What is real water

Some people are busy saying SL water isn't real water. Of course they're right, but what they really mean is that SL water doesn't look like real water as there are no waves. Not neccesarily so. Here's a sip from the virtual waters east of the Tradewinds coast:

Virtual water

And here's a shot from RL. It was taken yesterday. Driving home from work when it suddenly occured to me that my RL water did in fact look quite a bit like the virtual water of SL. Flat an with very regular  small waves with a very distinct direction.

Real water

So it's different. Yes, but it's not that different. Really. The picture above is also looking east off the coast of Copenhagen. The wind is around 5-6 meters per second from west, and those teeny waves are just breaking because they're washing up on the beach. Obviously - in RL - we'd have bigger waves if the wind is from east, but that's kinda rare...

Totally unboatly

It's been a while since I posted an unboatly post. This post is. Sort of. For other (vaguely boatly) reasons I visited a skiing area in SL. Skiing is kinda fun in SL. I used to go to something called Wolf Mountain. Dunno if it's still there, but that's a sidetrack. While I was there I had a look at the local houses, and they were pretty amazing. I wonder if any interior decorators use SL for prototyping...

A relaxing swim?

This bath installation looks nice. I'd like to have one of those in RL. Rip aside the curtains and there's a fantastic view to snow covered mountains. In SL you can go dancing too, and sometimes there's even a dresscode. There would be a sign saying "formal attire" at the entrance. That kinda calls for some makeup, right? Someone told me that girls do stuff to their faces that a car salesman would be sent to prison for doing.

The virtual chemist labotratory!

There's no reason to stand in front of the virtual mirror, because the clever geeks at Linden Labs haven't figured out how to make a virtual mirror. Or so I think. Never seen one anyway. Instead it is just a click of a button, and you've applied makeup for a disco party, a rave or a formal dinner.

The virtual makeup corner

So here's a shot of the virtual makeup corner. I didn't break that screen there on the floor. Really. It wasn't me. When the makup is done, it's time to go chase a suitable dress. The virtual closet here looks almost too tidy, but then again there are no doors, so it has to be kept very orderly.

Pick a dress

Again it looks so nice. I wanna have one. Maybe IKEA could use stuff like this to make presentations. Surely it is easier and much cheaper than using some kind of pro 3d studio thing, and the customer can sit at home and walk through it all. The furniture shops could even be inspired by some of the creativity found in SL.

A sweet guest bed

This here is a supersweet guest bed solution. I've never seen it in RL, but would I like to have one? Oh yes... I will start looking for a closet like this; See if I can get it installed with a bed. Would be sooo much fun. And cozy... Just imagine... after a crazy night out with loads of hangovers... what bliss to be able to hide in that thing... Suddenly I feel sleepy? OMG is it sunday already? Gotta run...

The Ten revisited

Here's a few shots of that new Ten. I talked to Manul, the builder, and he told me there are  a few small adjustments besides the updated sailing engine. If these changes are cosmetic they sure are hard to see. I am not even sure which on is which:

An old and a new Ten

The boat is still extremely pretty under sail, as these next few pictures clearly show. First there's the helicopter view made with no helicopter...

Pretty

Then there's the sideview made with no side, - ehm... no zodiac. SL is amaing! It's like having a gopro on an endless stick.

Neat

The sailing is nice and it is much more interesting than the first edition. Mind you, this is a Bwind 2.x, whereas the first Ten was a... was it a 1.37 or so? Dunno. I never really sailed the first Ten.

No sheets?

There are no sheets, so if you're a sucker for sheets this will surely break your bubble. Can you sail on and not be distracted by the missing sheets, then the Ten is a beautiful cruiser. No doubts. Bear in mind the Ten was originally designed back when almost no boats had sheets...

Ten for two and two for...

Victor joined me as I sailed around the Blake Sea. So here's the obligatory shot with the race rock in the back. We had a nice lil talk about boats and sailing engines. The Ten and the Bwind 2.x is in fact updated as you can see in the next shot...

Luffing sails

See? Luffing sails! So it's actually quite sailable without using a hud. Smooth sailing is what the Ten does best. We cruised around for a while - just enjoying the boat...

Lobsters anyone?

Almost stopped for a lobster, but we decided to check out the boat just a bit more. Turns out it has more tricks... The jib can be winged, which is really nice on a cruise where you sometimes just wanna stay on course...

