Category Archives: announcement

Solstice Challenge Race Regatta – June 23-24

Posted on May 29, 2012 by | Leave a comment

On behalf of Sail 4 Life (and with a considerable degree of excitement) Jane Fossett, Kentrock Messmer, Hannelore Ballinger, Dale Irata, and Taku Raymaker wish to announce the

New York 30 Solstice Challenge

June 23-24, 2012

Sailing teams will compete aboard New York 30‘s in a series of fleet races over the weekend of June 23-24. Since this is a regatta fundraiser, each race team will make an entry donation to compete, and each team will also receive a free race boat courtesy of Trudeau Yachts. Several generous individuals have additionally pledged thousands of $L in matching donations for each team that signs up for the race! :-)

The Solstice Challenge qualifying rounds will be held on Saturday, hosted by several yacht clubs and sailing estates. These initial fleet races will be grouped in timeslots that are convenient for the competitors as well as global SL spectator yacht-enthusiasts.

The winners of Saturday’s races will advance to a Finals sail-off competition on Sunday that will decide the ultimate Regatta Team Champions.

The regatta is a fundraiser for SL Sailing’s main charity, SAIL 4 LIFE, and the race committee will be raising donations from the community in many fun ways as the event develops.

So if this sounds good to you, here’s more information about the Solstice Challenge, and details on how you can sign up:

1. Sailors will compete in teams of 1-5, racing the new Trudeau New York 30 sailboat.
2. Each race team will pay a $L5,000 entry donation to a Relay For Life kiosk.
3. In return, the team will receive one free, brand-new NY30 sailboat generously donated by J Trudeau and a canvas duffle bag full of celebrity sailing bling. :-)
4. Sailors who want to race should start by filling out the online entry form here. The boat will then be delivered to you in-world.

As race-day approaches, the competing sailors will receive all the details about race location, rules and groupings. This is a fun, charity event, so the organizers will try hard to accommodate team race preferences for start time, venue, etc. Updates, details, and forum discussion will post to the NY-30 Solstice Challenge Thread.

We’ll also make every effort to champion the super sailors willing race to help support the great Sail4Life cause.

Solstice Race Committee: Jane Fossett, Kentrock Messmer, Hannelore Ballinger, Dale Irata, Taku Raymaker. 

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Posted in announcement

More Grief

Posted on May 22, 2012 by | Leave a comment

A few days ago I wrote about griefing attacks, and the damage they do to SL growth. I cited a few recent attacks, including one at Mowry Bay, by something called “VR6 KABOUL .”

Well last night Sansara was hit again. Chaos Mandelbrot discovered the attack while sailing a test-drive of the Tuesday Leeward Cruise route. As he landed on the Second Wind dock in Fudo, a snowstorm of colored circles, posters, and ‘zombies’ flooded over him, as shown in the pic above. Second Wind’s Francois Jacques immediately came to Chaos’ assistance, and Ranger Upshaw from the Second Life Coast Guard followed right behind.

Francois shut off scripts and object entry into the Fudo Sailing Center, but that didn’t solve the problem. The griefing flood came from outside the sim, and attack objects all stopped at the sim border. The picture above shows an impressive mountain of zombies piling up on the seafloor boundary just outside Fudo.

Ranger Upshaw then helped identify the location of the emitter source for the attack, and Francois recruited assistance from the Linden concierge to deal with it.

Within an hour the skies cleared again and the zombies (as well as all else) disappeared.

Hopefully Lindens can get to the root of this problem and prevent it, particularly since the poster logo for last night’s attack looked very similar to the Mowry Bay grief episode I discussed before.

We need these disruptions to end.

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Posted in announcement, Griefing, Sansara

S4L Scores a Winning Poker Run

Posted on May 22, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Kudos to Uber Race Director Kentrock Messmer  and Fisher Island/ Sailors Cove co-owners Parick Leavitt and Fanci Beebe for hosting the May 20 Poker Run event for Sail 4 Life. It was a super success!

Leeward Cruisers Join In

While I’m at it, let me also give a big shout-out to Kittensusie Lander; she coordinated the Leeward Club cruise that day, bringing a flotilla of friends all fit for fundraising!

