" inshore sailing all the time... Still, you could argue that SL misses a really big ocean. I mean... you can cross the Blake in like five minutes. What would it take to make a true ocean? Just water, boats, birds and fish! Can't require that much computing power, can it?

What's on the other side of those islands?

Back in the boat! Are you paying attention? 9.5 knots in a Folkboat is quite alot. I suppose Ana has painted it with some secret sauce... Old secret family recipe of sharkskin soup perhaps :-)

Chillin

Makes me wonder: Would this lil Folkboat outrun my Ushuaia. That's something I gotta test next time I am inworld.

On my way to the great big blue

For now I'll just concentrate on the Folkboat, and here I am on my way from the (relative) safety of inshore sailing to the great big blue... Oh, and I see the telltales. I need to ease out on the jib sheet... Difficult to trim continously while "droning" around with the camera.

Arrived "on the other side"

This is what it looks like when approaching land on the other side... Better get that engine going cause I am not entirely sure where to go. Let's see, where's that knob to lower it... ahh... there!

Vrooummm

This boat has everything, - or close. Perhaps there is one thing missing! My Ushuaia has an espresso-machine. It might be too big for a Folkboat, but in RL I always bring one of those tiny two person italian coffee cookers for the stove. Doesn't take up much space, and the taste is way better than instant coffee. 

Motoring about

Besides, coffebags are easier to store in a boat compared to those glass cans they use for instant... Anyways, it's not yet coffeetime. I need to motor about and fine me a mooring spot, and since I don't have a coffe maker, it's gonna be...

A coke and a smile

A nice chilled coke... ahhh. Doesn't get much better than this. So that's my recipe for great summer holidays. Get a boat and get out there on whichever waters you have nearby; Real or virtual - in that order.

Bon voyage

Whichever type of sailor you are, I wish you fair winds, and if you're a virtual sailor... scroll through my pics here and imagine - if only just for a minute - doing this for real. No need to cross the Atlantic or sail around the globe like Troels Kløvedal did (R.I.P)... It really doesn't need to be fancy or expensive.

Just set sails with friends and meet for drinks and hotdogs in the next marina up coast. Or the nearest exotic island. That's life! Cheers... (and strawberry margaritas)

Fizzing around

Just went to TYC to have a look around... Had a nice chat with Ana, said hi to Dutch and decided to go fizzing with Liv... After some fiddling with the Fizz we figured out there was another windsetter nearby - messing up our wind. Who need 25 knots for a relaxed afternoon sail?

Sailing south

Eventually we figured out how to "override" it, and we sat a course for Blake. Sails up and away we went... Turns out Ana was right: The Fizz works quite well, now that the SL platform has caught up with it in terms of computing power.

Smooth sailing

We kinda raced though neither of us said so; Probably we were equally rusty on the delicate details of Fizz-trimming. Here it says 4.7knots, but it maxxed at 5.4. Sometimes it stayed at 5.3 for a while. It takes precision steering to find the sweet spot, which is a bit hard to do while taking pictures.

Crash and burn

Not everything is perfect, so my boat crashed while I was taking pictures and at the same time crossing a sim border. Bang! I sat at the seafloor - still hiking. So I had to TP out of there and get me a new boat. Chose a slightly older version - for stability... different paintjob too.

Race rock in sight

Liv was already rounding the race rock when I had it in sight, so we yelled hi as we passed... Me round the rock and back up north trying to catch Liv. She's not that easy to catch as she probably spent way more time in the Fizz...

There it is

The race rock looked like it's good ole self. Some things never change. However the wind did, so I had to beat upwind to get back home. Eeew.

Hiking up north to get back to TYC

Eventually I gave in and TPed to Liv; She was just south of TYC, so I flew back home and took a landing shot.

Mind the pier

And here she is... landing at the pier at Tradewinds Yacht Club after a nice sail; In the same boat all the way. Such a nice ride round the Blake, and yes... the Fizz isn't easy, but it is still worth a try or two. Amazing since it's from 2007. Not entirely sure when I discovered it, but here's my first post with the Fizz... back in 2010. That post is my second post ever. I think the Fizz 3 came into existence in 2009. Or thereabouts...

In the right place?

Dunno how you did it but you did it quite well
So white and so funky - everyone could tell
your music picked me up on more than one occasion
and now that you have left to another location
I just wanna send you a thanx and tiny rhyme
to say I hope you've found the right place at the right time

R.I.P. and thanx for the music... it's been Such a Night!

Rounding old friends

So today the weather was truly nasty. Strong winds, low temperatures and rain. Yuck. I therefor decided to go virtual. Virtual sun is better than no sun at all.

