What's your best?

So - because this is resident answers: what is your personal best with sailing around, or ballooning, or flying, or driving in SL?

For me, it was yesterday:

Partially for fun, I took my sail boat -- a Flying Tako named "Greenie" -- out for a cruise. I say partially, 'cuz I also was doing it as a personal challenge.

I pushed off from Ambleside, not far from Ethan Linden's L'il office, and headed west past Pathfinder Linden's big office.

It was not long before I headed into my first border crossing. I slowly edged into Waterhead, home of one of the busier -- and wilder -- infohubs. I avoided the natives, assuming them to be unfriendly to my small boat, and headed northward under the bridge.



The crossing into Hawkshead was pleasant, although it did take a little finesse to get the boat's spar and sail through the narrow break. Soon I was in my third sim of the journey.

Hawkshead also has a bridge at it's northern end. It's beautiful Asian one that makes it look like no further travel is possible. It is, though, as all the bridge supports are phantom. I hugged the port-side coast after that, heading for Grasmere.

The Grasmere crossing with a bit difficult, with my boat taking on a small amount of water as it punched in. Soon I was back underway, passing Blue Linden's enormous chair and Jessie Lindens hand-drawn office.



Going by Torley's "Watermelindenland," I encountered trouble. She has prims in the water or glowy stars rotating, playing beautifully in the river. They are either not phantom, or otherwise react badly to my boat. I had to go into edit and grab a handle to get myself over them.



A hairless newbie with pink skin and a yellow outfit was near here to. We exchanged a few nice words, an he let me know his five-year-old was with him at the computer, and also said hi. I meet more kids dat way.

Soon, I weas in Borrowdale, and again negotiating a difficult bridge. Much like the one bordering Hawkshead, you have to angle your boat just so. I knew too, that the seas ahead would be a challenge, as the waterway is split by border crossings.

Passing by Waterhead again, I picked up a border. A fellow in what best can be described as a human version of the nutcracker prince asked if he might right along. I welcomed him and he took a seat.

His time with me was short however: the border crossing into Kirkby was a rough one. The additional passenger, the close sim borders, the crowd in Waterhead, a stong wind in my spinnaker, or a combination of all the above cause me to end up at -21 Waterhead before it was finally recognized I was in Kirkby. I assume the prince crashed here, as he was soon no where to be found. I did not wait for long, given the the breeze in my sails carried me soon into Sawson, then Dalton as I made a tricky move (again using grab handles) over some invisible regular and megaprims on the southern edge of Ambleside.

I noticed there's a couple more boats in Dalton. I hope they do more than sit and look pretty. Meanwhile, I forged on, heading into Caldbeck for a brief moment before turning to port -- ahead lay my final destination -- right back to where I began my journey.



Now then...

On this trip, I went though ten border crossings, in a boat, without crashing. There was lag as some of these crossings, and a rough patch around Waterhead and Kirkby.

This was done in the Windlight first look browser, using default "High" and "Ultra" settings on a 20" iMac with 1GB of RAM running OSX 10.5 (Leopard).

The regions themselves are presumably Class 4, old mainland. None are Havok4.

I note all that jes cuz we so often talk about only the bad stuff. Hair in uncomfortable places (mine stayed on my head this whole trip) and all dat. The idea of border crossing in a vehicle sends most of us long-time residents into a cold sweat. Yet here on an otherwise typical SL day, I took a boat through some of the busier bits of old mainland and sailed back to tell about it!

Mari,

Thank you for reminding us of the good stuff that happens every day that we don't carry over into the forums. I'm envious of your excursion. Sounds wonderful.

Now I'm off to go find something else to complain about...

Very nice trip Mari...I'm impressed

Mari, thank you so much for sharing! Sounds like so much fun!!

OK.. this is nothing like Mari's but it was still a great experience! Somewhere I picked up a box of "free vehicles". My friends and I went to a flat space and tried them all. Oh my god, we laughed until we cried!!! The "vehicles" included:

* Motorcycle shaped like a pig
* Bouncing Rock
* Pot Brownie
* Flamingo
* Spaceship
* Bananaphone
* Beer Mug

... you get the idea...

It was fun -- an ya, I did't so much wanna brag, as put someting up other than talk about icky ad farms an stuff

Mari

I once took a Lapras ride from Brampton to Lusk after a havok4 meeting. Had a grand total of three crashes and a single instance of being tossed off my ride.

For a cross-mainland trip by water, it wasn't that bad.

So Marianne do you sail in RL?

I was a sailor once upon a time and moved into other hobbies. But your description of the boat, using port and starboard, referring to the spinaker are all very impressive.

SL Sailing is something I need to try.

My best travel experience in SL has been by helcopter. I covered about 8 or 9 sims until I crashed on some ban lines.

"CX"

CX, sailing in SL is a blast. Gorgeous too, in windlight. The boats actually sail by the wind, which is really cool. (But you can always just edit them off any shoals you run into, a vast improvement over RL).

If you want to try it, I believe there is still an earlier version of the Tako for free on the dock at Nantucket. Or have one of the avid sailors from the Hangout take you out for a spin ... some sailboats have a "passenger" hud that you can use to get a feel for the experience ... I've never used it, but I'm sure someone there has.

There are also some sailing clubs in SL that hold weekly races and regattas. Recently, new class boats have become popular ... I think there's a Laser clone, lol!

Being bored this afternoon, I suddenly decided to buy a motorbike. Am I imagining things, or is it possible to ride through multiple sims on Linden roads? The idea of tracks doesn't excite me much, but the idea of open roads and different scenery is certainly appealing?

so a) is it possible and b) where's a good place to start?


or c) have I just frittered yet more L$ away, as only I can?