Kitten arranged an ambitious itinerary that got everyone excited for the event to follow. Here’s the chart LCC sailed:

As you can see from the above map, the Leeward gang set out from from Crows Nest next to Fastnet Light in the middle of Blake Sea. Well over two dozen sailors showed up at the rez point by launch time. You can see them all tacking Northwest in the map image just after raising sail. (below)

Click to enlarge

The cruise fleet then ran a remarkably ambitious route that included an upwind-downwind sprint through the narrow channel in Nautilus City followed by a tour of the northern USS sims. That LCC Poseidon-pack then turned South into Sailors Cove where they cruised around a bit, finally making landfall at the FIYC clubhouse. They were just in time to begin the S4L Poker Run!

Poker Run

So what’s a Poker Run? Good question! I didn’t know either, although I admit Kentrock’s tried to explain it to me since way back in 2008. :-)

Sunday’s Poker Run was adapted from a real-life club sailing game, where skippers sail to five different waypoints. At each stop they collect one playing card, until they finally have a poker hand. The sailor with the best hand wins! It sounds a bit complicated, but Kentrock had Quirky Torok and Chad Sawson along to help explain it all and keep the juices flowing. :-)

You might also think this event would end when somebody came back with the best five-card hand… but you’d be wrong. After all, sailors are a pretty competitive lot, and S4L was just warming up. Under Sunday’s poker rules, if you didn’t like the first five cards you received, you could turn some in and buy up to three replacement cards.

It wasn’t hard to imagine the S4L cash register going “ga-ching!” as every single sailor jockeyed to upgrade their cards and buy a better chance to win. It reminded me of Mitt Romney trying to buy the US Presidency, but wow, S4L is a much better investment. :-)

There were even more rules-twists to Sunday’s Poker. :-) There were an additional two wild-card Jokers you could buy to supplement your hand, and those Joker auctions proved pretty exciting! SL-sailors revealed their competitive spirit and showed how incredibly generous — and even rather wonderful — they all could be.

Well, at this point enter Amanda Bananza from Stage Left (I guess I mean from the Port Side :-) ).

Amanda Bananza bid fast and furious, winning the first Joker at auction for a high bid of $5,050. Woots! At one point the crowd enthusiasm was so intense that Amanda and Chad got confused, and Amanda ended up bidding against herself!

After the clamor died down, Master of Ceremonies Chad Sawson wisely called a thirty-minute break, so the rest of us sailors could go home and ask mommy for a loan so we could bid too… :-)

As the clock ticked down for the second Joker auction, one way or another everyone came back. Here’s the transcript for the second-round wildcard bidding:

