It’s been awhile since I posted an original piece here. If they paid better maybe I would post more often. OK, so clear the dock, here comes our catch.

SAIL ON

If you haven’t looked recently check out the recent editions of SAIL ON. We are getting more than a dozen boats during recent broadcasts. With new sails and new skins the fleet is not only growing larger it’s definitely becoming more colorful. In recent weeks we introduced a new course which takes the fleet through picturesque passages in the Holly Kai sims. However next Sunday, December 23 we will return to the Long Olympic Course. And in January we have a particularly nice treat coming up with the inaugural Flying Fizz regatta at Starboards which will be broadcast live on SLCN. Sail On will be dark on December 30.

HOLLYWOOD MARINE MALL

Inspired by a recent thread at slsailing.org on WHERE TO BUY SAILING STUFF I dusted off a plan and bumped it to the top of the cue. We had a great grand opening on December 10. In addition to gathering the best maritime vendors in SL in one place (others are ready to sign up when we expand to phase two) we have an area for great sailing freebies. Jane Fossett already has referenced on of the great items there in this post. We are actively looking for other worthy additions to the freebie area and encourage your submissions.

THE SL SAILING CALENDAR

Now there is a very easy place to see a calendar for all SL Sailing races and events. Just click on the SL Sailing Calendar link near the top of any SLSailing.Com page. We also have provided a link to subscribing to the calendar. If you represent a yacht club with an active sailing calendar not already covered, contact myself or Nber Medici and we will give you posting rights to the calendar.

THE FLYING FIZZ

I have some great news about Mothgirl Dibou’s Flying Fizz. I have been discussing the distribution of Mothgirl’s new boat at the SYC docks (along side Kanker’s TAKO 3.3). As soon as a new version of Mothgirl’s boat becomes available (this weekend we hope). The boats will be set out. For the moment you can get a free demo copy of the current Flying Fizz from Mothgirl’s vendor in Hollywood Marine Mall.

In my discussions with Mothgirl about supporting the Flying Fizz with regattas (and eventually the 2008 Flying Fizz Cup which we plan to hold in Spring 2008) I felt that there needed to be a version of the Flying Fizz that was less complex that the current “competition” mode. To my delight Mothgirl was thinking on the exact same lines and has been working on just that.

The current Flying Fizz has two modes: “Fun” and “Competition”. In the fun mode the boat auto tacks your sails and your seating positions. A piece of cake for a fun sail but not really what one would use in skilled competition. The competition mode requires that you not only manual set your sails, but that you also shift crew positions. While very realistic this is more complex than the Tako. Mothgirl is redesigning the boat to have three levels: Fun, intermediate, and advanced. She MIGHT use the following names for the modes: Fun, Competition, and Expert. This would be a minor confusion since she currently calls what would become the expert mode the competition mode. But whatever the names, the intermediate mode will closely simulate the level of skills required to race the Tako well. More information to come.