Sailing on the Blake Sea

A couple of months ago, I briefly dated a guy in SL who had a passion for sailing and flying. He'd take me around interesting places in the Blake Sea, and it really renewed my love of the beauty in SL. I had become so "mesh this, mesh that" that I'd forgotten the creativity of the people. When he took me around to interesting places on the Blake, there was a beauty in prims that I had forgotten about. From the mer-communities we visited, to the lighthouses and shacks on islands, I found that I had developed a love for sailing. I retained this interest in sailing after the relationship didn't work out.

I decided that I wanted to learn how to sail. Apparently, sailing wasn't as easy as it is to drive a car, or motor boat. It consists of trimming sails, taking note of wind directions, and a whole bunch of other complicated stuff. I purchased my first boat, the Loonetta. I learned how to sail using this boat, and it wasn't really a bad boat. However, when I went to my first "cruise" with other people, it gave me nothing but script errors. I was embarrassed, being "that sailing noob", so I TP'ed home, disappointed that I apparently, didn't know how to sail... despite all my lessons and practice.

This lead me to purchase a different, more expensive boat - the Bandit 60. It had been intended to be a "backup" boat, but ever since I took this boat out, I have never looked back. I heard that the Loonetta 31 is fixed with it's script errors, but I really haven't even looked at the Loonetta since I got the Bandit 60. (If you're ever buying this sailboat, I definitely recommend the skip hud, it makes it SO much easier to remember commands)

I love this boat, it goes so fast, even for someone like me, who is still learning how to sail, I feel like I could actually keep up with some of the more experienced sailors. I put the boat into auto-pilot mode for photo taking, but I usually don't like to make a habit of using it, cause manually sailing is so much more fun!


I've joined a particular group in SL where they send out a cruising "route" for the group to follow a couple times a week, and at the end of the route, is a party! Ever since my experience with my erroring Loonetta, I've been a little traumatized into going with them, but I usually go out within the next couple days and do the route myself. It's so beautiful and relaxing to get out on the water in a boat, seeing all the creativy in SL, and all the different landmarks that the lindens made many years ago. Tip: If you're joining these cruising groups, the Ultimate Sailor Buddy will be your best friend!