[2012/05/20 16:31] Chad Sawson: shouts: Ok, here we go! Minimum bid for last Joker is $1000L
[2012/05/20 16:31] Chaos (chaos.mandelbrot): shouts: 1000
[2012/05/20 16:31] Chad Sawson: shouts: we have a bid!
[2012/05/20 16:31] Rowan Aurbierre: 2000
[2012/05/20 16:31] Jane Fossett: no you can’t pick the facecards… I’m bidding on them!
[2012/05/20 16:31] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 3000
[2012/05/20 16:31] Chad Sawson: shouts: Rowna 2 2000
[2012/05/20 16:31] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mathias @ 3k
[2012/05/20 16:31] Aislin Keynes: shouts: 3500
[2012/05/20 16:31] Chad Sawson: shouts: Ais @ 3500
[2012/05/20 16:32] Rowan Aurbierre: 4000
 [2012/05/20 16:32] Rowan Aurbierre: shouts: 4000
[2012/05/20 16:32] Jane Fossett: $4129
[2012/05/20 16:32] Chad Sawson: shouts: Rowan @ 4k
[2012/05/20 16:32] Kentrock Messmer: shouts: The bid is 4000
[2012/05/20 16:32] Chad Sawson: shouts: jane @ 4129
[2012/05/20 16:32] Kentrock Messmer: shouts: now 4129
[2012/05/20 16:32] Chad Sawson: shouts: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:33] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mathias?
[2012/05/20 16:33] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 4500
[2012/05/20 16:33] Chad Sawson: shouts: Bid is now 4129 to Jane
[2012/05/20 16:33] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mat @ 4500
[2012/05/20 16:33] Jane Fossett: <–glares at Mathias
[2012/05/20 16:33] Jane Fossett: :-)
[2012/05/20 16:33] Chad Sawson: shouts: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:33] Aislin Keynes: haha
[2012/05/20 16:33] Kentrock Messmer: LOL
[2012/05/20 16:34] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mat @ 4500 three mins to go
[2012/05/20 16:34] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 4600
[2012/05/20 16:34] Chad Sawson: shouts: Amanda @ 4600
[2012/05/20 16:34] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 5000
[2012/05/20 16:34] Chad Sawson: shouts: 2 minutes to go
[2012/05/20 16:35] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mathias @ 5000
[2012/05/20 16:35] Chad Sawson: shouts: 5000 going once
[2012/05/20 16:35] Chad Sawson: shouts: 5000 going twice
[2012/05/20 16:35] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 5050
[2012/05/20 16:35] Jane Fossett: WOOOOOT!!!!
[2012/05/20 16:35] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shout 5100
[2012/05/20 16:35] Chad Sawson: shouts: Amanda @ 5050
[2012/05/20 16:35] Jane Fossett: haha
[2012/05/20 16:36] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mat @ 5100
[2012/05/20 16:36] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 5150
[2012/05/20 16:36] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 5500
[2012/05/20 16:36] Chad Sawson: shouts: 5150 to Amanda
[2012/05/20 16:36] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mat at 5500
[2012/05/20 16:36] Chaos (chaos.mandelbrot): humms playing with the queen of hearts
[2012/05/20 16:36] Jane Fossett: hahaha
[2012/05/20 16:36] Chad Sawson: shouts: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:36] Chad Sawson: shouts: 5500 Going once
[2012/05/20 16:37] Chad Sawson: shouts: 5500 Going twice
[2012/05/20 16:37] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 6150
[2012/05/20 16:37] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6150 to Amanda
[2012/05/20 16:37] Kentrock Messmer: Yeee Haww
[2012/05/20 16:37] Jane Fossett: gasp
[2012/05/20 16:37] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 6500
[2012/05/20 16:37] Chaos (chaos.mandelbrot): omg she has 2 aces
[2012/05/20 16:37] Chaos (chaos.mandelbrot): 2 jokers I mean
[2012/05/20 16:37] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mat @ 6500
[2012/05/20 16:37] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6500 going once
[2012/05/20 16:38] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6500 going twice
[2012/05/20 16:38] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 6600
[2012/05/20 16:38] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 6800
[2012/05/20 16:38] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6600 to Amanda! Dang! Im sweatin over here
[2012/05/20 16:38] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): rofl
[2012/05/20 16:38] Chad Sawson: shouts: Mathias @ 6600
[2012/05/20 16:38] kittensusie Landar: we’re all freakin sweating :D
[2012/05/20 16:38] Chad Sawson: shouts: all to a good cause
[2012/05/20 16:38] Jane Fossett: sweat costs more!
[2012/05/20 16:38] Chad Sawson: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:39] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6600 going once
[2012/05/20 16:39] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6600 going twice
[2012/05/20 16:39] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 6650
[2012/05/20 16:39] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 6800
[2012/05/20 16:39] kittensusie Landar: 6800 surely?
[2012/05/20 16:39] Chaos (chaos.mandelbrot): was that a bid kitten?
[2012/05/20 16:39] Chad Sawson: shouts: Now 6800 to Mat
[2012/05/20 16:39] kittensusie Landar: shouts: NOOOOO
[2012/05/20 16:39] Jane Fossett: don’t call her Shirley
[2012/05/20 16:39] Chad Sawson: shouts: y’all are makin me type too much
[2012/05/20 16:39] kittensusie Landar: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:39] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): haha… kitten is my financier
[2012/05/20 16:39] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): lol
[2012/05/20 16:39] Rowan Aurbierre: lol
[2012/05/20 16:40] Aislin Keynes: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6800 going 1
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6800 going 2
[2012/05/20 16:40] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): kitten is my gardian angel
[2012/05/20 16:40] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 6810
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: SOLD!
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6810 to amanda
[2012/05/20 16:40] Jane Fossett: WOOOOOT!!!!
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: unsold
[2012/05/20 16:40] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): man… cheap shot…
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: she got it in
[2012/05/20 16:40] Jane Fossett: cough cough
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: hahahaha
[2012/05/20 16:40] -Q- (quirky.torok): jeeeze i got to get to bed soon
[2012/05/20 16:40] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6810 once
[2012/05/20 16:41] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6810 twice
[2012/05/20 16:41] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): shouts: 6900
[2012/05/20 16:41] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): i meant to hit it earlier but my glasses fell off

