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.

Fixing Stuff

I have to do a bit of work to fix up all the pictures linked from my flickr. Apparently I goofed things up when playing with privacy settings and now I have to fix everything that isn't showing a picture. Ugh.

I decided to keep Clarion as the name for the Columbia. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to modifying the hull and sails of all the boats. The only one whose name has been properly placed is Renaissance, the Ketch. It's just hard to find time. But one of these days I'll do it.

No new pictures or adventures because I've been having a really tough time with sim crossings. I do have some pics from scuba diving, though... but that isn't sailing. It's related... I may put them up.

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.

Knaptrackicon, revisited

I have had two recent comments about Knaptrackicon. One let me know that the situation changed and that there was better access. The second was a nastygram from a member of the group that used to own most of that land.

I expressed my opinion as an explorer frustrated with exploring the wider world that a major north-south passageway into Nautilus was effectively blocked by landowners. I am entitled to my opinion, that is why I wrote it here instead of presuming to tell the landowners personally what to do with their land.

No matter how much I dislike banline morons and other obstructionists, I understand that they are entitled to do whatever they like with their land. But that doesn't mean that everyone else has to like it! And I sure as hell will voice my opinion here on my blog if I well please. It's not as if they cared about anyone else's opinion when they put up banlines and obstructions to begin with. I'm not sorry for hurting your widdle feelings.

As I said before, "While I don't agree that people should be told what to do with their own land, I think that selfish people who put up banlines and other obstructions should be prepared to be shunned by their neighbors and be banned in kind. You have to get as good as you give." That is my ultimate point. This is why people flee to private estates, because neighbors aren't neighborly and they make other people miserable. Only a private estate can control the banline situation between neighbors.

I own land that is at the end of a major waterway in Nautilus. If I wanted to, I could block the neighbor who is at the end of one of the two inlets I border from having access to the water, but I don't. In fact, I recently did block the neighbor since they noobishly put up banlines. Why? Because those who don't listen, feel. I did, however, put in the description of my land that if they wanted to be part of a community with water access, they would have to give access. They took down their banlines, and I stopped banning them. We are back to peace and harmony.

These examples further prove the point that most people cannot be trusted with water sims in a wider world. It really is Linden Lab's fault that they didn't carve out a protected waterway between the two ocean sims, because space and prims are at a premium and it is only natural that a landowner would maximize the use of their land, even to the detriment of others. Even though it may be open now, it's not guaranteed to stay that way.

People can do whatever they want with their land, but no one is going to kiss your ass when you're the one not being neighborly.

Still Alive

I am still alive... things have just been crazy for me in real life. I'm barely here, because I've been moving and changing jobs, and my time has been really limited. I will get back up to Corsica to finish my trip.

Corsica Rising, part 1

This post details my first attempt at a peripheral exploration of Corsica by boat. I actually made this trip a couple of days ago, but the postcard feature wasn't working and as a result, it took about half a day before they showed up in Snapzilla and Flickr. I was afraid that they might be lost, but had a feeling that the queue was just gummed up by yet another brilliant move by Linden Lab.

I chose the Larinda, for its speed - it was faster than all of the boats in my little fleet, except maybe the new WildWind DG-470. I don't know about the new J-Class, though... I suspect that the J-Class is potentially much faster. I haven't taken the time to learn the WildWind just yet, and I was anxious to take a look at Corsica, so here I am.



I started out at Watchman, where I stopped last time from my trip to Corsica from Nautilus. Gabriele Graves is a fellow sailing aficionado and has a friendly port there in Watchman, so I figured it was an ideal place to start. That's Gabriele's Tradewind and another tall ship in the background of the above picture.

I sailed east, picking up from where I left off last time. I didn't get quite as far as I'd like to, because I didn't have the time and the ugly crash that ended my trip came at an opportune moment. Basically, I made it from Watchman to Majistral, but it's a decent trip... there is still much to see in this short trip and I'm happy I made it.



I love seeing mainland shoreline, because it reaffirms the diversity of Second Life sailing. It's all over the place. Water is such a valuable property, and access to large bodies of unobstructed open water is a monumental boon to any property.



I think that some people think of the SL sailing community as that relatively small group that is often the somewhat insular and yet vocal folks that populate the USS regattas and associated yacht clubs. In truth, it's much bigger than that, as evidenced by all of the countless heretofore nameless harbors, marinas, yacht clubs and general sailing geeks that dot the shores of the mainland continents. And let's not forget the other private sims that boast open waters for sailing.