That sailing trip sounded brilliant, Mari btw.

Thanks Marianne,
Reading that was fun and the pictures are gorgeous!

All I can say is WOW!!!

I love sailing, and was on a short sail trip the other day, right after Rioco's house warming party, on her little sail boat that seats four; it was FUN!

I think it is a wonderful thing to be able to explore and go mountain climbing, scuba diving, and the like in SL.

And yes, for all the complaining that people make against SL, they still come back for more. LL and all the cool SIM owners must be doing something right to make this a wonderfully attractive place!

Thank you Marianne for sharing your adventure with us, and helping all of us remember the kid inside of ourselves!

Wow Marianne, i guess i am going to have to try sailing some time. So many people have said it is so wonderful, but i have never even been on a boat lol. it sounds like you had a wonderful time. And some of the pics of people sailing are truly beautiful.

It is nice to hear about the wonderful things every now and then. Tanks for the pick me up

However, my personal best is getting 49m on Penguin throwing lol.

Thankoo! IRL I have hardly been on boats, actually. I've never sailed, aside from one trip as a passenger.



It's fun! Grab the free Flying Tako sailboat at the above-mentioned spot, or in ANWR (at the sailing races end marker, on a buoy), or at the Flying Tako sailboat store. Then head for Rodeo (Rez it on the shore near there, and sail through Mohrr, Kremer, into Clementina, etc.), the sims near ANWR (the passage between continents makes for a great sail with easy crossings - hard to find a good spot to rez a boat, though), Sailor's Cove (beautiful scenery on the sims near here), or even try the route I took.



It's possible. Try finding the road in Maryport an head towards Pooley. Could be a challenge, but worth tryin' There's also a bit of nice, twisty lookin mountain road near Rodeo. I think it's in Stinson, but I'm not 100% sure: I'm too young to drive .

Mari

A friend and I rode bicycles for hours on Linden Roads..don't know where we began or ended but it was a great day - we used voice IM to be able to keep our hands on the handlebars..

Hee!

Sounds like the Grid Record I was part of th' other day. standing 24 avvies on each other's heads at camp!

(Anyone ever stacked more than 24?)



Now that sounds like lots of fun. An actually sounds like a great use of voice!

Mari

Look up the mainland sim Rosieri. On the North side, you'll find a place where the road forks. Next to there is a pink building - sells t-shirts and stuff - that has a vehicle rezzing area next to it.

A variety of sims worth of Linden road to enjoy from that point.

Mari and Broccoli - thanks for the tip. Look out world...

It when things happen unplanned.

Not long ago I was on a sandbox and I unpacked one of those grubby urban busses and someone asked if they could buy it which of course I said no but I gave him a copy (which the owner allowed) and soon others had got their own copies and then about 6 Shabby busses were zooming around!!! (don't worry it was a very quiet Sandbox and they allowed it).

Then a few days ago me my boss and her OH were on a spare bit of land next thing we knew we were bouncing around on pogo sticks and a space hopper then he got his horse out so me and the boss set mode to running and we were all galloping around like loonies.

THAT is what SL is for LOL

I once drove an aircraft (I think it might have been a Warf Ventura Spyder actually) across abut 40 sims. I remember also that some friends all piled into an air-taxi and we went for a "road trip".. but we're talking a YEAR ago.. nowadays, I dunno.

I took a boat ride a few months back.. I suppose I should do it again. doing so always puts me in the mood to build a better vehicle.

But I think now I'd be afraid to happen into a Havok 4 sim by accident, and have my vehicle stop working, get stuck, catch fire or fall apart.

Some days are good, some days are bad. I flew around Waterhead and then Linden village for a while last week, all the time wearing 1300 prims worth of spiked boots... No problems there. (^_^) But I usually take them off for my map-stab wanderings. (^_^)

Sailing may just be a bit too slow for me though... The ritalin usually wears off too soon. (^_^)y

Yesterday I decided it was time to sail again so I launched a freebie boat off the quay and headed south through the Linden sim toward the squeek-through corner I usually take. It was the edge of the world! I bumped and banged against it trying to get through and when I finally looked at the map, there it was...the only sim on the continent that was offline was the one I needed. I walked home.

Glad you had such a great sail Mari. I may have to try that route sometime. It looks like interesting scenery!

EDIT: Oh! but you were asking what was the best? I once sailed the free Boomslang airship I picked up in Caledon from my old home in Carmine along an arcing linden road through probably a dozen sims. My date got ejected early on but I persevered. It was fun greeting people I passed while wearing my pith helmet.

When I first started SL over a year and a half ago, I spent something like 2 hours zooming around the public roads at full speed (I was also learning scripting, so full speed was FAST) without more than a minor hiccup at sim crossings.

I very seriously doubt I'd be interested in trying that now, it would be an exercize in frustration.

i quite often will take out my hobo raft or a sailing vessel and travel down the linden waterways, and whenever i make a new vehicle or just feel like it i'll take a drive on the roads. Most of the time i have no problems, i'd urge more people to do it, some of the things to see are absolutly wonderfull and there are always interesting characters to meet and builds to visit along the way. usually i find it very relaxing, especially with the hobo raft, just tap forward once so it travels slow and then just steer, can't go wrong.

http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=306028

-Crunch

The hobo raft is one of the three boats I might commonly use (I don't often use the Goblin Boat or Dwarven Boat I won via Neo-Realms fishing). I also love the Snap Kayak and my Flying Tako. I *usually* will take my kayak out for a trip around Livingtree on Sunday mornings, just to relax.

Mari