[2012/05/20 16:41] Chad Sawson: shouts: dang! this is fun!
[2012/05/20 16:41] Chad Sawson: shouts: 6900 to mat
[2012/05/20 16:41] Chad Sawson: shouts: once
[2012/05/20 16:41] Chad Sawson: shouts: twice
[2012/05/20 16:41] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): 8000
[2012/05/20 16:41] Chad Sawson: shouts: OMG!
[2012/05/20 16:41] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): better… lol
[2012/05/20 16:41] Mathias (mattaio.rossini): all hers
[2012/05/20 16:41] Jane Fossett: inflation!
[2012/05/20 16:41] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): goddess
[2012/05/20 16:41] Kentrock Messmer: Holy Cows
[2012/05/20 16:41] -Q- (quirky.torok): i think she wants this BAD
[2012/05/20 16:42] Chad Sawson: shouts: Sold to Amanda @ 8000 L$
[2012/05/20 16:42] Chad Sawson: wonderful!
[2012/05/20 16:42] Aislin Keynes: I think so too Q
[2012/05/20 16:42] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): XC
[2012/05/20 16:42] kittensusie Landar: WHOOOOOTTT!!!
[2012/05/20 16:42] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): ~*~ OMG ~*~
[2012/05/20 16:42] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): ~*~ FAINTS ~*~
[2012/05/20 16:42] Chad Sawson: shouts: Thanks Amanda and mathias!
[2012/05/20 16:42] Jane Fossett: haha
[2012/05/20 16:42] Kentrock Messmer: shouts: YAY
[2012/05/20 16:42] Rowan Aurbierre: so much for the tier this month huh Amanda?
[2012/05/20 16:42] Aislin Keynes: LOL
[2012/05/20 16:42] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): again
[2012/05/20 16:42] Chad Sawson: shouts: thjis was great and helps a great cause!
[2012/05/20 16:42] Amanda Bananza (amandabananza): umm wait til I tell Gordon, rofl
[2012/05/20 16:42] Rowan Aurbierre: AMANDA will meet you at the kiosk
[2012/05/20 16:42] Chad Sawson: shouts: Amanda get the Chad Joker #2
[2012/05/20 16:42] kittensusie Landar: Amanda, about that loan you asked for, i’ve got bad news……..
********* 

OMG, Amanda held her course and bought both wildcards, ensuring she’d win the whole poker event! Wow! And mega-kudos also go to Mattaio Rossini, who went bid-for-bid with Amanda over both auctions, building the total for the final donation. Nice work you two!

Although I don’t have any fundraising totals (you’ll have to ask Kentrock or Fanci for that), I’m quite sure the Poker Run went way over expectations, and that Amanda’s generosity was reflected and shared by the spirit of the entire sailing community.

Bottom line, Sunday’s LCC cruise and Poker Run were a colossal hit. They were great fun,bringing sailors and residents together in a common cause. Did I mention it raised a boatload of $Lindens for cancer research? :-)

Not a bad day on the water in Second Life, I think. :-)

Kent? Next year, do it again!

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Posted in announcement, Fishers Island Yacht Club, Mowry Bay Cruising Club, Sailors Cove, Second Life Sailing, United Sailing Sims

Griefing, Then and Now

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Mowry Bay Mayhem

Two months ago the Mowry Bay region was hit by a griefer attack. It was not alone; several other popular spots were also inundated by a flood of flying posters that announced:

“BAD LAB OPEN CARTEL
VR6 KABOUL”

On behalf of SL Sailors, let me offer Kudos to the SL Coast Guard for their response. They stayed on top of the griefing problem everywhere it impacted open waterways. That wasn’t so easy: the attack lasted several hours, and it took considerable Linden support to suppress the multicentric mayhem that ensued.

