Outreach and Outposts

Second Wind Kudos

Sailing in Second Life can be pretty confusing and intimidating for new skippers. If you’ve never sailed in real life, it’s easy to get bogged down and totally lost in all the sailor jargon,  variable boat features, and multiple wind physics algorithms. Actually, my guess is it takes a few weeks for most people just to figure out that “sheeting” refers to sail adjustment, not what’s on top of a sex bed! 🙂

I suspect many SL users shy away from Sailing because it appears to have a steep learning curve. It often seems hard to find quick, unbiased, and fun resources where you can get answers to embarrassingly simple questions.

Many sailing groups reach out to help new sailors. Starboards holds “Learn to Sail” classes every Sunday, Bea Woodget has the Sailing Academy, and there are many other classes and resources to help new and old sailors gain more confidence on the water. Even while I was writing this post, I received notices that Elbag Gable was teaching Beginner Instruction at Fruit Islands, and LDeWell Hawker was following Elbag’s act with a Racing Class! 🙂

Today however, I want to give a special shout-out to three people who recently took a few additional steps that may make sailing more accessible to everyone. Well-deserved kudos go to Francois Jacques, Charlz Price and Fiona Haworth, who  together launched a Second Wind initiative that promotes sailing to the large SL community.

If you’re reading this, hopefully you’ve already seen the video they produced with Surfwidow’s creative skills; it’s pretty fantastic and deserves a replay:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The goal of the video is simple; to let SL users know a well-kept secret: Sailing is the most fun, the least expensive… and yes, the most addictive thing anyone can do in Second Life. 🙂 

Building on that simple, obvious message, the Second Wind Troika is setting up outposts on the grid that serve multiple purposes, including:

– Rez points, where SL users can learn about sailing and get a flood of free information.
– access to free boats and time-limited boat trials, so new users may get a wealth of  unbiased options to choose from.
– lists of yacht clubs, marinas, and yacht yards where sailors can get more info, and the latest updates.

So far there are two Second Wind stations, both in Sansara.  The first is located in Fudo near the new expanded Sansara sailing waters. It’s dedicated to Epicurus Emmons, and I’m pretty sure someplace dear Epi has a big grin… it’s exactly what he always believed in. Please go stop by, and see if you agree:

Epi Sailing Resource Center, Fudo (19, 35, 22)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fudo/20/35/22

The other Resource Center is located on the East shore of Sea of Fables, near where Suzanne Zeluco, Extreme Riders Japan, and Far East Yacht Club all had outposts in past years.

Three Pines Sailing Resource Center, Owasco (46, 247, 22)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Owasco/47/247/22

Three Pines - click to enlarge

It’s a really great spot that stands in tribute to both SL Sailing history and the current fleet of wondrous, global skippers. It’s location also celebrates the great new sailing opportunities that Lindens helped build in Sansara waters this past year.

Go stop by; I guarantee you’ll get a lot of free stuff, as well as a ton of propaganda about how great sailing is. 🙂 You’ll also get exhaustive lists of places to cruise, to race, and to get more info, or maybe to just tie up and dance, grid-wide. 🙂

(Note: if you have a place to add to the info lists, please contact Francois, Charlz or Fiona!)

LEEWARD CRUISING CLUB OUTPOSTS

As I said in my opening comments, there are a variety of initiatives to expand Sailing in Second Life, started by many great people. The Second Wind / Come Sail With Us idea is notable because it emphasizes the wide extent of sailing resources in SL, and it works closely with many others to support the diversity of SLSailing opportunities. As just one example, Second Wind’s two Resource Center are also Leeward Cruising Club Outposts.

As most sailors know, Leeward Cruising Club is a pretty wonderful group originally started by Tory Micheline and Manul Rotaru. They were trying to encourage organized, open-water cruises for fun. Their focus was on group sailing, and it was never linked to any club or ‘race competition.’ They left nobody on the dock. 🙂

After all, in real life the vast majority of sailors spend their time cruising, not racing. In RL and SL, they want to enjoy the company of so many global skippers they count as friends. They can’t do that if they are always competing on a race line.

Over considerable time and with much persistence Tory and Manul’s goal proved valid. Their fleet grew and the fun was contagious. It expanded to pretty-much every new spot a fleet could rez in SL!

