Sailing in SL

Sailing in SL

Actually, I've been planning this for a while. So today I was very happy about an invitation to sail. At the beginning I have been sailing with a friend several times, but that is many months ago and ended up at every Sim- border for me an involuntary swimming. The whole boat had also landed on the bottom of the sea. So I was curious. When I was asked whether I wanted to sail more comfortably or do something myself and have a lot fun, I decided for the second option. Sailing with the catamaran "Narca 17", I am an action junkie. So I was very curious when I followed the landmark to the Poseidon Centre, the rezzing place for "North Sea" today. The boat already looks like a lot of fun from the outside, and I could hope that a little bit of the RL sailing feeling is possible in SecondLife.

At the beginning I got a HUD for sailors and put it on. Some switches, I have real experiences with sailing, but never read english terms for this. So I was confused, but after a short briefing we started. In the beginning it was just my task to shift my weight to balance the boat and my heart jumped when all my memories of sailing came back up. Where's left or right, or better to port and starboard when sailing.  Only 2 buttons on the right were important. That should be easy. How would the CAM work and position itself?

Thanks to the real experience it was fun from the very first second, and soon I was standing in the trapeze to balance out the boat. We glided with 22 Knots over the North Sea. And I had time to enjoy the sunrise. Simply indescribably beautiful, and with fantasy you could hear the noise under the catamaran and feel the wind. 

At the beginning Lexx told me with a wink that my white socks might get wet. Well, it's a catamaran and for those who don't like wet sneakers and socks, a catamaran is definitely the wrong choice. To tease me and show it to me, Lexx let the boat simply tip over. Fortunately, the feeling of "height" is missing in SecondLife, because whoever has ever stood at the edge of a tipping catamaran knows that this is a deep and often painful fall. So we laughed a lot when we both landed in the water. My reaction was just,"Now not only my socks are wet!" I immediately got my revenge and had the catamaran overturned by hanging out on the lee side and dipping into the water to take the boat with me. Lexx had also received a second refreshment. Laughing we both swam in the water again.

So we got a quick tack and the first jibe worked too. It was fun. After a short break at a small isle it became a bit more difficult for me. Now I should also take over the sail control. Now I had to concentrate more on the buttons. The text color of the Sailing HUD which show Speed, Windspeed and direction helps to find the correct position of the sail, and the lack of feeling of vibrating the rear edges of the sail or of bulging in the front area. I remember that we had little yarns in the regatta sails that helped to trim the sails. But after some minutes i could enjoy the ride over the sea again

I'm sure I'll come back, whether it's "North Sea" again or exploring the larger "Blake Sea" sailing area. I have already browsed through the marketplace and maybe I buy my own "Narca 17" catamaran and will train. I have also found many different textures, so you can build your (almost) own racer. I'm sure it will be called " to take the bull by the horns" again and to ride a Catamaran.

You will find all pictures in my Google Images Album.