Sailing and Boating in Second Life

"Nice? It's the only thing," said the Water Rat solemnly as he leant forward for his stroke. 
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. "

Kenneth Grahame in Wind in the Willows

Sailing and Boating in Second Life

In Second Life you can mess around in rowboats, or yachts, or pirate ships, or yellow submarines or....well, you get the picture.

The best part is that you don't have to spend any money to start. Several places offer free sailboats, and there are many places to sail.

Pick up a free sailboat:

The one in the top picture was from the Barbarossa Info Hub, but you can get other models at Public Rezz sites like the Bay City Marina in New Port, and from places like Tradewinds Yacht Club and Starboards Yacht Club.

Buying a sailing vessel:

If you want something fancier, you might try Trudeau Classic Sailing Yachts, among others. Since I have never bought anything bigger than a rowboat*, I can't make any recommendations, but I have seen some magnificent yachts and cruise ships that made my mouth water...

Where to sail: 

Here is a short list.  The Blake Sea area is probably the most popular, but anywhere you can rezz a boat is fine. Try to avoid areas where they are having boat races or naval battles

Learning More:

I searched for "Boating" and "Yacht Clubs" and here are some other places to visit

Tradewinds Yacht Club:  I visited a lot of "Yacht Clubs" but I liked this one the best. Nothing fancy, but they have several free sailboats and a small store.   /https://sites.google.com/site/tradewindsyc/  The website has calendars of sailing events, links to video tutorials, and even directions on how to build your own boat.

Starboards Yacht Club: In Hollywood, has a large freebie section and a museum. There was a written self-paced course on one wall, as well as a navigation chart.  http://starboardsyachtclub.blogspot.com

Something about this logo looks familiar...

If you want something a little less traditional, you can take a free cruise on a yellow submarine in Stonehenge, although I have to warn you that this is in an adult sim, and even reading the landmark description might offend some people.

The $L99 Yellow Submarine

If you are interested in older sailing ships, be sure to visit the the Arcadia Aley Asylum area in Mieville Pond, where you can get free copies of many kinds of sailing ships.

One of the many free sailing ships. 

I like the little Aley battle boat (below). It has an option to explode and leave you in the water surrounded by floating debris.

Hippo, newbs, & chicken not included...

Other ships to visit:

You can find a recreation of the USS Reprisal in the water not far from the Zebrasil Infohub.

A recreation of one of the old flat-decked aircraft carriers. 

There is a recreation of the Titanic in SecondLife now - I think it may be a temporary exhibit, but perhaps they will make it more permanent.  One problem - they want you to visit wearing a human, non-pregnant avatar and they want you to wear formal dress.  An avatar/dress code is unusual in Second Life. Fortunately I had a ball gown.

If you have a magifying glass, you might see the little figures at the bow
 who were having a great time recreating scenes from the movie "Titanic".


Miscellaneous: In addition to other websites listed, there is a Second Life Sailing Forum at http://forum.slsailing.coand a virtual world sailing website at http://virtualworldsailing.com

Wind: There is wind in Second Life, but many sailors argue that it is unreliable, so it is possible to set your own wind, or just ignore it.

Rowboats:

For now, you can try out a rowboat at the Tourist Information Center in Cecropia. Click on the bright red rectangle on the pier and a rowboat should rezz.  Left click on the center seat and select "Row" then click again to get oars (you will have to go into Recent Inventory and select 'wear'). After you've got the oars another passenger can board and take the stern seat.  Navigate by using your directional keys or game controller. You can go north for a short trip to the interesting sim of Calleta, or go south and left around the edge of the sim and then head south to take the ANWR channel to Sansar. 

Rowboat in waters near Cecropia. (I used atmosphere settings).

When you stand up, the boat will disappear, so you might want to detach the oars before you stand up.

Note that this version of the rowboat has fewer animations than the original item on the Marketplace.

*I am making a boat now, using several different resources.