Maritime Estates

I had a thought about what it means to be a maritime estate and deciding factors, other than price, for whether or not I would want to live there, based on what happened yesterday with Costa Rica.

I took a look at the map on slurl.com and noted the pervasiveness of shallow water around the entire estate.


There are some deep channels that have been cut, but I have a distinct sense that I would have a difficult time getting around many parts of the estate with a boat bigger than a Leetle Cat with her centerboard up. I also get the feeling that there is too much land, not enough water - but then, as a financial matter, an estate owner has to balance that out so that it's livable at ground level and people don't have to escape to skyboxes.

For comparison's sake, I also looked at the Fruit Islands, as well as Sailor's Cove and the other USS sims.

Fruit Islands:


USS:


And my eyes were opened. I like the layout of the Fruit Islands, indeed. I like the wider expanse of water rather than the narrow layout of sims. However, the shallowness of water is even more apparent to me with the Fruit Islands, making me question the ability to sail any of my big boats.

And then look at the USS estates - lots of deep blue! That's what I'm talking about! A sailing estate (several, in their case) that has a lot of deep water so that I can comfortably sail my big boats.

What I cannot really tell from the picture is, how light of a blue is too light - how shallow is too shallow sail big boats. I'll just say this - I have definitely narrowed down my choices, should I ever decide to own land again. I would hope that the estate managers take a look and think about dredging their estate waters a little deeper.

Costa Rica, Once More With Feeling

I got stuck. Hud says it's a depth of .8 meters.

Really? I mean, really??!!

That makes me really unhappy. You know what they say about first impressions...

Costa Rica, Again

I don't know what is going on, it's not the sims... but it seems that when I'm doing too much camera work, I crash.... try to save a snapshot, crash. I managed to pull off a couple of pics and then crashed. The last crash, I don't know... I was stuck in shallow water. I think I need to switch boats.


This is where the trip ended, around 3 sims north of Guanacaste. I was stuck. I dusted off Renaissance, my Ketch, for use and got stuck in shallow water! Whoever cut this (somewhat narrow) channel didn't cut it very deeply and my keel got caught.

That shouldn't be a dealbreaker for me in considering this estate for buying land, but I'm feeling that it is. My Ketch isn't a particularly large boat, but I've got three big boats - the Larinda, the J-Class, and Columbia. How the hell could I use any of them to get around these parts of the estate? I haven't tested my One, but it could suffer just as well. I can't see myself buying land in this estate if I'm going to be too restricted in getting around it. There are lots of open water sections that seem pretty deep but there are some very narrow pathways too, as I can see from the world map.

*Pause* Maybe I'm just frustrated because of the lag and crashing. I will try again with the Twenty and if the same thing happens, that will seal the deal for me.

As a side note, I switched viewers in between crashing. The first picture was taken with the Dolphin Viewer 2 and the second with Boy Lane's Rainbow Viewer, a 1.22 viewer. You can't really see from these photos at this size, but the rendering between viewer 2.x and viewer 1.x is different - it's smoother with viewer 2. Antialiasing is on 8x in both and 1.x has more jagged lines in rendering. While I prefer the UI (the olllld pre-voice UI from 1.17), I am not enjoying the view as much now that I can see the difference with Viewer 2.

Costa Rica

I tried it, but it's too crashy today. Probably this crappy DSL, really, and not the sims. It's a lovely estate. I couldn't even get my first shot here done. Maybe later.

Lazy Sailing

Heigh ho, I'm back again.

I decided to try sailing around the Fruit Islands. If my financial situation changes and I am crazy enough to want to own land again, it could be here in this estate. I would need an estate with a lot of open water. So, a little early reconnaissance doesn't hurt! Plus, I think my bestie would enjoy being in this kind of estate, with so much open sky and water. Still, too early to put all the eggs in one basket, there are other maritime estates to check out.


I was feeling lazy and didn't want to deal with the wind, so I decided to dust off my trusty Twenty, Tania, and go for a whirl using the motor (The sails are up just for show). I chose Tania instead of Renaissance, my Tahiti Ketch II, because she handles shallower water better and I didn't know what to expect.

So I put the throttle around 50% and started off from the Mango Yacht Club. I went north a bit, and then kind of meandering around west and then far north before crashing off the coast of Ziziphus.


It's a lovely estate, and everything feels so serene. I love the attention to detail... things like jumping whales, circling birds, tall ships, off-sim rocks, waterfalls and waves.


This is definitely a candidate for the future residence, unless I become independently wealthy and make my own 500-sim sailing estate! Muhahaha...! :)

New Look

Blogger has apparently gotten jiggy with some CSS and put in new themes that are adjustable. So now we've got a new look. Yay!