VR6 KABOUL seems to be the source of this terrorist sim-spam shutdown. I don’t know who VR6 is, but its notable that Emilly Orr posted similar pics of a griefer attack in the Neko-Zone. Her logos were somewhat different, but they were all labeled VR6 KABOUL. The spammed textures in Mowry kept changing design in a similar fashion to Emilly’s griefer, too.

I’m guessing VR6 is the latest in a series of grid-wide terrorist groups, whatever that means.

Sixty Second Global-Griefer History

Griefing has a long, multifaceted history in Second Life.

Way back in December 2006, CNET sponsored a conference honoring Anshe Chung, SL’s first inworld-enterprise millionaire.  It was a pretty significant milestone; it revealed SL had a future and showed SL was more than a fun web platform. SL was actually a capitalist tool (I use that phrase with all kindness); it deserved our respect and admiration. :-)

The CNET  2006 extravaganza celebrated SL’s “Coming of Age.” People could live and work in SL, and some could do quite nicely at it!

However, the story didn’t stop there. SL was still a diverse, creative, and unruly community, and so I guess its no surprise SL users were unready to accept a uniform code of creativity and marketing progress. Many were still stretching their wings… many still finding the limits of possibility in such a novel, virtual environment.

key: FP=Flying Penis

Anyway, that’s sort of my understanding, and it explains what happened next. The stage for the  CNET event was deluged by a Flood of Flying Penises. (Cough)

I guess it’s no surprise that happened, given the enthusiasm and creativity of SL residents. Lindens were certainly at blame also, since the communication between individuals and community groups had fallen to serious, dysfunctional levels.

What might have seemed silly turned somewhat- semi- super- serious several months later, when Chessmaster Vladimir Karpov held an important press conference to advocate for political rights in the nascent Russian democracy. His real-life event was — incredulously — grief-attacked by a platoon of penises in flying formation. (OK, I apologize. That comment was inappropriate; I mixed military metaphors.)

Anyone online at the time was left gasping in wonderment. After all, what was real, what was Web?
Which was Worth keeping?

I admit that some of the comments attributed to the SL Room 101 griefers at the time of the CNET attack were among the funniest, most intelligent commentary on SL from that era.  I won’t give you the links because I’m not sure which ones are truly legit, but I’m sure you can easily find them posted and reposted from back then.

I’m writing this short article because I now think things are different. SL has moved on, and griefing is neither humorous nor productive. It’s simply no joke, and it halts the trust need to allow solid, creative users to invest in Second Life.

I think many old icons of Second Life would probably agree with my sentiment here. Griefing was once a common part of a growing-up process in SL… but now it’s time to genuinely grow, and make sure griefing stops.
Permanently.
But that’s just my view.


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Posted in announcement, Mowry Bay Yacht Club, Sansara, SLCG

Bay City Celebrates Year Four on Sunday

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | 3 Comments

In May 2008, Blue Linden gave the word, and a shiny-new community called Bay City arose from the primordial Pink Slime on the West Coast of Sansara. Actually, I think the Moles had a lot to do with it… :-)

With the exuberance and innocence of true pioneers, the residents of that new land took up the task and constructed one of the most enduring and creative community partnerships in all Second Life.

This Sunday is their birthday, and everyone’s invited to come celebrate–

Bay City’s Fourth Anniversary!

Marianne McCann sent me the details:

Join us in a parade on Sunday, 20th May, starting from the bandshell in Bay City – Harwich and travelling down Route 66 and Park Place to the Bay City Fairgrounds at North Channel!

Click to enlarge

When: Sunday, May 20th at 12:00 p.m. (Noon) SLT
Where: Meet at the bandshell in Bay City – Harwich, with additional room in Bay City – Dennis, Bay City – Tisbury, and Bay City – Edgartown. The parade will begin promptly at 12:30 pm. SLT.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Harwich/11/11/22

Parade viewing: Don’t feel quite like the march? There are several handy parade viewing areas! Here are LMs to two of them:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Orleans/126/248/25
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Falconmoon/238/252/25

Parade end: The Parade concludes in North Channel — but hang around for fun and festivities at the Bay City Fairgrounds!

Live music will be starting at 1:30 p.m. SLT for the Fourth Anniversary Music Extravaganza!

Performing will be Bay City’s own GOSPEED RACER of KONA STREAM from 12:30-1:30 p.m. SLT, followed by Local kid CHRISTOV KOHNKE from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., BLUEMONK RAU from 2:30-3:30 p.m. SLT, and finally ROSEDROP RUST from 3:30-4:30 p.m. SLT.

