Happy New Year

I've been on a very long hiatus, as my real life got very complicated. Several moves, career shifts, and a touch of SL burnout generally kept me out of SL for the vast majority of my time. Now, I'm consolidating my rental business to simplify my second life and hopefully I will have more time to do things I enjoy when I'm here.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Jacqueline Trudeau released another timelessly beautiful yacht, the Columbia. I couldn't resist its siren song, and bought one. It is spectacular to look at. It will take a bit of time to learn how to master it. I haven't mastered the J-Class yet, my lovely Joyeux. Columbia will be even more realistic, and will require greater skill than my (dusty) nascent sailing skills. I am not sure what I'm going to name her yet, but I am leaning toward Clarion. We'll see how that works out.

Jacqueline also released another smaller boat, the Patchogue. Funny to see this boat, named after a place I've actually been to! In a nutshell, the boat is a larger Leetle Cat, but with a motor and some other goodies... a faster sister to the Twenty. I was not possessed to buy it because I feel that the Twenty is sufficient for my small-boat needs, as is the Leetle Cat for when I want to challenge myself. I'm not a racer, so the Patchogue is something that will just have to wait. It is cute, though.

As I set the Columbia down along the channel that surrounds my island, I looked at my fleet of boats and I was amazed that I had so many, for a novice sailor. My Ketch, still beautiful and perfect for casual sailing; the Larinda schooner, with her majestic lines; the Leetle Cat and the Twenty; the Shelly Fizz, to see what the hype was about; the WildWind dinghy, DG-70, which I haven't really used yet; and the grand J-Class. Adding Columbia to the collection doesn't bother me in retrospect, because it's just an amazing vessel.

I need to make some time to use them more. In the new year, I hope that will be forthcoming.

Happy New Year, be safe.