Momomos race course

The other day I got a note about Momomos new race course. I happened to be online, so I went to Momomos new XBorder Yacht Club, to check it out. Last time I saw it, there was only an island. Now there are piers, a clubhouse with a beautiful terrasse, - and ofcourse the raceline.

Having a coffee at Xborder YC.

Here I am on the terrasse. In the back you see Momomos Netizen and a dude called Deano Kharg. Deano is into customizing hulls and sails; I saw a few hulls, and they're really good. One sample of his work is the tiger-striped Wildwind in the back. I liked the pink flower edition, but the picture I took is crap, so you will have to imagine that. Below you see the tiger with custom sails too.

Deano's custom Wildwind.

In the front my lovely Q2m, which turned out to be perfect for the course. It so happens the course is very much an inshore course, so lotsa tacks needed. Not bad. Not bad at all. Challenging would be a good word. And pretty. There's a lot of islands to pass, and with wind variations and currents you need to stay sharp to stay ahead of the pack. Look closely at the picture, and you'll see a sign with the course and all the islands.

The raft at the line.

Momomos always goes all in, and naturally the raceline has a little extra special Momomos touch. Here I am coming back to the starting / finish line, where Momomos has installed a raft for the RD. It gives the area a sort of back yard feel. I like it. And I like the track. Go try it out, but bring a small boat. You can hardly sail it with one of those AC giants. Q2m is perfect. Flying Fizz or Leetle Cat II would be perfect too.

Balduins Boat Design

I sometimes wonder how they make these boats. It is not that I don't understand the principles of building. It is the fact that SL is sooo geeky when building, and yet they produce one pretty boat after another. Some of these boats are really good at hiding the geeky complexities.

Balduins Boat Design

If you ever wonder about this, go see Balduins boat yard. It is right off the west side of Tradewinds. After seing it, I am sure it is more clear, how the process works. In SL you do not need to fiddle with wood, epoxy or paint. It is all about a state of mind;

The Bolero in the back

That dude has to have poetry inside his head. This place, whilst looking like a boat design studio, still has a certain ambiance. Walk around; Have a look at the Bolero, the Cotton Blossom and the other fun projects. Balduin isn't just making sail yachts.

The place makes my heart whisper, I wanna stay just a little longer. Just to  relax and to be assimilated by the ambiance. In fact, I spontaneously looked for a coke machine or a  cocktail pusher in the corner.

Let's get out there

When you are done feeling the ambiance, you can always rez a beautiful boat and sail away. Remember to look back. It is kinda like that favourite island you visited with your parents wayyy back... It says come back... come back... I know I will. It is always exciting to see, what Balduin is building. Check out the Tradewinds blog for details on his latest... link to the right.

Wax on, wax off

It's that time of year again. The ice is breaking, birds are singing, and on the Marina the sound of sanders are inevitable. I was there yesterday; Wax on, wax off. As usual it was rather cold, way too cold for epoxy-work; Very important to keep up the pace to stay warm. Wash, paint, wax and done...

Let's get out there...

Some of the guys spice it up with a luke-warm stout and a mars bar. I think I'll test the new burger-outlet. I am told they have veggie sandwiches. The picture?? Everybody knows what a messy marina full of eager sailors look like, so... here's the view from my car yesterday, when I was heading home from work. Let's get out there. There's real racing to be done.

Skipjack launched

I was lucky to login right before the launch of the the latest release from ReneMarine, the Skipjack. The Skipjack is not a fancy modern race boat, and that is why it deserves a little attention. In RL everybody gathers around the latest and greatest speedmonsters. In SL there is room for other boat types too, and that's really beautiful.

People admiring the Skipjack. Jake preparing the music.

Above you see us admiring the Skipjack, whilst Jake is preparing the music for the party. Jakes record collection is fantastic, but today he played something rather weird. It had a familiar sound or something, but I could not quite place it. Sounded like a cross between that Convoy Rubber-duck title song and Cotton-eyed-Joe or something... very strange... until they went "We don't need no eduction". Some cover-version :-D

Taking a closer look

Here we are, taking a closer look; Jet in the grey sweater is the proud presenter of the boat. It comes with a cooler for beers, room for four to six people cruising and fishing, an engine for motoring around, and it has the beautiful RM8 sailing engine; Probably one of the most dynamic sailing engines in SL. It is very responsive, and the boat reacts very swiftly to both your steering and trimming as well as windshifts and gusts.

About to set sail south of Tradewinds.

