Going Topless

I joined the Topless Sailing group.  It's a pretty diverse and fun group, they sail topless cruises and in most cases, bottomless is also allowed.  It's not a sexual thing, it's more of a naturist thing.  Men and women can join, and everyone I've met has been very nice so far.  Especially considering my lag disasters.  I managed to make the cruise today and for crying out loud, I think I got thrown off my boat at least 7 times.  Fortunately I had a nice crewmate who was able to teleport me back to the boat!

The cruises are nice, long courses that can be a little challenging sometimes.  After the cruises they have a nice dance party with a DJ.  They do this twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays at 1pm SLT.

It seems it's very Euro-centric, as many of the people I've seen on the cruises are European.  That's not a bad thing, but it would be nice to have some American-primetime-friendly cruises.  I suppose I'll have to volunteer or some shiz like that, lol.  In the meanwhile, I hope I can make it more often.

Flop

I have, thankfully, no pictures of today's debacle where I totally embarrassed myself. I will spare myself the pain of recounting all the details. What I will say, is that I ultimately learned a lot more about sailing one of my boats - Frivolity, my Francois Jacques.

In a way, it's a very good thing that this shameful thing happened because I don't think I'd have learned otherwise just how much power I was dealing with and how much restraint is needed sometimes in controlling it. Normally when I sail, I don't bother to change the SL wind. My approach has been to deal with it as it comes, and just tack and tack as necessary to go upwind. What I never normally experience is a gale force wind.

Well, stupid me didn't realize that the recommended wind for the day's event was a gale force wind. And the FJ loves to heel, something else I'd forgotten in almost three years of hardly sailing because of getting deep into medieval roleplay. Well, disaster first came when I couldn't even get started. I chose the wrong boat for the recommended wind; I probably should have stuck with Twinkle, my T12. I didn't want to use Twister, the 12 Metre, because I already saw several of them being used. And I wanted one of the big pretty boats, just not the same as everyone else. Vanity... so, out came Frivolity. But -sploosh- I went as soon as the sails went up. I was capsizing, something that has never happened to me before, and I had no idea why. I managed to right myself, but then I hit a horrible spot and I was capsizing again. I didn't know why, until I went back later at night to try the FJ out again, and also consulted dear Jane Fossett's invaluable blog for the scoop on the FJ.

Herp derp, I had a sense that I needed to do the counter-intuitive thing and let the sail out, but it felt like the HUD wasn't responding and I couldn't let it out enough. Well, that's intentional. Had I known my boat better, I'd have known that the recommended 18m/s wind speed was too much for the FJ with the mainsails up. As it was, I'd have needed a crew of burly musclemen to stop the heeling, and even then it might not have been enough to keep from tipping over.

What I should have done was drop the mainsails and just sail with the jib/stay/jib topsail, or vice versa and drop the jib/stay/jib topsail and sailed with just the mainsails. There is just too much sheet open to the wind with both sets of sails up at that speed, and it will blow you over unless you can start running downwind. My instinct was right in letting the wind spill, but with the pressure to try to keep up with other cruisers, who remembers these things? People with more experience, that's who.

So, lesson learned - stop being a permanoob, and know what the hell it is you're actually driving.  I know that my instincts are underdeveloped, partly because I don't sail in real life and partly because I hadn't done it enough in Second Life.

Although I am still ashamed at the flop, I am proud that I actually learned something from this, and I am already a more confident sailor.

eta: it wasn't a gale force wind but Trudeau doesn't use knots... oops.

Twisting in the Wind

Welcome Twister, my new Trudeau 12 Metre!


The 12 Metre represents a return to the big boats, another America's Cup racer that lasts well into the 1980s, after the J-Class.  It's a lovely yacht and it has fantastic lines - literally.  Watching the ropes move and slide along the pulleys as the sail swings is fascinating to watch.  I can understand why it took so long, I think, for Jackie to come out with a new yacht.

So I took a spin in the Fruit Islands, as my original trek starting at the Leviathan didn't go so well.  A few sims away and then I was left behind.  I still don't know where the boat is...

But hey, can't complain about sailing around in paradise.