But I digress.



I found a Linden infohub, Degrand Infohub. I found it highly ironic that the parcel in the sim was called "Water Activities" and yet there was no place to actually rez a boat or jetski, or whatever. I mean, duh, Lindens, come on. I need to remind myself to put in a LDPW ticket to address that situation.

At first I didn't know what Degrand was, so I circled the island a bit to see who was on it. A few people were there, although I couldn't really see them as they were clouds to me. I hope that they found the place enjoyable. I wonder what they thought of me circling and hanging out nearby in my schooner?



I took a photo of Degrand from an aerial viewpoint. It's a very small island, complete with a nigh-ubiquitous shipwreck. Think of it as Half-Hitch's Mini-Me.

I opened up the map and saw that I would be passing the sim called Oryx. I had to stop, because my friend Oryx Tempel shares the sim's name and I wondered if it would in any way happen to reflect her personality. Ehh, not really. It was rather bland in general.



I was grateful for the little harbor that someone set up at Oryx, though. I couldn't help but feel contempt for the idiots two doors down who were super-aggressive about access and security in the description of their property, and the dreamer selling his 1024 for 90k. As for the aggressive couple... I sincerely hope your neighbors banned the crud out of you.



The only thing of note is a friendly little sail-up bar on the edge of Oryx, some place called Scoundrels. They over-used these prims for a mountain backdrop, though. It hides the water slide they've got from certain angles.

I think just a scultpy or two would suffice...



But what was really interesting was not Oryx but what was next to it, a sunken city with "lost treasures" - I have GOT to go back with scuba gear. I just need to avoid the shark. ;)

I had almost passed it by without looking under the water, but I circled back to find it. At first it wasn't terribly interesting, as I was on the edge, but I'm glad I did, as the view got a lot better.



I thought that was pretty neat. While sailing over the city, I saw some things glowing that appeared to be possible treasure. Must, must get there and scuba... but I don't know if I will be able to moor my boat for too long, need to check autoreturn time.



One cool thing I did see while circling around was this whirlpool. My first thought? Charybdis!! lol.



One disappointing thing about cruising mainland is seeing the repetitive nature of the housing. I am pretty sure this is a rental community, because of the ever so familiar housing by Ace's Spaces/Park Life.

Yes, their work is beautiful - this is by no means criticism of them. But it's getting to the point where it's not distinctive. I see the houses and I'm like, ho hum. Big deal... their houses are everywhere. I'm not saying it because I would like more people to buy my houses, but because it really does get boring after a while. I would love to see more property developers exercise independent thought and do something different.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't take too much longer before I crashed and crashed hard. I made the mistake of trying to traverse a plot off the protected path, and *whack* I hit a parcel that was full, and it returned Majestad to me and sent me off into the deep blue negative numbers of the sim. I teleported home and I still kept going into negative numbers.

Le sigh, Linden Lab.

PostScript: here is the map of the crazy trip.

Joyeux, J-Class!

I am ever so pleased to report that I have the fortune of having purchased one of the brand new beautiful J-Class yachts from Jacqueline Trudeau. She is a thing of beauty, isn't she?

Getting the hang of the spinnaker and the new HUD info display is a bit of work. Luckily for me, I don't give a rat's tush about racing!



It will be a great pleasure getting to know my lovely new J-Class. I have named her Joyeux, to express my happiness. I have also painted her hull in sleek black.

As an aside, I have also finally decided on a name for my Larinda schooner: Majestad. Yes, Majestad breaks my recent trend for alliteration, but I think it's really fitting. Now I just need to get off my butt and start working on the graphics for naming my lovely boats. The only one with a customized name on the hull is Renaissance, the Ketch. So much work to do...but it will be a labor of love.

Thank you, Jacqueline, for these fantastic yachts.

New Skin

I'm so excited about it I have to put it somewhere... I got this gorgeous new skin from :Genesis: by Ryker Beck. Candace, in Coconut skin tone.

Ryker's work is exquisite, and it is, so far, the best skin for this sailing gal's body. If you want to take pictures, this is definitely one to try. So far it comes in 8 makeups but Ryker has more fun and pretty makeups in the pipeline.

Sailing gives me an excuse to wear all those swimsuits I've bought, and I love that this skin will make the whole image even better.

