Lots of racing news in the past few days! Let me give quick shout-outs for a few of them!

Wednesdays at Mowry

Mowry Bay Yacht Club’s sailing program is really taking off, with expanded waters, greatly improved sim-crossings, and an enthusiastic new race committee. The regular Wednesday evening races last night were tremendous fun. Mowry’s always had a particular flair for mixing fast boats with bad jokes and a wonderful laid-back attitude. Last night’s race was so much fun even Aislin Keyes put on her boat shoes and rezzed a ( politically correct) Domela Designs Tako.

Aislin, as usual, was so fast her crew’s hair blew off!

The evening became truly memorable when Gemma Vuckovic and Icabod Jonesford joined the group and announced they were now partners. Gemma was stylishly radiant(as usual) in a white wedding dress. Icabod was also formally attired in a tuxedo, although several of us privately suggested to him he should demand his money back from where ever he rented it… nonetheless the evening turned into a special celebration of Gemma, Ica, and all our sailing friends.

Waypoint Wonders.

I just came back from Waypoint Yacht Club’s Flying Fizz Race in Hollywood. I’ve been sailing in second life for with seems like a long time now, but today I saw something absolutely amazing. This morning Taku Raymaker sent a notice (in Japanese) reminding people about the regular 6 a.m. Fizz Race. So many people showed up for the Waypoint Race that the sim overloaded and entry was blocked. Nber Medici as usual came to the rescue. She did her special magic to expand access so everyone could join in. I always knew Taku had real ’star quality,’ but maybe we should stop advertising the races…

Passages progress.

Last Saturday’s inaugural Passages Race launched a new phase in boat racing in second life. Much has been said about the boats and the course, but I wanted to echo here some of the changes that will be incorporated in the next round.

To spread out the fleet, pairs of boats will start from the passages line at three-minute intervals. If you thought the course was long before (it takes about an hour to complete) just wait… it just got longer. In order to make the “East and West Options” equal, The East Option skippers will now round South Rock as the first mark on the race, while West Option remains the same. By popular demand, the Passages team is also starting a new set of hot laps races, so skippers can hone their skills by racing to just one of the marks and back. That might be more convenient for many sailors, since a single lap time should be around 14- 20 minutes.

Oh, and if you haven’t sailed a Tradewind yet… you might be sitting there thinking these big boats are slow and boring… grin. Well… crew for one of the skippers and your attitude will quickly change. Last week’s race was 90 minutes of nail-biting tension and wonderful excitement. Here’s a cute picture from this morning as EJ Courtois and I were testing out the East Rock hotlaps run. we were having a great race until EJ got a bit too close and let out his sail a tad too far… his boom got tangled in my rigging and you can probably still find our wreckage on the bottom of Trudeau Cay.

If you want to sail Passages this Saturday, check out the course and rule changes and make sure you have an updated Tradewind with the latest wind controls (versions 3.0.8b or 3.0.9 should be fine). All Tradewind sailors will get the upgrade by the end of this weekend, but if you’re racing and haven’t received it by Friday, just IM Jacqueline Trudeau.

GO PASSAGES!