Last year, Kittensusie Lander, Cate Foulsbane, and Chaos Mandelbrot took over, and woots! LCC expanded and grew even faster! I recall hosting one of their events where… no kidding… Fifty-two boats rezzed.

(Thank god Debelox sim had over 12,000 free prim!)

As I said, that was just last year; this year it’s even better. There are several cruises each week, and they follow fun courses that link great new ports many sailors might not know about. LCC fixes that, and conjoins a whole flotilla of newbies and old salts that laugh the evening away together.

Since Second Wind’s Resource Centers are also Leeward Cruising Rez sites and sailing docks, let me take this chance to add the current list of LCC spots below!

Here is a somewhat modified version of the notecard list provided by Kitten and Cate inworld this past week. Any errors are mine, transcribing their info; the text and all the hard work is theirs!

From Kitten and Cate, 11 April 2011

These areas are open for anyone to rezz their boats and explore the surrounding waters. This document will be updated when new Outposts are made available.

Corsica:

click to enlarge

Marina Sport Racer Sailing Club , Ghloogums (58, 180, 25)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ghloogums/58/181/25

Pendelton Resort – Marina I – CH, Charleville (163, 142, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Charleville/163/143/21

SLCG Baitoushan Airport Station, Baitoushan (164, 9, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Baitoushan/165/9/21

Marina Sport Racer Sailing Club , Skyridge (217, 27, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Skyridge/218/28/22

St Exupery Airport and Club, Gorgonzola (82, 200, 22)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//83/201/22

Telling Marine Queck 120,16,21
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Queck/119/20/21

Leeward CC, Twisster (24, 187, 20)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Twisster/25/187/21

Peachy Beach, Plumpton (146, 36, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//147/36/22

LCC Outpost, Sheershank, Gaeta V, Sheershank (134, 240, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//135/240/21

Nautilus and the Islands to the east

Thistle Cove, Tsurington (117, 55, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tsurington/117/55/22

LCC Outpost @ The OrCafe, Devilbrook (37, 189, 22)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Devilbrook/38/190/23

Club Palladium @Beach Pad , Nuclear (2, 177, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nuclear/3/178/21

Yacht Club Annex, Thorkell (243, 230, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//244/230/21

DomusLand – Twice Bitten (25, 41, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Twice%20Bitten/26/41/21

Emillie Designs Marine Store/MOU, Raimondo (200, 124, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raimondo/200/124/22

Abi’s Wharf, Tails (52, 30, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tails/53/30/22

EVES Light house and Gallery, Dooknock (172, 154, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dooknock/172/155/22

Fran’s 512 – Chaos house , Oleg (17, 178, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oleg/17/179/22

Abi’s Wharf 2, Tordangle (218, 11, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tordangle/219/12/22

Wicked Good, Nantucket Yacht Club (242, 117, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nantucket%20Yacht%20Club/243/117/21

Martinique, Martinique (209, 158, 20)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Martinique/209/158/21

Sansara

Bitterend & Threesheets Cruising, Marunogere (83, 39, 21)
Wicked Good Too, Marunogere (66, 26, 21)
(these two Outposts are situated adjacent to each other)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//66/26/21

Rydal Outpost, Rydal (231, 15, 24)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rydal/231/15/25

LCC Outpost Kaminari/Sansara, Kaminari (241, 81, 22)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kaminari/242/81/22

Yacht Club Annex, Horseshoe (31, 179, 87)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Horseshoe/31/179/87

Yacht Club Annex, Wingo (134, 178, 28)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wingo/135/179/28

Foulsbane’s Folly, Miller (96, 233, 81)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//96/234/82

Svan (208,208) Moderate 2048m Wa, Svan (224, 212, 22)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//225/212/23

Companion’s Point, Snout (205, 27, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Snout/205/27/21

Jeogeot

Telling Marine, Caragana (226, 236, 20)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caragana/226/236/21

ZINDRA

SLCG Station Ursula Bay
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Villareal/74/210/22

In addition, LCC also has a Group Joiner at the Freebie Mall in Droomeiland.
Droomeiland – houses for rent, p, Droomeiland (226, 183, 21)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Droomeiland/227/183/21

It is our hope to eventually have LCC Outposts on all the major continents. If anyone is willing to let us use their land as an Outpost (especially in the Gaeta V and Heterocera Atoll continents), please contact Kittensusie Landar, Cate Foulsbane or Chaos Mandelbrot.