More Fizzy Thoughts

Apparently Mothgirl has resolved her key dilemma and decided to release her scripts full perm for free instead of charging shipbuilders a premium to build with it.

I'm very sorry to hear that. It's good for the community and for modernizing standards, but she should be rewarded for putting about a year of her life into those scripts. I don't see why it was so objectionable to charge a premium for a reseller version. She knows shipbuilders better than I do, maybe she knows that most of them would never pay that kind of money and they would just leech off her stuff. If they were eager to modernize, why wouldn't they pay her a premium for a transferable version?

I should be happy, I suppose, but I'm not. I'm glad she's made her peace with it but I'm very sorry that it came out this way.

Wild is the Wind...

I got a new boat. This time it's a dinghy designed for racing, a WildWind DG-470, upon recommendation from a friend. It was so inexpensive I really didn't have to think twice about buying it.

This is a VERY different sailing experience. On this boat, I have to manually shift my weight, and it has a spinnaker. Oh boy!

Ironically enough, I've never used a Tako, which has a spinnaker. I've got a bit more to learn about sailing! It's all well and good, I guess... that new J-Class coming soon from Jacqueline Trudeau uses a spinnaker, I will need the practice. ;)

Considering the Shelly and Her Ilk

The Shelly Fizz debuted the other day to much fanfare at the Starboards Yacht Club. It is a free boat, developed by the Schiffsratten Yacht Club and Mothgirl Dibou, the proprietor of the Flying Fizz boat. The Fizz has just been updated to include more realistic features, and she graciously allowed the Ship Rats to make a training boat with the new Fizz engine.

As a teaching boat, it's fine. It only has two modes - fun mode and novice mode. Fun mode is as simple as it gets, just hop on the boat and steer. Novice mode is more of what I'm used to, with adjustment of the sheet versus the wind. The key difference in my experience is that there is no HUD, you have to tell by looking at the sail whether or not you're getting it right.

So far, so good. I also benefited a little bit from going to the beginning sailing class and practiced "beating" - shifting back and forth to sail upwind. This was the thing that really got me about the Leetle Cat, that made it less enjoyable - I wasn't good at sailing upwind and desperately wanted a motor. To dock my boats, I would drop the sails and start up the motor at a low throttle power, to have more control over where the boat went. It felt more finessed than messing with the wind.

So I at least feel better about sailing upwind, and will give the Leetle Cat more use. Like the Leetle Cat, the Shelly has a centerboard that can be raised for going through shallows. It's just a very different experience since there is no HUD. I don't mind it, although I still prefer a HUD telling me the wind speed and direction.



Is this what the Fizz itself is like? I don't know. It can't be too far off. My reaction in light of what I already experienced while cutting my teeth on Trudeau yachts is "meh." But it would take a full demo to find out, and I don't know if I care to do that in light of what I've read about future Fizz-style boats. Just some ugliness since Mothgirl plans to sell a separate key to make Fizz derivatives work. Instead of just licensing the engine to shipbuilders, she is collecting from individuals who want to buy Fizz-powered boats, 500L for a separate key on top of their boat purchase. It is highly inconvenient and raises the relative cost of owning a Fizz-powered boat, even though the cost is a one-time purchase.

I don't think this is a wise business decision, but it's not mine to make. The vast majority of people who sail in SL don't give a rat's tush about the sailing clubs or racing. They just want to have fun and enjoy the water. So far, this is exactly what I've had with the Trudeau boats. Pure fun, with a little bit of a challenge in learning how to control the boat's sheet angles.

If the shipbuilding kit really is all that, and so many people are anxious to build with it, then I feel that she would be better served licensing it at a reasonable rate such that shipbuilders would be able to resell at a rate comparable to the Fizz (L$ 1250) instead of selling us their stuff at L$ 1250ish and then oh-by-the-way, you have to pay Mothgirl an extra 500L, albeit once.

I don't know Mothgirl from Adam, and the things I've read from her and some others - venting her frustration at others, most especially at Jacqueline Trudeau, about the slow adoption of her new engine and her new windsetting scheme - definitely make me cool to the concept of buying a Fizz at all. I know she's done a lot of work to improve upon the work already done by Kanker Greenacre and possibly others, and she deserves to be rewarded for her hard work, but I don't think this is the wisest way. Plenty of people who know a heck of a lot less than I do about her may be disinclined to bother paying for a key. She says it'll go to good causes like Sail for Life, and that's great. But why should anyone who hasn't even heard of the yacht clubs care?