Jet promised us a testride, so here we are motoring around south of Tradewinds. You'll reckognize the lighthouse in the back. After a while we returned to the Marina, where Jake spun some of those old Disco Inferno things... there was no escape. I ended up dancing the night away. I will have to get a boat with that RM8 Sailing engine. It is soo..... alive.

Many more detailed photos from the event at Tradewinds, see link to the right side; Much more on the Skipjack including beautiful sailing shots at ReneMarine, - again link on the right side.

Naked Night Swim

I always thought night sailing was a very special experience. Tried it quite a few times in RL; Both racing and cruising. So, I wanted to see if the ambiance of a night sail can be replicated in SL. I checked the weather forecast, chose my most relaxing boat, the Bolero, and off I went... 

Trying to capture that special night ambience...

The essence of a beautiful night cruise is the silence, the darkness of the sea, and the huge twinkling bubble above. It is the perfect reminder of how small we are. The navigation by light houses and bouys raises your awareness, as you need to be just a bit more sharp on the navigation. 

Me cruising at night, looking for a spot...

This raised awareness extends into your entire body. The scent of coffee gets more intense. The digestives taste better. Peace and love fill your heart. However, in SL navigation is a bit different. We do not have navigational charts; We see the bouys and all the lighthouses, but sadly they aren't plotted on the map.

Let's go for a swim

One thing that is really great in SL is, that it can be a hot summer night, - every night. After a night cruise, nothing is better than a swim at sunrise. Sails down, anchor out, kettle on, clothes off and splash... Get right in. My watch tells me it's just above 21 degrees C; That's roughly 70 degrees F.

Skinny dipping, standing on my toes.

Ahh, and there is no need to wear a bikini, because there is no one around. Perfect opportunity for skinny dipping. If this isn't relaxing I dunno what is. The everyday treadmill is far far away it seems. Uh, thats the kettle whistleling... Lets get up and have a hot coffee and yet another Digestive, and then...

A little nap before sailing home.

Down below for a nap; I will probably wake up in a few hours, when the sun heats up the boat. Then it is sails up and back home before lunch. So, what do you think? Is it unreal? I know I did this in RL with a few beers and a few friends. To me it looks almost too real to be true. The feeling, the ambiance, the relaxing mindset, - it's all there. You can definately enjoy night sailing in SL, and perhaps it could even set the scene for romance... Now, where do I click to get a blanket?

Psst! The sailing in SL is keeps getting and better with new boats such as the Q-2m, the IOD and the Bolero.

Winter wonderland

Someone asked me, why I am sailing in SL. Actually that's really easy to answer. Now, I promised myself to keep this blog clean and not post RL images, but for once I will make an exception. This is my world during winter:

Beware of the killer penguins!

OMFG. It looks like Greenland. Even if I had an ice-boat, I'd be scared of meeting a bunch of killer-penguins on a field trip. I know, - they live on the southpole, and I am in Europe, but you never know... Anyway, instead of getting a depression from looking over the sea, I can go here:

Mmmmhmmmm...

Nice and warm afternoon in "Coconut Islands"; Beautiful too, - and thats not all; You can't see, what you can't hear. Seagulls, waves, wind; Sometimes dolphins and whales will pop up for air. So... why not hop aboard and do this:

... sail!

Ahhh, - that feels great. It's not the real thing, but the sceneries are definately worth it. Some of the boats are worth it, and sometimes there is even a race that's worth it; Besides that, there's a bunch of sweet people  doing the same thing. Many of these hang at Tradewinds Yacht Club. See ya there...

One World Regatta, finals

We had four beautiful races at the One World Regatta finals. Pure sailing with few crashes, and few protests. Here's a few shots from the race. First one shows our team in pursuit; We have the black sails. These helicopter shots are really great for seeing windshifts on the course, btw.

Momomos in pursuit...

Bunnie (in the red boat) went off like that twice... winning the start is important, no matter if you race in SL or in RL, and Bunnie clearly demonstrated that. Below you see Bunnie - again in the lead. Quite comfortably.

Momomos still in pursuit.

Spin up and go get. Unfortunately, in the third race our boat had technical difficulties, and that meant four points; Not a total disaster with one throwaway, but I am speculating this pushed Momomos outta balance;

Last race.

I cheered the best I could in the last race, but we ended up on fourth place any way. That gave us a total of 2-2-4-4 = 8p (One discard). Not too bad really, but the other teams were better on this day. Congrats to Bunnie (5p), Armano (6p) and Alain (6p), and again... woots to everybody involved in making the whole One World regatta a reality.