All we require is a rezzable area for our boats, and a stream that can be changed to our DJ for when we party there. If you would allow us to plant an LCC flag and a group joiner there too, that would be even betterer….. Thank you 🙂

Kittensusie Landar

WildCat ACJ-35

Yesterday I posted about the new WildWind WildCat catamaran that’s modeled after the Americas Cup AC-45. Let me add a few additional comments about the boat!

courtesy of Orca Flotta

The first is a name change! Although the pre-release docs I have on WildCat are all ‘ACJ-45,’ the final name for the new boat is the  ACJ-35 WildCat. The reasoning is pretty simple. The Wildcat is just the first of a series of boats Wildwind is planning to release inspired by the America’s Cup catamarans.

Confusion over the name didn’t slow down Orca Flotta and her Triumphal race fleet, though.

They were out on the water yesterday in full force, testing the boats on the Farragut race line in Bingo Strait. Their early report was thumbs up! The ACJ-35 WildCat will now be the featured boat for Triumphal’s recurring Saturday Noontime Regatta.

courtesy of Orca Flotta

Not to be outdone, Liv Leigh’s TYC fleet hit the Pacific Start Line yesterday with a fleet of five WidCats!

According to Liv:

“I am still in the process of setting things up at TYC, but my plans with the WildCat include:
– An article to be made about the boat for a number of major SL Sailing news sources
– A weekly series, for which I may wish to attract additional race staff
– Building the class out to a graded racing class and having 2 to 3 weekly events
From that base a large tournament and other exciting happenings are just a small step away.
The boat’s combination of speed, stability on region crossings in SL and relative ease of handling makes it an interesting vehicle for both beginning and more advanced sailors in my opinion. I’d say it has all the qualities needed to become a popular race class in Secondlife. Of course anyone who wishes to take part in this exciting program is welcome to take up contact.”

courtesy of Liv Leigh

 

ACJ Triple Threat

Don Berithos and Sarah999 Aya yesterday also clarified the plans for Wildwind’s ACJ releases. Sarah sent me a note stating:

“… *At first there was misunderstanding. It is that many people have thought WildCat to be ACJ-45.
ACJ-35 (WildCat) : Released. The ship which there is not in real world. In simple small size, the race is convenient to manage it.
ACJ-45 : corry is producing it now. There is not the beta version. The real ship, higher-speed than WildCat. For a sailor liking real ships.
ACJ-72 : corry is produced after 45 release. There is the prototype. The highest-speed ship. Update of ACJ-90.
That’s all. Thanks.”

courtesy of Don Berithos

 

Don Berithos elaborated on Sarah999’s points. He describes the ACJ-35 as a ‘trainer.’

courtesy of Don Berithos

Don reports that a far more realistic version of the ACJ-45 is still in early stages of development with no projected general beta trial yet and no public release date set.

Once the ACJ-45 hits the water, a third release is planned based on the RL AC-72. That ACJ-72  emulation will replace the ACJ-90 trimaran that’s currently in the Wildwind lineup.

(and if all these numbers are confusing to you, just remember: Wildwind +35 +45 +72 -90. By any math, that puts Wildwind +62 ahead. 🙂 )

critique and response

Although Orca Flotta is about to start a weekly regatta series with new WildCat, she has also been quite critical of the boat.  In her view, the catamaran is overly similar to Wildwind’s RCJ-44 monohull in general performance. I admit I independently came to the same conclusion after looking at the performance plots for both vessels.

However, Don and Sarah’s comments above partly address Orca’s criticism, and explain ACJ-35’s positioning. The WildCat is apparently slotted as a ‘simple, small-size… race convenient boat’ that Don also characterizes as a ‘Trainer.‘ With that background, coupled with the boat’s low price, I think WildCat fits the bill as a great club racer.

Orca and Liv apparently feel the same way, given their stated racing plans.

What about the next releases? Well, Don reports he’s working on a fundraising effort associated with the new releases that will donate to sailors with disabilities. I think that’s a pretty great idea, and one we can all support.

It’s still early though, and I think our best combined assistance might focus on ensuring taht all these efforts produce good boats, great sailing, and maybe also provide support for worthy causes.

