Flying Fizz Haiku

sail the Flying Fizz 

sweeter than creme de cassis

oh what sailing bliss

...

We're in the middle of the Flying Fizz Cup 2012.

Pictures from the Fizz Cup 2012

We had some good racing going on this last weekend. I wasn't there to watch group 1 & 2 on saturday, but I understand the saturday races were very good too. These shots are from the group 3 races on sunday.

Coasties, balloons and Flying Fizzes...

Here we're getting ready for the first race; The coastie is en route to the top mark. In the back there's a handfull of Fizzies waiting to start, and further in the back the balloon show is hovering over Tradewinds YC.

Waiting...

Here's a closer look at the racers. Still one missing; Not sure what happened, since the racers are required to register a half hour in advance. However, being late is in the RD department, which was being taken care of by Liv. I was there to sort matters in case of rules drama; Judge.

Bang and away

Anyway, we finally got off to a good start, - or at least a spectacular start. Two boats capsized right before the gun, so the crowd had fun too. As there was only five racers in this group, the other three easily managed to avoid the capsizers. Above you see most of the fleet away on the first leg.

Top mark rounding

It turned out that the sailors in group 3 of the Fizz Cup 2012 qualification were on very different levels, so after the exciting start, there was little action; It looked like - as a judge - I was gonna have an easy day with the boats spread out, minutes apart. Only rarely did they meet...

Todays fastest was Ronin Zane

The fastest sailor today was Ronin Zane; Here he is in his black boat, completely controlling the fleet from a windward position. However, Ronin had gear problems in the first race, so there was room for a nice surprise.

Kris Hollysharp going for the kill

Kris Hollysharp produced the surprise by taking first place in the first race; It is always nice to see new faces at the top of the fleet, and while Kris couldn't keep Ronin behind her in the next two races, she sailed very consistently and ended up with a series of 1-2-2. Nice work there.

Most consistent sailor: Colin Nemeth

The most consistent sailor of the day was Colin Nemeth who was very happy about his three thirds; Woot woot! What a great day at sea. Not without trouble though. The course took longer than anticipated, so we used a shorter course than the one announced.

Night sailing

In fact we ended up sailing the last race in moon light. Romantic racing? I don't think so. It's even harder to keep track of the opponents and the marks in darkness. Still, the crowd seemed happy. I guess they were having a party up there on the spectator platform.

Spectator platform

Well, that's it really. Three races and I was ready for bed, but that's just my timezone. Here we are, waving goodbye to all the coasties; They're always helping to keep the race course uncluttered and that's really great. Results and finalists available on the official Fizz Cup 2012 site.

PS: Still dunno what the Flying Fizz is? Check here and here.

SL by balloon

This is so unboatly, yet sooo amazing I just gotta blog it. I arrived at Tradewinds, - still full of airships, when I noticed something new on the round table: So there is a roasted turkey, a cute little blimp and there's Fizz Cup 2012 results, but look at the book:

The round table at Tradewinds YC

It's a real book, - several books actually, about the most amazing journey around all continents of Second Life in a balloon. Tasha Kostolany of Tradewinds did an interview with the balloonist, Dahlia Jayaram. Read it at the Tradewinds blog, where you'll also find direct links to Dahlias fantastic books;

If you always wondered just what is the Blake Sea, then here's a direct link to Dahlias journey around the Blake Sea area. It's full of pretty pictures and descriptions of the sights. If you just wonder what all this balloonatics are about, then here's a bit of an explanation...

And then it is back to sailing...

Red October at Tradewinds

We saw some good racing at Tradewinds this weekend, and I'll get back to that in a bit. This post here is about a giant submarine that surfaced - right at the starting line - minutes before the sunday heats. It was only visible for seconds before it disappeared into the depths of the virtual oceans:

Red October (?) south of Tradewinds

Before it vanished, I managed to take this one picture. Not entirely sure what it is, but the sheer size of it made me think: Red October. I googled for that, and I think it could be right. Look at the size of that thing. It is huge. The little boat in the center is a Flying Fizz. There is a shadow behind the stern, which is one of those big coastguard boats with helipads.

More shots of subs here...

Race time

Guess what time it is: It is race time. Not just any race! This week marks the beginning of the most interesting race in 2012: The Flying Fizz Cup 2012.

Race me?

It is - in my humble opinion - the most competitive race in the most interesting of virtual boats available in Second Life. Yes, the boat in the back is pretty, and yes it sails pretty well. The Fizz however, sails like a real boat and more importantly: It gives you the controls and the hazards of a real boat.

Crossing the Blake with Titiro

Sailshape, telltales, windicator, compass, currents, waves, wind, crewed trimming, gusts, balancing, capsizes, nosedives, shifts and local variations... So get ur behind on the move to Tradewinds this weekend and experience virtual sailboat racing at its best.