Rounding an old friend

Tradewinds YC was almost empty; There was one guy at the pier. Unknown to me, he gazed at the sea. I think he watched me as I set sail, but I can't tell for certain.

Going east

Obviously, I could have stayed and chatted - possibly spending my time talking, but hey... I was there for the sailing, and SL never lets me down on that. Just check the picture above. It doesn't get more yummy than that.

Kite time

Perhaps a bit more yummy is this: Kite time. I went further south, to check out some smaller islands. People everywhere in the Blake Sea today. Nice.

Wooohooo!

I wonder how long ago it is I discovered this place... Crows Nest. I remember sailing around the Fastnet Rock in Roar Ege. That was in 2011.

Voila la mer et le soleil

See why I love the virtual sailing? It's almost so hot I wanna loose my sweater. And where did I put my shades?

Arriving at the remote isles

Anyway, here are the remote islands. I kinda remember this place as desolate. Today it's quite busy.

Busy day in the south of Blake

I counted ten or eleven boats. One had single girl aboard. She was having a party; Drinks and dance and loud music. Other boats had couples relaxing or having a picnic. Some where walking around the isles, and one boat had a couple in the cockpit - ahem - whoopee. Not very discrete.

Back up north

Me I just dropped the anchor and had a coffee while observing all the activity around me. Just a little surprised as I had expected a quiet time. Not so at all.
Coffee down, anchor up, engine on steaming up north due upwind.

Back at Tradewinds YC

After a while I set sail and headed upwind past spyglass, where I met another old friend; This time not an island. It was my Swedish friend Sven in his Folkboat. It must have been years, so we had some catching up to do before I returned to Tradewinds YC. Good old.

Christmas Greetings

To new, old and ancient friends inworld and in RL: Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Yeehaa!

Christmas has always been fun at Tradewinds. However, this year the Christmas landscape is a bit more subtle. Still, if you are out sailing, looking for somewhere to go... this dude is waiting for you at TYC.

Is it Rudolph?

I am talking bout that deer there right beside me. A bit Rudolphy, right?

Going for a ride?

Of course Santa is also here... He is many places in SL this time of year, but what's better than a hot cup of vin chaud (Gløgg is too sweet for me) at the round tabe at TYC - with Santa Hoho-ing in the back?

Wishes for the new year

It was a bit lonely though, so this is to all my friends in SL: Wish you were here... Hope to see you in the new year.

Cheers and see you in 2019

Cheers and all the best from lil me, Noodle. 

PS: And a great big hug to Tasha for keeping TYC alive.

Too dark to see

Too dark to see - too dark to sail. Yeah well, - that's life in Scandinavia. However, when it's dark it is easier to see the stars. First time in many months I log on and right in front of me I see interesting stuff...

Interesting stuff

It's a new boat. Oldie but goodie, hehe. I was beginning to wonder if the virtual boatbuilders had given up on development, but no... It is of course made by Dutch of VO65 and Nacra fame.

Details

This time it's the Olympic Star Class! I haven't sailed her yet, but I sincerely hope to do so, while my RL sailing is on pause for the winter. This one is owned by Tasha, and I just might get lucky with her inviting me for a test-sail. OMG there are so many delicious details on this boat it's almost boatylicious.

Windex

And finally someone made a decent Windex. I've been bugging more than a handful boatbuilders about that for the past eight or so years. Dutch finaly made one. Thank you. Obviously Tasha needs help setting the boat up, as the Windex trimflaps seem to be turned some 210 degrees from normal, but hey... That's easy. No need to climb... in SL we can just fly up there and fix it. More interesting stuff: Will the mast be able to move forward on a downwind? It appears so... but it remains to be seen. More on this pretty soon... I hope.

Kids in Second Life

Uhh, ehrm... Kids in Second Life? It's kind of a controversial subject. I see quite a few discussions on the internet going: Is it allright for grownups to log in to Second Life disguised as a five year old? I really dunno... Never tried that; Probably never will. But the other way around??? That's another story...

Moored at Tradewinds YC

I've been "hiding" in Minecraft for a while now; Why? I have kids and they love it. Recently I've shown Second Life to a six year old, and whoa... She loves it. It's way more real than Minecraft. That was her spontaneous reaction. Yesterday we went sailing... long trip in one of Ana's motorboats. She absolutely loved it. Just navigating, finding interesting islands, looking for marinas before dark, going to sleep in the boat, waking up, having breakfast and then off to new islands... I wonder if the Lindens realize what potential they are missing out on here..? The ten year old said it even better: Who needs the Sims, when there's Second Life?