Here’s the SURL:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/North%20Channel/123/129/28

Oh, and in case you missed it, here’s a short snip of the goings-on at the 2010 Anniversary Parade! :-)

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Posted in announcement, Bay City, New Port Yacht Club, Sansara

Sail for Life Poker Run on May 20!

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Sail for Life Poker Run

May 20th 2:00pm to 5:00pm

Sail anything that floats!
This is a game, not a race!
Hosted by Fishers Island Yacht Club

Followed by Mamaa Saiz Live!

4:00pm

The Poker Game:

5 Card Stud
Enter the game at FIYC Club House
(Your largest affordable donation)
Collect 5 cards at the stops in any order.
Get back to the Club to draw up to 3 more cards
(Donation per card)
The Joker auction at the party
The joker card is whatever card you would like it to be.
(Every deck has a couple of jokers; bring your check book…hehehe)

Stops

Please use the lowest prim craft you can to reduce lag
Collect your cards at the stops in any order.

Start) FIYC Club House in Schooner Run
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Schooner%20Run/214/11/22

1 )Race Rock Light in Race Rock
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Race%20Rock/202/134/24

2) Marblehead Light in Mare Nostrum
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mare%20Nostrum/221/33/22

3) Angel’s Gate Light in Hollywood
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mare%20Nostrum/221/33/22

4) Sankaty Head Light in Nantucket Yacht Club
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Nantucket%20Yacht%20Club/125/20/23

5) Newport Harbor Light in Sailors Rest
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sailors%20Rest/38/241/23

Back to the Club after you have 5 cards. At the party you can draw up to 3 more cards, and we will auction off two joker wild cards during the party.

Best hand or hands of 5 cards will win a Juli Designs Fair Wind.

Prizes for all who enter!

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Posted in announcement, Blake Sea, Fishers Island Yacht Club, Sail For Life, Sailors Cove, United Sailing Sims

Sailing For Life Carnival Weekend at Sailors Cove

Posted on April 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Fishers Island Yacht Club and Sailors Cove

announce the 4rd annual

Sail4Life Concert and Carnival Weekend

Come hear fantastic music and join in the Carnival
to support the American Cancer Society!

It’s happening all weekend
at Fishers Island Yacht Club -SL
in CLIPPER BAY Sim!

Friday April 13th

5:00 pm to 6:00 pm  – Zed Essex
6:00 pm to 7:00 pm  -  Balley Bernard
7:00 pm to 8:00 pm  -  Bright Oh
8:00 pm to 9:00 pm  -  Starfish Ohmai
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm  -  Frets Nervana

Saturday April 14th

10:00 am to 11:00 am  -  Joaquin Gustav
11:00 am to 12:00 pm  -  Jonas Lunasea
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm  -  Cranston Yordstorm
1:00 pm to 2:00 pm  -  Krisie Snowdrop
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm  -  Antonio Galloway
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm  -   Jewels Osterham
4:00 pm  to  5:00 pm  -  Jon Regent
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm  -   Bartelby Pegler
6:00 pm – THEME PARTY
PRIZES FOR BEST IN CARNIVAL/CIRCUS

Sunday April 15th

10:00 am to 11:00 am  -  Mamaa Saiz
11:00 am to 12:00 pm  -  Doofus and Pan
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm  -  TBA
1:00 pm to 2:00 pm  – TBA
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm  – Blane Sonnenkern
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm  -  TBA
4:00 pm  to  5:00 pm  -  Spiriterd Amore

Come help support Cancer Research!!
All proceeds go directly to Relay for Life.

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Posted in announcement

WildWind Lowers Sail

Posted on February 23, 2012 by | 13 Comments

Sad news: Wildwind Yachts is gone.

Yesterday Wildwind’s simset went offline. I understand their visionary boatbuilder Corry Kamachi is taking a well-deserved rest away from Second Life.

So OK. Please stop whatever you’re doing, stand up, and join me in a loud round of applause for Corry. She is a truly wonderful designer who devoted years of effort to her friends in SL Sailing.

Woots to Corry and Wildwind!