Wing

All in all this is a much improved version of the Ten. It is super easy to sail, super nice looking and it's just made for smooth sailing with a friend. Definately worth a try if you're into cruising.

Send in the buoys

Soft, big, bouncy and very visible ones. I am talking about buoys here. Race buoys! Buoys that won't bring you to a complete and abrupt stop if you hit them. Buoys that will be pushed aside if you hit them, - as if they were really anchored. Oh, and they should be visible from a big distance.

What'¨s that there?

Here's one I've been playing with. It's nowhere near finished or anything, but it is big, visible and it will slowly seek back to it's position if pushed away from there. 

Takes a bit of balance to do this

What else? Ahh, yes... it should talk to the weather system and display the current as a trail in the water. Just like a real buoy. Maybe even make a huge sound when someone hits it. Anything else? Maybe glow at night?

What is a Flying Fizz anyway?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a boat! And the hull is a rather important part of a boat. Here's three different ones. They look alike, but they're really quite different. One is sculpted, two are meshed, so they weigh in differently.

Front view

From this angle they appear to be very identical. There are slight differences in the smoothness of the hull. The boat on the right seems to need a bit of fairing. Boat two has some kind of difference on the edge... it is as if the overhang is smaller or missing even...

Top view

The top view shows almost identical shapes, length, beam and sidedeck. The middle boat seem to have a more slender bowsprit. Oh, and there is a windex at the mast top. Woohooo. Visible wind. It appears that boat number two is missing that "traction-tape" on the side where you sit.

Side view

Let's check the mast rake with a side view; Hmm. Rather identical. Whatever happened to that weird island in the back I dunno. Again, boat number three seems to need some fairing. Maybe the shrouds are a bit too fat on boat three too. Detail, details, details...

Torpedo boat at TYC

We don't see a lot of warships at Tradewinds. There was a submarine craze more than a year ago, but these days it seems the warships are elsewhere. Not that I know where that is. Today this lil torpedo-thingy popped up...

A torpedo boat

It's not that I like these war machines built to kill people and destroy things, but they are part of the picture, and some of them seem to be pretty well made. I would assume a thing like this is pretty fast. They're using hit and run tactics as far as I understand. I guess that's why there's a big gun on the aft deck.

More on warships in the category warships.

Fizzin...

I haven't been online much these past many months, but a few days ago I heard about a Fizz race this saturday. Since winter is nearing I thought I'd go and have a look. Wasn't really planning on racing; Too rusty for that. This is what it looked like:

Checking out the competition

I couldn't sit still. Seven boats at the line; Really nice up/down course with a few islands thrown in here and there. Local windshifts and a bit of current too. (Thanx Jere). The top three competitors had quite a bit of close race including several rule 20 situations. I think I watched two races and then I couldn't resist anymore.

Start

I rezzed my trusty old Blue Shark Fizz and joined the fun. At that time several other Fizzers arrived, so we ended up being nine boats at the line. Wooohoo. This felt like boat racing. The RD yelled "RDY" and started the countdown. I grabbed a coffee and checked the windsock at the startingline for advantages. Not a good thing. I lost the start, and it bothered me that I couldn't figure out what really happened.

Top mark rounding

After the race I asked about the windsock, and sure enough: It was out of order. Whatever windshift I thought I saw there, - it wasn't real. Next time I'll check the wind with the built-in compass. And there will be a next time, because omg, omg, OMG! This was fun. So many things to think about. There seemed to be less wind on port side of the track, and I totally forgot the polar for downwind. Had to experiment a bit there before I nailed it.

Downwind is fun too

There was also a hefty meeting at the top mark where a port tack boat crossed in between two starboard boats that were both fetching the mark. A risky maneuver, but it was done with so much finesse and elegance - noone even yelled anything. (Nice one Joro). Actually, I think I was holding my breath. Despite the far from good start, I managed to hang on, pass a few boats on the upwind leg and another on the downwind, so I came in as boat nummer three. Woohoooo. I better find my race gear and do this more often.

PS: No, my boat isn't on the pics. I was way too busy sailing. The pics are from the first two races or so. Before I joined. Here's what the Blue Shark looks like.

PPS: The results are in the forum. Thanx (again) Jere; I see the second place was just 1 second away. Bear with me, but I am gonna have to do one more wooohooo :-D