There is very active sailing community in Second Life that is helping new people to get involved with sailing the amazing wind powered boats in SL, and also organize lots of events – several each week – for both the newcomers and more experienced sailors. The number of events is really amazing, compared to for example spring 2006 when there were two yacht clubs actively organizing races – and I believe at that time there were only 3 racing events per week plus the “learn to sail” class at Starboards Yacht Club.
So the event calendar for the sailing community these days looks very full, which is a good thing. And there are lots of active people helping and volunteering run and manage these events. But one thing I have always been wondering, is that nearly all of these sailing events (with exception of the aforementioned “learn to sail” class) are racing events. More or less catering only towards the crowd that are interested in sail racing. And even some of the sailing classes nowadays discuss tips and techniques for racers.
There have always been people in the sailing community, who are more interested in exploring the various waterways of Second Life – more with the pace of a leisure cruise, enjoying the sights and the relaxed atmosphere of sailing without a clock ticking or a race opponent breathing at the back of your neck. For some reason this portion of the sailing community has never been so vocal, and probably many many people who sail their boats in Second Life and don’t participate the races, never maybe even found their way to the “active sailing community”.
There were couple discussion threads at the slsailing.org forums about pleasure cruises, but mostly the topics are very race-centered.
I have been trying to offer a different possibility for sailing at Caddo – in form of Caddo Guest Marina, that is at the side of SZ Designs Sail Loft. You can find the guest marina on the north side of the Sail Loft building, with couple display boats moored at the pier there. I have marked a “boat rez area” there for people to easily find where they can rez and launch their boats, to get sailing the lake area in front of Caddo.
And speaking of the lake area – it is one of the best locations to sail in SL … and mainland sailing has often got shadowed by the discussions of sailing community being very much focused on private sim sailing lately…
But the lake area in front of SZ Designs Sail Loft in Caddo, offers over 25 Linden protected sims to sail on, with no fences or banlines at all. And if you sail through the Drawbridge, there are 6 more fully protected sims to explore in that direction – and sailing past Lauks Nest, and north through the river towards Mowry – there are over 15 protected water sims in the area in front of Mowry and west from there.
So that means over 45 fully protected water sims to sail on only at this area!
.. the river network north from Caddo, and going towards Waterhead can also be sailed, and someone (sorry forgot who) posted a report on the slsailing.org earlier this year about succesfully sailing from this lake area all the way through ANWR and over to the northern Atoll continent, and to the very northern side of Atoll.
So there are vast possibilities for sailing on the mainland, and in my opinion it has been somewhat underrated … or at least not really talked about. Perhaps because most of the sailing community is so much focused on racing. Of course there is the start line at Adriatic sim, and the race course around the big lake area, but I don’t think it has been used much at all for races.
The best way to start exploring the SL mainland waterways, and the huge lake areas, is to rez your boat at SZ Designs Caddo Guest Marina, and start sailing the lake area there – with over 25 protected sims only on the big lake! 🙂
SZ Designs 