I often end my posts with the phase ‘I could be wrong…” but I’m pretty sure I’m not wrong on that last part. 🙂

Fruit Islands Expands Sail Race Training

by Elbag Gable
(edit: Jane Fossett)

Muskmelon Race Training Centre

Fruit Islands Estate and Mango Yacht Club are pleased to announce the opening of a new Centre for Sailing, Racing, and Match Training in Muskmelon Sim.

The expanded teaching area and resources will hopefully cater to the increasing requests from sailors looking for ways to gain advanced sailing skills.

The Muskmelon Centre builds on our Sail Training School located in Strawberry.

Strawberry will focus on basic sailing instruction and as well as a set of select, more advanced topics.

We are all very excited at the prospect of a new centre that can help build sailing knowledge and skill in SL, and we hope it might play an important role building future standards for SL racing. However, our most important goal is really to  get sailors on  the water, having fun.

Both the Strawberry and Muskmelon locations have a relaxed style and approach, and we encourage sailors at any level to come visit when they have a free moment. Visitors will find a large number of self-study slideshows on different topics, covering multiple boats. The centres will also hold regular group classes and topic-specific meetings to review and practice tactics, logistics and race rules.

LdeWell Hawker had a central role developing the new facility, the racelines, and the teaching program, building on the huge effort started by Isis Rexie. Hawk will run classroom-based training courses and in-water instruction on Fruit Islands’ designated 8 sim L-shaped Race Training area. There are FOUR separate racelines installed in that area, and each sim has a WWC windsetter installed. There will always be default wind available in case you lose your puff!

We hope that many experienced SL sailors will take a look and test out the new waters, and we’d love their assistance and input as we develop courses, teaching, and plan events. You can contact any of us listed below.

We will be catering to all classes of boats and we’re already allocating time and resources to the T-One ONE WORLD event this January (Fruit Islands will host “ROUND TWO” again. Last year, Mango’s Commodore Isis Rexie finished a FULL THREE MINUTES ahead of the second-place boat… in a field of Fifteen crack race teams). (Editorial note: Liv and Momomos helped a bit 🙂 )

This year Mango believes T-ONE is a boat made for Fruit Island waters… Come  give it a try, and see if you agree 🙂 !

Although we always have a big smile in Fruit’s tropical island setting, we admit we’re pretty serious about teaching. You want to learn racing tactics? Hawk ‘s set up a great program that uses Qyv Inshan’s Quest Match boats, fueled by Becca’s BWind engine. No matter what boat you eventually plan to race, we think a few hours playing at Mango with Hawk’s recommendations can put you into overdrive on the race circuit.

Come visit and rez a boat anywhere in Fruit Island’s 100+ sims of water, and please let us know if we missed anything or can do something that will promote sailing and get you laughing on Second Life’s waters.

Elbag Gable
Brenda Hoisin
LDeWell Hawker
Qyv Inshan
Isis Rexie
Equinox Pinion
Dennis Lagan

BBK 137 and Nemo: Two Free Tako Trainers

BBK Keelboat and Nemo Nantucket: Two Free Tako Trainers

If you are new to Second Life sailing, the initial learning curve before you feel comfortable skippering a sailboat can prove a bit tough and sometimes frustrating.

Well, two new, free boats were released in the past few weeks, both based on the original Tako engine designed by Kanker Greenacre; suddenly there are more options for old and new sailors alike! Let me tell you about Nemo and the BBK Keelboat!

Tako

I guess I first need to talk about the Tako. It was the original Second Life sailboat designed byKanker Greenacre, and it sparked a virtual explosion of sailing over the past four years. Even though Kanker Greenacre left SL at the end of 2007, his landmark creation remains incredibly popular, and remains the starting point for many new sailors. You can still buy a Tako 3.3 in Grey for $250L, and although there’s no product support and it hasn’t been upgraded in a very long time, it still lives up to its logo; Tako is “The Essence of Sailing.”

It has a single mainsail plus a separately sheeted spinnaker that can add a powerful boost on downwind points of sail. The Tako uses a simple ‘Real Wind’ algorithm with wind shadowing to power the boat rather than a more realistic Apparent Wind engine, and it can use both racewind and boatwind.

The boat’s appearance is also fully modifiable, and templates are available for the sails.