I've yet to really put it through its paces, with a full crew. I'm not a racer anyway, but still, it would be nice to see how it handles with a full crew to stop the heeling. My first impression is that this thing can really pick up some decent speed very quickly. But it can, through cap'n's ineptitude, come to a dead halt quickly too. This yacht is soooo not meant for shallow water. Try not to cut it too close by sailing too close to shore.  I think I've already scratched up my keel...

Change Keeps Coming

So, after some consideration I closed the sim for Lightbridge.  The most important thing is to maintain balance, and the stress of trying to grow it was not something I could really endure - I had to be honest with myself.

There are a lot of maybes of things that I could have done differently, but the bottom line is that it wasn't growing anymore.  It felt like I hit a limit and what I had wasn't satisfactory.  I had a profound sense of waste, being the only one in the sim and hearing again and again how it was just too hard to get into the rp.  I thought differently, but that's not something you can just change people's minds about.

So upon suggestion from a friend, instead of closing completely, I downsized and moved - there is a village but it's atop my new home on a half homestead, instead of having a full homestead and only a closet's worth of prims for a home away from the rp.  And I love my home:



Life rebalances itself, and in the end, I always come back to the water.

Still Sailing

I'm on a roll, but I'll never make up for losing almost two years of blogging.

So I added a couple more boats to my collection: The T-12, finally, from Trudeau Classic Yachts. I don't know why I missed that one but it's a perfect small boat for skimming mainland waters, or just going out with one friend. Yeah, it holds more than one, but I like it for smaller groups. I got the party boat (the New York 30) for that reason - partying with lots of friends.

I've also added a Loonetta, finally. I'd been eyeing that boat for some time and it's just a marvelous bit of engineering. So many places to sit and so many animations! I love the steering animations when you stand at the helm. It's just a quality machine.


It's a different experience from sailing a Trudeau and honestly, I prefer Jackie's method for sailing when in control of the ship. Maybe I just need more practice but it's not something I'm used to and I think the sail luffing looks better on the Trudeaus. The Loonetta is a perfect boat for cheating easy sailing, though, with the motor. My life is stressful enough, sometimes you just need to chill.

 

Pics are from a casual cruise around Corsica and over to Gaeta.  I started off at Tradewinds, but I really want to comment on Danshire Yacht Club, over in my old nemesis, Knaptrackicon.



Quite the difference from this 2009 photo:



My thoughts at the time:

Lovely sim, eh? Well this bitch is nigh impassable. These folks have access to 2 protected Linden ocean sims, north and south. But they apparently don't like seeing all the pretty sailboats come through, because they haven't bothered to leave enough open land to let that happen. There is a very narrow strip in the west that I had to edit myself through, because not only is it shallow, there are things there that obstruct passage. I need to double check that, but it was pretty convincing to me when I couldn't pass this one particular papyrus that the plant was solid. I'll try again in the Leetle Cat, because the Ketch has a pretty deep keel. Overall, it's just a DICK MOVE.

Change can be very, very good.

To Recap...

It's been a long time since I've written anything.

I know I needed to, but I've just been mentally preoccupied even when nothing was going on.  It's just a block, it happens.


So in the past almost two years, I'd finished playing at Mystara and joined a new historical sim.  I had replaced Cristalle with a lovely Avariel named Liriel, of whom I have some great pictures.


Liriel was supposed to take Cristalle's place as Tyaro/Diplomat, but that plan changed when she applied to own the Vanya Sulie and she became the Keeper instead.  I stuck that out for almost a year, but then I began playing in Wystenra, a historical sim set in a fictional country on the European continent.


I found a love for all things not magical, as I felt like magic was being abused to keep people alive when they probably should have died.  I understand that people get attached to their characters, but I'm more attached to stories and magic as the constant means to evade death became a turnoff to me.  I'm not singling anyone out, a ton of people do it, and I find it more than a little lame.  The amount of fruit that Cristalle's death bore was amazing to me, and even just a few haunting scenes were enough to make those of us involved teary eyed and runny nosed.  There is power in consequences, and yet that power is often abdicated.

Unfortunately, Wystenra also closed near the end of 2014 due to some unfortunate rl circumstances with the sim owner.  But it was a great time, with many wonderful stories and a few friendships to come out of it, some of them very special to me.