PS: The shot above is from a lovely day at sea with Titiro. Here's a shot from one early morning last year, right before the Fizz Cup 2011 started. I kinda like how that shot captures the quietness before the storm.

Sailing the Zero

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sail the SHA: Type Zero. While Tradewinds is in complete shadow from airships and balloons, I quickly launched the Type Zero, set sails and headed south to get some time alone with the sun, the sea and the boat.

Heading south

The first Type Zero I saw was black. Since it doesn't come in pink, I thought I'd try it in white. Regardless of the colour the good news are: It sails pretty well. The boat works great for cruising. It is easy to handle, reacts as expected, and everything seems to work. Speed seems ok, the healing is good, and the wake is very good. There is even a trimmable spinnaker with a pole.

Checking out the spin

The sailing sound is nice, though it is not very dynamic. This would be greatly improved by using an upgraded BWind sail engine. The older version works quite well, but it misses out on a few features.m Oh, and there is a fun thing about the hatch. It has a sound kinda like a door in a scifi movie, or one of those 1st person shooters...

There are a few glitches in the constructon too. I've already mentioned those, so no need to repeat. However, it seems the jib has already been resized to look like a more normal jib. There are other issues, if this is to become a top contender on the sail simulator market: Sails are flat and they don't luff. This is also fixed by using an updated BWind sail engine.

Close up

I also noted the boat has autogybe. This can be handy for a beginner, but in a race it can be a problem to have unwanted gybes. The spinnaker pole didn't switch side, when I gybed, but that's not too hard to fix. On this close up you can also see another detail: I need a tiller extension, or another steering pose. It looks like I am steering with my foot here...

Looking for an island

Looking up, I kinda miss a graphical feedback on wind direction and trim; Get rid of that ugly floating text with trim, heading and wind. Perhaps the most obvious miss in the sails is the non existing battens, but that's really really easy to fix. Really. Of course I'd also love to be able to balance the boat. It is wide enough, so it makes sense, and it is perfectly possible.

Safe sailing

In the department of nitty gritty there are other things such as sheets, downhauls, kickers and stuff, but lets forget those for the time being; Overall, the boat is a nice build, she sails nice and the feel is good. I had a great time sailing it. This boat will certainly take you and a friend safely to the virtual islands anywhere in the virtual seas, and that's really not too bad for a first build.

Smooth flying

Yesterday the sailing was bad. Still not sure what went wrong, but just a few hours later, the flying was very mooth, and somehow... it was related to the Fizz Cup too...

Smooth flying

So, how did I end up in a hot air balloon, you might ask... Easy enough: At Tradewinds most people  share an interest for building and sailing boats. Turns out Liv, the commodore, has a soft spot for (identified) flying objects. Aka planes and airships.

Balloon show at Tradewinds

This is probably how it came to be that after the live-aboard boat show, there is an airship show going on. The shot above is me heating up the balloon before "going to sea" in it. Never did this in RL, so I am on uncharted grounds here.

Ready for take off

So, - ready for takeoff? Let's see what this balloon can do. Push the pgup key, and the burner bursts into a roaring flame right above my head. I quickly shut it down and the balloon silently lifts and begins to drift eastward towards the light house. This is nice, but uhm... where's the controls?

Controls?

Phew; The winds kinda blew me right south off light house. Good. Now, - never mind the controls. What comes up must go down, and this thing is no exception. If I wanted to spend the night sitting on that yellow buoy I could probably have done that, but I decided to start the burner again... 

Reckognize this?

Perhaps I burned a little too much fuel here, cause the balloon went up pretty fast and the next thing I looked at was this ugly bugger parked over the clubhouse. Anyone reckognize it? Luckily the wind was blowing me away from the beast...

A much better view

Ahh... much better... I wonder if I can hit the island out there... if not, I can always use a parachute. If I can find it in my backpack. Parachuting is fun, but this post here is about the airships... Let's get back to the show... Err... arrow keys don't work. Oh how weird: Typing help seemed to actually help. There is a hud with buttons for controlling the balloon. 

Steering west

This is too easy... I can just click west, and the balloon flies westward... here we are approaching the clubhouse again. Note the other (dark) balloon in the back. Ok, so we have a hefty controllable seabreeze at Tradewinds, hehe.

More balloons in the back

There's loads of airships at Tradewinds. Big, small, cute, ugly... any shape and form. Some are realistic, and others are completely cartoonic. Don't miss the show. It runs throughout November. And don't miss the Fizz Cup 2012 starting this weekend. Didn't file this under unboatly, because an airship is a ship, so this is a boatshow... with a twist.

Many more details on Tradewinds website