Nemo

The Nemo is a brand-new 6 meter keel boat that’s patterned after the popular Laser and earlier Flying Fifteen in Real Life. The SL  one design-creation is a collaboration between Nomad Zamani and Glida Pilote from USS’ Nantucket Yacht Club, and it’s based on Kanker’s original scripts. The boat comes in two flavors; the basic Nemo Nantucket is the one I’m going to talk about today; it’s free and intended to serve as an introductory trainer, to get more new sailors quickly on the water having fun. Once an innocent new person is hooked, they can buy an upgrade for $250L and get a Nemo-R that uses race wind and has modifiable textures.

The free Nemo has a very pretty hull design and simple rig, and the textures loudly advertise “Nantucket Yacht Club.” (Hey, it’s free, so no problem with that!) The boat’s features are intentionally kept simple. Similar to the original Tako, it uses “Real Wind” instead of “Apparent;” but unlike the Tako (or the real-life Laser 2), the Nemo has no centerboard or spinnaker to fuss with. Windshadow has also been stripped out of Nemo, I assume in the interests of simplicity and lag reduction.

The free version of this boat uses fixed wind, set to what was blowing  in Blake Sea-Atlantic when Nemo originally launched; it does not have a ‘race wind option’ unless you upgrade. I tested the boat in Bingo Straight, Big Fish, Zindra, and around Danshire’s waters, and I admit I sorely missed an option to change the wind  to suit the multiple different locations. If you are a new sailor, don’t hassle with that; I’d suggest just trying Nemo out where it was built, at NYC.

The Nemo philosophy of simplification  is also evident in the boat control interface.  Pretty much any sailor with a pulse knows that Kanker’s Tako 3.3 has  multiple control options, including both an “Info- HUD” and a control ‘Button-HUD.”  However, the Tako can also be fully controlled with chat gestures. That lets many experienced sailors use just a spare, free ‘Info-HUD‘ To provide essential data while sailing .

Nemo-N attempts to avoid that kind of’ complex, numbers-oriented sailing interface so a skipper can focus on sailing. There are no ‘chat commands,’ and Nemo’s info display is graphically clean, and bare-bones (see below). The boat has a single, simple prim-based info display that shows numerical boat speed, with analog  indicators of wind angle and sheet setting, but there are no numbers. (If you want to complain about that, just talk to a RL Laser sailor. They’ll tell you God doesn’t deliver the wind with three-point precision, either.. 🙂 )

Speaking of the wind,   I’ve already mentioned this boat uses ‘fixed, real wind.” The free version does not have a race wind option, and the boat is permanently set to 15 knots. You will need to buy an upgrade to use race wind.  Maybe that’s a blessing.

A Nemo skipper uses a Spartan set of simple keyboard commands to raise sail, steer, and adjust sheeting. On any particular heading, a click of an ‘UP/DOWN’ arrow causes a ten degree adjustment in sail angle, and “PAGEUP/DOWN” fine-tunes that in one degree steps.

Since the boat intentionally lacks numerical info feedback, I apologize I can’t give you terribly accurate “numbers” for Nemo’s performance. However,  using the default settings on a fixed Close Reach, I get a 10% reduction in reported boatspeed when I am ‘one big click’ out of tune in either direction.

Having said that, I did spend time measuring the angles on ‘screen-grabs’ of the circular graphical display and factoring in the actual compass headings. Since Nemo uses Real Wind, this actually wasn’t too hard. I counted it off on my fingers, and never once had to take my shoes off. The chart to the left shows the Nemo Nantucket boatspeed plotted as a function of real wind angle, using the default 15 knot windspeed.  The chart has a nice curve to it that peaks at a beam reach, with a maximum boatspeed that’s a bit over half True Wind.

If you look at polar plots for similar RL boats, this isn’t far off;
Nemo? Nicely done!

BBK Keel boat

Maybe a week before Nemo officially launched, another Tako-based boat hit the water. This one was Becca Moulliez‘s new BBK Keelboat (the BBK- 137), and it takes a rather different approach to upgrading the Tako. Becky’s intention was to upgrade and revise the open-source Tako scripts to minimize lag, resolve bugs, and endow the boat with a simple, clean interface that might be accessible to sailors at any skill level. She came up with the BWind engine and decided to release it free and full perm as part of a remarkable ‘Starter Boatbuilding Kit.