Through skill and hard work, her boats rose to join the most popular sail craft in SL. With no exaggeration, Corry’s efforts deeply enriched the lives of each and every sailor who ventured out on Second Life’s seas.

I personally first sailed a Wildwind over 38 months ago, when Taku Raymaker introduced me to early betas of the DG-14 (a dinghy racer similar to the Fizz 1.x) and the first-draft of the ACJ (Corry’s IACC racer).

Those early test boats told the tale; it was obvious that Corry possessed remarkable ability, coupled with a strong drive for sailing accuracy and perfection. Less than one year later, the Wildwind fleet had grown beyond any expectation. Corry’s artisanship crowded the dock with a diverse offering of authentic sail craft.

Hey, did I mention Wildwind also sold seaplanes and multi-hulls? :-)

As Corry’s creative urges blossomed, Wildwind clearly needed more space. Corry joined with a host of other sailors to form a new Japanese nautical community on private sims centered around Far East Yacht Club.

Taku Raymaker‘s Waypoint Yacht Club  is situated in the heart of United Sailing Sims and Blake Sea, and it remained the original nexus of Japanese sailing in SL. However, from 2008 through 2011, Far East YC (Max Starosin, Commodore) and Hayama Zushi YC (Kei Cioc, Commodore)  offered additional, valuable sailing options to Japanese skippers interested in SL.

I have much more to say about the wonderful Japanese SL Slsailing community, but let me put that off for the moment. Today I just want to focus on Wildwind boats and praise the legacy of Corry Kamachi.

Corry spawned an entire, unique family of fantastic yachts that are primarily based on contemporary, high-performance racers of all sizes. For example, at the dinghy end of the fleet Kokoro Alcott captured the excitement of the 470 Cup here:

However, Corry is perhaps best known for the RCJ-44. That boat was fast and easy to handle, but also packed a wealth of racing options and authentic design features. For a long time it was easily one of the most popular posts on the SL Sail-Racing circuit, and many of us nicknamed it “Orca Flotta’s favorite race-boat.”  :-)

Naeve Rossini caught that fever too, and in 2009 she and I ran the boat around the test track more than once…

Yikes, we did that whole test-thing again when Corry launched the JMO-60, too. :-)

Nuboko Cris test-drive

In that context, let me reach back and comment that the Wildwind wind-power algorithm had a number of interesting and unique features and options. for example, it’s worth emphasizing that all the Wildwind boats in the fleet used a proprietary “apparent wind” correction.

I know this is a boring topic, so I won’t belabor the issue. :-)  I’m bringing it up here because when I complained about this 2 1/2 years ago, Mothgirl Dibou took the time to post a great explanation, and it’s worth taking a look again now. :-)

I admit I’m still not sure I agree with Wildwind’s wind algorithm adjustments.   However after more than two years thinking and sailing, I certainly understand better why Wildwind included their compensation factors, and the differences that make the boat exciting to sail. That excitement and creativity was actually typical for Wildwind’s whole lifetime in SL.

Corry’s last, official release was a totally new and typically ambitious vessel: The Wildwind ACJ35 Wildcat. The boat is further proof that Corry was always on the cutting edge.
Here’s don Berthios’ promo video for that great Wildcat work-in-progress!

I have far more to say about the history of builders and boaters in Second Life, but that seems enough for today. The legend and legacy of WildWind will live on.

And Corry? Thank you so very much…

Please come sail again soon.

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Posted in announcement, Waypoint

Nemo II World Series Promo!

Posted on February 21, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Kudos to don Berthios for his latest video. This one is a promo for the SLAC World Series, featuring the Nemo II at Nantucket Yacht Club- SL!

Talk to Don or Francois Jacques in Second Life for the details!

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Posted in announcement

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

Posted on December 19, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Christopher Hitchens died this past week. Although it’s a bit off-topic here, it’s hard for me not to mark the passing of such an extraordinary individual.

Hitchens possessed an untarnished intellectual brilliance coupled with a remarkable expressive talent; he was easily one of the most articulate and insightful essayists of the past century. Having said that, I think most of us will remember him for the force of his argument in many public speeches, and his fearless debating style against innumerable opponents.

Fair winds, Hitch.
Without you, this world is going to be a lot less fun.

I liontaib Dé go ghcastar simm.

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Posted in announcement