After 6 months of ambiguity in Wystenra, I decided it was time to commit to working on something that came to me over the summer, an idea that began to grow.  That has resulted in me now running my own rp sim, Lightbridge, also historical but in a different place and time from Wystenra and with very different rules. In a way it's more rigid about the realism, as the thing I want to capture is that consequences matter and the choices we make in rp matter over time.  But upon further introspection, I realize that maybe I take the difficulty of the character generation process for granted, and I am mulling over some ways to make that easier for people to just get in and play.


Running your own sim is difficult, and you need good help.  That isn't easy to find, and sometimes even if you have good help you just need more.  It's rewarding but also a source of stress.  I'm very proud of the build I put together for Lightbridge, as it is on a homestead and the prim limits are very tight.  It's months of work and love and that's before you even let anyone else in.


So that brings me to the announcement that Mystara is closing, which makes me sad.  Few sims could ever match it in its beauty and all current pretenders to the throne pale in comparison.  This is not to denigrate anyone's hard work, but Mystara is a visually stunning sim that is currently unparalleled and it is a shame to see it broken up and sold off.  You couldn't ask for a better physical environment in which to roleplay.


That's the one constant feature of Second Life, though: change.  Everything eventually goes away, and something new comes to take its place sometimes.  Some things and sometimes some people are lost forever, as they are irreplaceable.  We take things for granted in our youth but even youth fades and life can be taken from us while we are still young. I wish Annie well and I expect that in time Mystara will be back in some shape or form.

So now, on to Lightbridge... and yes, I'm still sailing.

Treaties, Plague, Famine and Death. Oh My!

It's been a busy couple of months.  The following is a brief overview, and each will get their own post in their own right with their own pictures.

In a very brief nutshell:  Cristalle was promoted to Cora Soumia, along with Idril.  Cristalle handled the ambassadorial work and Idril collected intelligence.  She managed to arrange a summit for the three races (Dragons, Mer and Elves) which was a great success, a happy occasion.

Unfortunately, not long after that, a magically induced plague and famine hit Mystara, and there was much suffering.  Cristalle was attacked in her shop by the plague vulture carrying a bunch of plague infested rats, and was near death for about 2 weeks, also having lost her eye to the vulture.  Fortunately for her, she received great care at the healer's temple, from the Infirmary Staff, and from the Tari, Tyl'rathia, and Doki.  They also managed to regrow her eye.  Amazing!

But near the end of April, Cristalle died in battle outside of Ered Eithel.  Morgana, her old nemesis, had been executed for her involvement with the death of Sophie Du Pont, but was resurrected and became a demon.  She finished Cristalle after Cristalle had a lengthy fight with the Drow outside the city.  She had a touching funeral and her body was sent to the stars.  Her spirit did a little haunting but it has gone to find the summerlands.

Cristalle is dead; long live Cristalle!

Still Here

I got upset about something and overreacted.  These things happen, although not often to me.  But things worked out.  Thank God for people who are willing to forgive.  I still have some big things in the works.

Viva Ered Eithel & Long Live Taure Rhun!

Ered Eithel at nighttime.  The Dragon Temple can be seen in the distance.

The Elves of Mystara rebuilt their home after the destruction of Taure Rhun, with the aid of several other nations.  Aid came primarily from the Dragonkin, and with a significant assist by the Mer and the Humans.  The new city has been named Ered Eithel - which means 'mountain wellspring' in Elvish.

Unlike the very cozy and bohemian treetop buildings of Taure Rhun, Ered Eithel is made of stone, built to last centuries, like the Dragon Temple seen in the background above.  I was instrumental in obtaining that help, and as my reward I was invited to join the Tyaro - the diplomatic corps of the Elves, even though I am human.

Not a meeting in the Ladies' Room... a meeting in the Dragons' Lair!

As Sha'Quessir, an ally of the Elves, I have been welcomed and have been able to contribute to the reconstruction effort.  I was given responsibility over procuring supplies, and with that came the idea to seek the Dragons' aid.  The Da'Ariv, or the Queen of the Dragons, Vanthadriel Tobor Ma'Jakar, was gracious and I would say even eager to help.  As a result of this cooperation, the Elves formally gained another ally in the Dragonkin.