Click to enlarge

That kit is actually contained inside The BBK- 137 itself. If you look in the “Contents” of the boat you’ll find a detailed, step-by-step  discussion of how to modify the boat, or build your own variation. It’s pretty impressive. I’ve included snapshots here of the “Danshire Yacht Club” hull textures that were whipped-up by Blackbird Latte. A few minutes after rezzing a BBK 137, I’m pretty sure you’ll be on your way to  personalizing your own version.

Unlike the original Tako, the BBK- 137 is powered by a full dose version of Apparent Wind, and so the real-life calculations for headings at different wind velocities and boats speeds all apply. Although this version of the boat kit does not include race wind (that’ll be an option in the near future), the BBK 137 has  easy, on-the-fly adjustments for both boat wind direction and speed using simple chat commands.

If you want that wind information, you can get it easily along with a lot more boat performance data: The BBK- 137 offers two versions of a centrally-located, numerical display hud.

Don’t worry, however, if you’re just cruising for fun,  you won’t need to keep squinting at the display to command the boat since the HUD colors change to alert the skipper and crew whenever sheet settings fall out of tune. The boat sails quite nicely if you just follow the colors.

Since the boat uses simple, intuitive chat commands and has a full numerical display readout, it’s very easy to collect “polar” performance data on the BBK- 137. The graph below shows boatspeed plotted as a function of both real wind angle (RWA) and apparent wind angle (AWA).

 

 

The BBK-137 shows a very steep rise in performance over 30°.  At 40° RWA the boat makes approximately 60% maximum velocity, and it peaks at 60° RWA ( 36°- 38° AWA). It then shows an essentially flat, maximum response to correct sheet settings all the way out to a broad reach of approximately 140° RWA. At that point, performance decays appropriately as the boat moves toward a dead run.

If you are looking for a more curvaceous and less boxy response than this, no problem! Please remember this is a “demo boat” for the boat-building kit; it’s just waiting for your personal, creative tinkering! So go for it!

Comparisons

The final figure below shows a simple chart that lists the different features of the Nemo and the BBK 137. For simple comparison, I’ve added the Shelly, Tako 3.3, and the Leetle Cat as well. The Nemo and BBK Tako-based trainers share many similar features, and both are designed for ease of use and decreased lag. They differ in several major details, however, including their wind engine, hud, and overall modifiability.

The Nemo is intended as a club-specific free trainer, and should prove very attractive to a new skipper in SL. The basic boat intentionally has few options or distractions and its simple design will get many sailors going on the water in SL with minimal hassle, at least at NYC. The Nemo upgrade turns the boat into a competition version of the same basic little Nemo keelboat, but adds modifiable textures and race wind capability. The rest of the settings remain locked, ensuring this boat will stay ‘one-design’ for each competitor that ventures to race it. If you race One Design, that’s a key feature.

 

In contrast, the BBK- 137 Keelboat began with a different philosophy. It was focused on cruising, and minimizing user troubles. It continues true to that path, as demonstrated by its very friendly, open-source approach. However, the boat sticks to its own very high standards of function and usability. BBK-137 upgraded to “apparent wind,” correcting a serious flaw in Tako that Kanker Greenacre didn’t have the time to address before he left. Despite that major change, Becca without apology decided not provide race wind or wind shadow options to her boat… YET.

Go back and read her comments. They are humorous, but also show a remarkable understanding, commitment, and dedication. She’s on a mission, and knows where she is going.

Watch this boat and engine very closely…

I sail the Star Bay Oceanis 160 with Becca’s BWIND engine every day, and wow… I still don’t know how her engine makes that boat fly.

Bottom Line Time.

OK, which boat should you buy?

🙂 Sorry, that’s a trick question! They are both free, but I think the answer is clear:

Get both the Nemo and BBK- 137, then thank the builders please, and sail them ’till you wear out your CPU.

Oh, don’t forget to grab a free Shelly, and if you haven’t taken Isis’s free lessons or nailed your own free set of her extensive fantastic slide series on the LCat, grab those too.

It’s up to you which boat in Second Life meets your needs.

Oh? You’re a new sailor and think you want to pay for a boat?

Grin; relax; You will.

The more any new sailor learns, the more they value the skill and effort that go in to all the boats in Second Life…

and the more they appreciate each and every new vessel that launches from an SL boatyard.

So go ahead, get amazed with the two boats above…

Very soon you’ll be clamoring for more.