Noodles logbook: J-news

J-news

Something is cooking in Craigs brewery. It's huge, it's fantastic and now it is also sailable plus it has a couple of features, which I've never seen before in the virtual waters of SL. Check this out, and tell me what you think you see:

Craig Ktaba's J

Huge sails, fantastic hull, sheets, stays and running stays all over, giant windex that you can actually see from the deck, but that isn't really it, is it? There's something else that's different from just about any other boat I've ever seen in SL. I know, it is hard to see the details, but this boat is so big that it hardly fits inside a picture. I can zoom out, yes, but that leaves all the fine details unrevealed. SL itself isn't really able to show all the fine work in one picture. Not even if I set graphics to super-ultra high.

Helmsman view

Here's what it looks like from a helmsman perspective. Note the woodwork. That deck looks sooo silky smooth you just gotta go feel it. Even close up it's supersmooth like few other boats. Despite the huge size, this boat is slowly coming alive. The first time I sailedher she was kinda quirky. Slow reacting and moving like it was doing a break dance. It took many seconds for a keypress till anything happened.

Smooth sailing

That's changing now. The sheets are still a bit slow reacting, but hey... a sail this size isn't close hauled in three seconds anyway. However, the interesting thing is the steering. The steering is reaching a point of livelyness where it is fun to sail this. I begin to believe this boat, when it rezzes and says: WWC enabled. Let's race! Except there are no telltails, so how can we trim the sails?

Inshore

Imagine eight of these giant boats doing inshore racing in the souther parts of Blake. That would make for some interesting situations with loads of rules being yelled across the water, hehe. Scandinavians will probably know the famous Tjörn Rundt. If not, google it and see the fun of 400 boats doing "rock slalom".

Navigator, where art thou

I know I'd wanna have a navigator that I trust more than a hundred percent, but let's get back to the boat... Check the shot above! See those lines there, - hanging loose? Those are running backstays. They're loose on the leeward side to let the sail adjust, and they're tight to windward. It's messy, but it's needed with a mast this size, or it will go overboard.

Look up to trim!

Here's a look up those giant sails. Yes, they will luff when not in trim. There's a visible luff and ofcourse there's a sound. Note the running stays on this - the windward - side are tightened. Also, note the windex up there. Yes it is visible, and yes it works just as you'd expect it to.

What is that?

But let's get back to the surface. What is that thing there at the bow? Is that... wake? Real bow wake?

Is that like real bow wake?

It sure looks a lot like real bow wake. It sounds like it too. I am not entirely sure what Craig is doing here, but is is definately something else. Something exciting.

A real boat

So let's do a recap. So far we have a boat that looks amazing. It has sheets, and running stays plus a working windex. It has bow wake that looks way better than anything else I've seen inworld, and it has WWC... and now it also feels alive like a real boat. This is starting to look like a real sailboat simulation. A really exciting one...

Noodles logbook: J-news: Something is cooking in Craigs brewery. It's huge, it's fantastic and now it is also sailable plus it has a couple of features, whic...

Noodles logbook: Telltails

Telltails

What's the story with those telltails anyway? Put simply telltails are the racers primary window into the inner workings of the engine. Telltails are not saying anything about the speed. What they do is they give you, the helmsman, and very precise indication of how well the engine is running. The engine being the airflow over the sails. Why is that better than a hud / instruments? Because at a glance the helmsman is able to determine if the windangle is optimized for speed. The telltails will also - at a glance - indicate what course adjustment is needed to get to the optimum windangle. Looking at a hud, you only get a number. You'll need to compare that number to something else in order to make it usefull.

Jib with telltails and leechtails

Here's a picture of a jib with telltails and leechtails. Note the position and the colour coding. Starboard telltail over the port side telltail to avoid confusing matters. Position? Right behind the headstay, so that the helmsman can see them and so that the telltails show the airflow of the front of the sail. Optimum speed is found when the airflow is good, and that means the telltails are horizontal. If the windward telltail flutters, you are too close to the wind. If the leeward telltail flutters, you are too far away from the wind.

The sail work as a wing. If there is one sail, it is pretty easy to imagine. Air flows over the sail and creates a pressure difference just like the wing on a plane. The only difference being that the wing pulls the plane up, whereas the sail pulls the boat forward. Telltails show the airflow coming on to the sail. Leechtails show the air coming off the sail. If there are two sails, they work almost as a single wing. The main being a sort of trimflap for the jib. When there's a main, the end of the wing is effectively the leech of the main, so that's where the leechtails go;

Main with leechtails

The leech tails are very important, but not for the steering. Leechtails are more of a tool for the trimmer. The leechtails should point aft as if the sail continued some 10 inches in that direction. If they bend to the backside of the sail, the sail is stalling and the leech is too tight. If they flutter, the leech is too loose, and that's pretty much all you need to know in order to trim your sails and sail max speed. Of course there are other factors such as the fullness of the sails, the leech tension, the twist, halyard tension, headstay tension and what nuts. However, when the basic trim is in place, the leeches take over and become the most important second by second "device" for the helmsman and the trimmer to make the boat go faster. 

This is ofcourse a very short version of the truth, but still... it should be pretty obvious why telltails are key to a good sail simulator. That's why we love the Flying Fizz. It not only behaves pretty much like a boat, it also has those telltails working almost like real ones.

Thanx to Mikko from WB sails for letting me use these pictures. Go there and read moregreat articles about saildesign.

Noodles logbook: Telltails

Sean Poynter en Tarifa

Otro vídeo del joven Estadounidense campeón Mundial ISA y rider de Starboard Sean Poynter filmado por Sundown Entertainment durante su ultimo paso por España, más especificamente en Tarifa, Cadiz, Andalucia. Con su estilo muy fuerte y suelto a la vez con esas tablas a las dimensiones ya imposibles para la mayoría de los supistas "normales", veamos a Sean cogiendo olas con una tabla de Stand Up Paddle de forma excepcional pero también surfeando con una tabla no tan diferente de su tabla de SUP en las aguas de Tarifa. Durante su paso en España, Sean se dió el lujo además de ganar el 3ro campeonato SUP&Surf Tarifa, que no está nada mal.

Fuente y Texto: http://www.standuplatino.com

SUP Valencia

Dongfeng taken for a test-drive - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15

Dongfeng Race Team's brand new Volvo Ocean 65 racing boat came through an ocean test-drive with flying colours. Our own Rick Deppe was on-board to see the boat's innovative features put to the test in the English Solent.

Expect more like this to be uploaded to the Official Volvo Ocean Race YouTube Channel in the future. Get all the latest updates on www.VolvoOceanRace.com