Vanthadriel, the Da'Ariv of the Dragons

The construction was rapid, as aid came in from many sides.  Queen Nna of the Mer and King Declan of the Humans pledged significant amounts of help with supplies.  Absalon's traders also helped, sending a few of their men to help with construction.  Even the fat bastard that told me to piss off when I went to order the supplies...!  Anyhow, it finished quickly and the finished product is simply breathtaking.

Ered Eithel at nighttime, the palace and the temple are shown, as is the guard house and the entrance.

The effort by all was incredible.  Not long after the destruction, the mages started terraforming the land, raising it up to the mountain upon which the city currently sits, creating mystical waterfalls that lend to the city's name.  The Great Tree was also moved back to its place at the center of the city, the key vestige to the heritage of the Elves.

The Great Tree sits in the center of the square.

A few structures are very noticeable in town - the Temple, which was absent before, has been given a prominent place.  Also new is the foundry, so that the Elves can now make their own special weapons.  The library got a significant upgrade, with much more space.  The most noticeable and enjoyable difference is the Vanya Sulie, which is enormous and rivals the Royal Oak for space, but is unmatched in beauty.  The Vanya Sulie has an enormous balcony facing the eastern waters, large enough to support a dragon or two in their full form.

The Vanya Sulie, center.  In the distance, Wolf Mountain, the Healer's Temple and the Kokarri Enclave.

It is all breathtakingly beautiful, isn't it?  I will get some daytime pictures to show off here and there.  It is sad that the old village, with its quaint bohemian charms, was destroyed.  But like a phoenix, the Elves have arisen from the ashes... stronger, with new, powerful allies and an appropriate home to match.

Frolicking on Frivolity

Two posts in a month?  Heavens!

Well, there will actually be another.  But you'll have to wait for that one...

But yes, this is my second post, dedicated to my other new sweet ride, which I have christened with the name Frivolity.  It's just a fun little F name that follows my alliteration scheme.  It means the state of being frivolous... in the sense of playfulness, that is - not anything derogatory.

The Francoise Jacques model from Trudeau is truly glorious, much like its inspiration, Gloriana, a racer from 1891.  It has such elegant lines, and those five sails make me want to bite my hand, they are so pretty.  I really couldn't resist her.  I had to have her!  Which is why I ended up buying not one, but two boats, the other being Namaarie, my Trudeau New York 30.

It's been a pleasure to be back out on the water.  I promise I won't be away for so long.  Now that I have these two beautiful new yachts, it's unlikely I will be gone so long.

It's Up To You, New York

Here's something I haven't actually written about in a while: Sailing.

This blog used to be dedicated to sailing and exploration, but then that darned roleplay bug bit me HARD and I've been lost in Mystara ever since. But what a glorious time I've had!

Well, that put me behind the times when it comes to my fleet of yachts. I decided to check out the latest from Trudeau, and sure enough there are new things abounding. Now, I don't own every single one of Jackie's yachts. But I do have quite a few, and it saddened me to see that many if not most of them are now considered obsolete, and their only hope of seeing sales is through a redesign. It tempts me to box them up, but I can't bring myself to do that yet.

What I could bring myself to do was buy something new. I had a dilemma: get the party boat or the pretty boat? The party boat is actually the New York 30. The pretty boat (as if they aren't all pretty, but this one is very very pretty) is the Francois Jacques, named after a beloved SL sailor who recently passed away.

There are distinct benefits to both; New York has a crew of 4, and also sleeps 4 in the cabin. The FJ is a more intimate experience, with a crew of two, sleep space for two, and its five sails are a glory to behold.

Which one to choose? Great googly moogly!

Well, I resolved my dilemma the easy way. I got both! Muhahaha.

Please welcome Namaarie, my lovely new New York 30. The name means 'farewell' in Elvish. Fitting, I guess, considering what I've been up to for the last few months. It also continues my trend of naming boats using some form of alliteration.

It's a wonderful ride, and the crew positions are great. I christened it with a couple of friends, and we had a grand old time. It really is great for a party boat, having 4 of my friends along for the ride, it will be so much fun. My only complaint was the motor, being really slow. I may sail lazy sometimes, but not THAT lazy!

I couldn't be more pleased with Namaarie. It's beautiful and I love love love the size of the crew. I definitely intend to have more parties.

