By Grey Lupindo
Now that summer is here, I wanted to go sailing. Unfortunately my sailboat inventory was really
limited until a friend took me to Tradewinds Yacht Club, located at Dex (174,
32, 24). At Tradewinds there are free
sailboats and a very supportive sailing community. They give lessons as well easy-to-sail
freebie boats.
Tradewinds Yacht Club states that they are a group that
wants to have fun with SL sailing. Their official statements reads, “Tradewinds
Yacht Club is home to the independent minded sailor– what we're about is just
having fun without the politics – we really mean it when we say “sailing
first". To support this ideal,
there are plenty of free sailboats and lots of places to hang out and things to
do when you aren’t sailing. Races are held every week. They even have some buried treasure chests
hidden around the sim. 
One of my first stops was the SL Sailing History Museum that
is being created by Tasha Kostolany at Tradewinds Yacht Club at Dex
(185,11,28). The Museum is
located inside the lighthouse and shares space with a Coast Guard post. Kostolany’s notecard states, “This room will
give you a brief overview of how we have progressed in sailing from the start
to where we are now....Click most every object to get more information.” Although there is a lot more to be done,
the museum a great place to learn about early SL sailing. This isn’t the only sailing museum in SL,
but it looks like it has the potential to become the best.
The most prominent display is about Kanker Greenacre, whom
Kostolany describes as the “father of SL sailing”. He was rezzed on 5/16/2003, making him a very
early SL resident. Approximately two
years later, in June, 2005, he released the first SL sailboat, the Tako. Kanker Greenacre also developed “race wind”,
which was more stable for sailing than the real SL wind, as well as other
racing items. In order to promote
sailing, the SLSF (Second Life Sailing Federation) was organized, and it
remains one of the largest sailing groups in SL. Even more importantly, he shared the Flying Tako
sailboat and its sailing code so that others could use and develop sailing ships.
To get a good overview of Tradewinds Yacht Club, you can
take a free balloon tour at Dex (146, 17, 29). When I typed in “ap start”, the
balloon began warming up the burner and soon rose into the air. The tour started at the harbor and boat
store. From the air you can get a good
look at the bay, the lighthouse, and the channel. To the south is the Siracusa sim where you
can sail through The Channel. The tour
passes into other sims and islands and past the Salliohsis lighthouse. Tradewinds is attached to over 500 sims of sailable water, and I had
only seen a small portion of them. When a Distance Warning note told me that the
next waypoint was 647 meters away, I decided to end my tour. Although I was enjoying the balloon ride, I
was anxious to set sail.
Tradewinds Yacht Club is following Kanker Greenacre’s
example by giving away a lot of valuable sailboats. Of course there are some larger and spiffier
models for sale, but the free ones are the ones most likely to appeal to newbie
sailors or residents. They offer a great
way to try the sport without spending a lot of Lindens.
My favorite boat is the Becky’s Baby Sloop 2-0 created by
Becca Moulliez. The sloop is easy enough
for novice sailors like me, but it can be adapted for a more challenging
experience. What makes it my
favorite is the color coded HUD that helps me learn how to trim the sails. If I can keep the HUD green, I’m good to
go. According to the instructions, once
I gain experience I can skip the HUD and sail by feel for a more advanced and
realistic sailing experience.
For a novice like me, the Becky’s Baby Sloop is
amazing. It has a rocking motion and
sound as the waves slap against the boat.
The lower view angle and many others features make sailing it feel very
real to me. According to her notecard,
this version is the result of over two years of advancements and
refinements. Moulliez wrote that other
ship builders, such as Balduin Aabye, Qyv Inshan, Noodleqt Exonar, and Manul
Rotaru, helped by giving advice, testing and donating some of their components
and improvements. There are others
available, too, and one day I’ll try them out.
For now, however, I’m content to learn with the Becky’s Baby.
Tradewinds Yacht Club is connected to the Coastal Waterway,
which is easy to sail through and leads to the Blake Sea. Information about sailing options, including
maps and rezzing sites, is available at their website https://sites.google.com/site/
Tradewinds Yacht Club, located at Dex (174,32, 24).
Grey Lupindo
No comments:
Post a Comment