Bummin'

I'm back again in SL. I made a new role in my old property group called "Beach Bum," to reflect my new role in my second life. I wear it with pride. My days are now mostly spent on the water, in as few clothes as possible, taking in the SL sun and improving my nascent sailing skills. It's an idyllic existence. Only faintly has some part of me wanted to get a SL job, so that I can finance my wants for new bikinis, skin, hair, etc. But I don't think my real life will allow it just yet. And I don't want this to become a second job again, so, I'll pass for now. I'm happy just hitting the water and saving my few ducats for later.


I decided to see what changed on Corsica. The passageways themselves seem okay, albeit a little narrow in some spots. Unfortunately I didn't make it too far, but what I have seen is good so far. I was very sad to see some of the changes, particularly the loss of a friend's port in Watchman. Gabriele Graves had an awesome little spot there and she sold the land. Change is part of life, and yet I'm not sure we ever fully get used to it. I also swung by my last bit of land in Excellens, which seems to have been taken over by a beach club. My trip ended when I crashed somewhere off Dura.


It was still a great trip. I love the open water, and seeing other boats, and all the lighthouses. The offworld lighthouses are really wonderful, they add so much character to the landscape.

I only got close enough to see one banline idiot, but perhaps there were more off in the distance. Ironically, it was in Excellens, the last sim where I had land. Looks like I dodged a bullet.

But I did find some communities that welcomed passing boats, and I love them. See, for example, the picture below. I can't express how much I appreciate it when people go out of their way to make an area nice in SL. I'm not going to sit there and watch you bump pixel-uglies, I just want to admire your home while the wind pushes me along. And you can admire all the pretty boats from the blissful serenity of your waterside home. Sounds like a decent deal to me!


There is still much to see in SL, and sometimes change is really good. I love to see others' creativity, and we should be out celebrating that instead of holing up behind banlines.

Back! Sort of.

I've spent a long time away, and when I got back, I found joy and relaxation again in SL thanks to sailing.

I have been busy in real life, but I have peeked in a couple of times. It's usually very long stretches of time between visits, but it's nice to be in SL as a visitor having fun instead of a stressed out landowner. There is great pleasure in this level of freedom.

I also note that there are a few new Trudeau yachts out that have come since I was last here regularly. When I departed SL, the last yacht I was aware of was the Patchogue. Since then, Jacqueline has released a number of vessels - Rozinante, The One, and a new Leetle Cat, Leetle Cat II. Sucker that I am, I had to get a new boat. I chose The One, for its styling. I probably should have gotten the Cat since it's a little more advanced, as it has reefing. But I prefer the One, as it's a nicer looking lady, and can hold an extra crew member over the Cat.



So I started off at the lovely Triumphal Yacht Club, one of my favorite places to launch. Sailed down to the Bingo Strait. The Bingo Strait is my favorite stretch of water, it's comforting. I rode out to Trudeau yesterday, bought The One. Mine is now named Oriel, which means "golden beauty."

The One is very different from the other yachts, because it forces you to sail by the senses. I thought it would be more difficult, but it's not as hard as I thought to pick up. I dare say it's actually teaching me things I never really learned about SL sailing, and sailing in general by extension.

I'm learning how to use the spinnaker, and am beginning to internalize the role of apparent wind and how it works. I think I have previously just been too excited and wanted to get on the water with these lovely boats, and the notecard info never really sunk in. Not until now. A little extra reading and some trial and error, and I think I'm finally getting it! lol.

The second picture above is entitled "Headed for Knaptrackicon." Yes, I decided to visit my old nemesis and things changed so much for the better! No more crazy obstructions, and a large protected channel to preserve the crucial North-South passageway. It looked like there was a yacht club there too, or at least some kind of boat launch. Very different from the series of humper bunkers there before, with the only channel mercifully cut by a well-meaning individual or two, but ultimately still difficult and almost useless.

Let me remind you of what it looked like the first time I went through.



That cutesy little marina off to the right was private and not passable. If I recall correctly there were banlines up. Even though the channel was wide enough for the Twenty, it was shallow and there were obstructions, possibly from the shallowness of the channel itself. That isn't a problem today. After the land was sold off and generously donated to the Lindens, the Lindens preserved a channel. It has now gotten even better since I revisited Knaptrackicon after the first Linden setaside. The difference is striking.

So I made it a good distance before finally crashing. And now I physically need to crash, I'm tired. But it's good to be back. I'll be back a little more often.