The Great Elven/Greenskin War

Had a fantastic weekend full of combat, heroics and pathos.
Cristalle went to live with the Elves several months ago, when the corruption in Stromness reached a frenzied boiling point. Although she still owns the general store, she has been happy to be living among the Elves.
This weekend, however, war came to Taure Rhun and it was destroyed by the Orcs and the Kokarri.

It was a surprise attack, and even though there had been rumors of it, it was still a surprise when it occurred. They brought a troll, which destroyed all the buildings, as well as their artillery.

Cristalle actually got a nasty burn on her arm thanks to a Kokarri witch, Calida. There were some small victories, though. Daewin has two of them on his belt:

And we did manage to save the Great Tree - through massive magic to move it.
But for now, the Elves are scattered and largely homeless. They have set up camp, though around the Great Tree.

The process of rebuilding is starting. We are getting help from the dragons. The humans... well, that's a long story in and of itself. We are not asking for it and we do not need it. And they will be amazed. In the meanwhile, we heal...

Still Inworld!

I've been very caught up in roleplaying in Mystara. I haven't taken a lot of pictures but I do have some. For example, my Halloween costume for this weekend's masquerade ball put on by the humans:

There has been some heavy roleplay for my character, one particular storyline that has been very fruitful for a number of different areas and characters, involving my abduction and torture. We just had the trial of the criminal:

And some incredible healing rituals. Alarra (Erana Destiny) has some of the best props!

Learning how to fight has been good. I'm now taking up archery:

And there are lots of little things in my roleplay world that make it rich. A little child that has adopted me as her auntie; political intrigue; and maybe, just maybe, a potential love interest?
It's been a load of fun.

Enjoying Mystara

Going to Mystara has been another renaissance in my second life. I have actually been playing quite a bit! I made a character for Cristalle and have recently made a second character called Nerai. Here is Nerai:

I haven't been posting much because I've been getting to know Mystara and really haven't sailed or swam too much. Yes, there is a mer culture in there, but all the action really is on the land. Even the mer folks are on land when they can be. I am not going to go into detail about the characters now. Maybe later! But I just want to say that I'm having great fun. Oh, and I also want one of the new Trudeau New York sloops. That is all.

Into Mystara

I decided to check out the Realm of Mystara, a very heavy roleplaying area. Mystara is a two-sim region with expansive waterways. I put on an observer tag so I could move around unimpeded, but that didn't seem to be a problem since most people were on land or in the sky. I only encountered a couple of mer folks under the water.

I landed in the Mystfolk Lagoon and found my way to the Merbrary, a Mer Library with an expansive set of notecards hidden in bookcases of shells. The cards contained information about Mer natural sciences, social sciences, and law and politics. I couldn't stomach reading the court transcripts, though. It was way too long, and it was too late at night for me to stomach reading a whole lot of something about nothing.

It was useful to read many of the other notecards, though. I found an actual map of the waterways. They seem to love ruins in this town. Witness:

The Dark Ruins:

The Light Ruins:

The Shallow Ruins:

With the Shallow Ruins, it really is shallow: you can't swim in the water surrounding the ruins. If by some chance you got there via boat, your boat would be stopped at the submerged steps if you had a keel. Only a catboard with a retractable centerboard has a chance at navigating that water, and even then it's so shallow that it's not very likely. There is also a secret cave behind the waterfalls at the Shallow Ruins.

There is some cool artificial life at the Shallow Ruins. A couple of birds caught my eye. They looked incredibly real.

Another thing that the designers of Mystara love is waterfalls. There are a few of them around, and they are lovely.

Lilypad Falls:

Another set of falls:

I think there are at least two more, not including the one near the Shallow Ruins and the one near the Shadow Market, as seen in the first picture. They are all beautiful. I especially loved hanging out at Lilypad Falls. It is the most beautiful spot I saw above the water, without exploring further on land or in the sky.

There is a lot more to Mystara. It has multiple levels of beauty and intrigue built into the environment. It is a prime example of a lovingly made fantasy roleplay environment. I cannot imagine how many hours it took to build it. I will come back and observe, probably as a human, so I can see the rest of Mystara's exquisite wonders.