It's not really about the money, since just about everything in Second Life is less than the cost of a cup of Starbucks coffee, but it sort of is - it's both money and inconvenience. But relative to other boats? It begs the question if dealing with all this brouhaha is really worth it.

For me, that jury is definitely out.

Reunited, and it feels so good...

I really am dating myself, if you know what the title of this post references.

I am finally reunited with my desktop computer, and its superior graphics card. It's the return of the pretty pictures!

After reading about Orca Flotta's trip to Triumphal Yacht Club on SLSailing.com, I had to take a trip out there myself. I am pretty certain that I must have passed it on my forays into Nautilus looking for a feasible path to the interior. But as I commented in Orca's article, there are so many places to look at that if you keep stopping, the trip would take forever. So I'm happy to go back and take a look around.



And what a feast for the eyes it is. It's a mixed rental community and yacht club. It is also the personal home of Charlz Price and his partner Fiona Haworth. That awesome steamer is Charlz' home, which he allows people to explore.

The property spans about a sim and a half and is located in southwestern Nautilus. Nautilus City and the Blake Sea are a godsend for a property such as this. I happened to meet Charlz, and he said that when he bought the land, there were only about 5 sims of open water. That number has exploded with the expansion of navigable water and his club is in a very convenient place. It had nice amenities to begin with, but this is even sweeter now.



Charlz and Fiona have a charming fantasy treehouse that overlooks the protected water adjacent to Triumphal. It doesn't get much better than this!

He and Fiona make furniture, which they sell from a store in Devilbrook, on the eastern side of Triumphal with even more navigable water.



Charlz also has some more fantastic boats in his waters. He's got a beta copy of the upcoming Trudeau J-Class, and a modified Larinda schooner.

He's also got one of those WildWind boats that I keep hearing about, the 44. I have also been recommended to pick up one or two other WildWinds, the 14 and 470. My little fleet might just expand soon...



One other thing to thank Charlz for is the change to Devilbrook. That cityscape used to border a vehicle graveyard. Charlz talked to the land owner, who had no idea that he had banlines up and didn't realize the effect of limiting access. Now, Devilbrook is navigable and Charlz is working on getting a racing course through that section of the water. Thanks, Charlz!

He hasn't gotten to the point of having any events yet; his club is only 3-4 months old and is growing. He's working with Jane Fossett of Nantucket Yacht Club and others and stuff is going to happen. I'd love to join his club but I just don't have the room in my groups for it. He should consider a Subscribe-O-Matic or HippoGroups. More sailing groups should consider it, or some kind of listmaking device. I know I saw one on XStreet. It's really late, though, and I can't be bothered to look it up now.

Anyway, it was a sincere pleasure to meet another kind sailor with his beautiful club.

Broken Habits

One of the things that surprised me about myself in Second Life is learning just how much of a girly-girl I am on the inside, and how much I like jewelry. It didn't take long to lose the noob fascination with bling, but I still love beautiful jewelry. But now that I've taken up sailing, my jewelry habit is broken.

How did that happen?

Well, one day when I was busy tempting myself at Jacqueline Trudeau's shipyard, I came across a gal who told me about my Avatar Rendering Cost, or ARC. It was well over 8000(!). Although some of that could be attributed to my hair, shoes, etc., it was primarily my jewelry - a rose quartz starflake set from Alienbear Designs.

The gal had an extremely low ARC, just 59. She was barefoot, with no jewelry or any attachments. She said that it helped in sim crossings to have less prims attached to my person, and that I should only wear the minimum amount necessary. Interesante.

Now me, I like to look pretty and look like a lady - so I normally wear a full gamut of stuff: prim hair, eyelashes, nails, jewelry, and some kind of shoe. I even have some animated eyes from Insolence that require prims. And of course, my other attachments - my hugger, Mystitool implant, etc.

All this stuff adds up.

So I boned up on what factors increase the avatar rendering cost by digging out the old blog post on it. For this blog entry, however, I have linked to the wiki, which is good enough.

As such, when sailing, I am now almost as bare as I can be, attachment-wise. I lose the nailpolish, take off the shoes, and use a standard set of eyes. Although I am vain enough to keep my eyelashes on... but no jewelry.

Sniffle.

Oh well, if it will reduce rubberbanding and getting left behind by my yacht, I'm all for it.