Finding the direction of the wind and adjusting the sail

From SecondSailing

In the last chapter you learned, how important the right sheet angle is for good sailing. You also learned, that it is important to use a sheet angle that is adjusted to the wind angle.

Sounds good, doesn't it?

But, you will say here "Where the hack do I get these numbers from?". Right you are. We kept an important instrument secret from you up to now. The tako comes with a "Head Up Display" (short: HUD) which gives you all informations you need.

Contents 1 Getting the hud 2 Managing the HUD 3 Sheeting 4 Homework

Getting the hud

Simple. Just say "hud" in open chat while seated at the helm. (No idea what "being seated at the helm means? But you did the earlier chapters of this class, didn't you?)

The boat offers you two HUDs now. Accept the first, it's the one we are looking for. Do what you want with the second one, real sailors don't use button HUDs :-).

You should now see an instrument in your window, that looks like this:

This hud gives you all information you need to control your sail. Let's have a close look at it. There are -clearly distinguishable- two regions.

1. The graphical display. This instrument shows your boat as you see it from your helming position. Bow is up. The blue arrow shows the direction, the wind is coming from that is in the current situation the wind is coming from the right side and we are going slightly upwind. The sail position shows you, where the sail is pointing. As you can see, the wind is blowing "into" the sail, so we can sail with this sheeting. The red area indicates the forbidden area. As long as the wind comes from any direction within the forbidden area, you will not be able to sail.

1. The numerical display. No new information here. Just everything expressed in numbers. But what do they mean?
   1. The wind direction gives you the angle between the centerline of the boat and the wind. Small angles indicate wind from ahead, larger angles tell you, the wind comes from behind. The number also has a sign with it (+/-). This tells you the side, the wind is coming from.
   2. The sheet angle. It uses also the centerline of the boat as reference but it's not measured from the bow but from the stern. Sounds complicated but as the sail always goes to the opposite windward it makes things easier to understand.
   3. The sail angle. Uses the same reference as the sheet angle. When everything is ok, the sail angle and the sheet angle should have the same values. If the sail angle is smaller than the sheet angle it means, the wind is pushing your sail inward. You can't sail in such a situation.

Managing the HUD

When you are finished with sailing, you will find that your HUD is still there. It will stay there until you get rid of it. There are two strategies to do that.

1. Detach: Right click at the HUD and choose "detach". This will leave a copy of the HUD in your inventory (under the name Tako Info HUD). The next time you want to use it, you can simply attach it from here instead of giving the "hud" command to your boat. Most people prefer this method. But one important note: HUDs only work with the boat that gave them to you. If you are using a rented boat it's necessary to obtain a new hud every time.
2. Drop: Right click at the HUD and choose "drop". The HUD will vanish from your screen and your inventory.

Sheeting

Sheeting (not cheating, as some people think :-) ) is one of the key features of successful sailing.

On boats in RL, the sheet angle is controlled by ropes which are called sheets, thus the naming.

These ropes allow to be pulled close which decreases the sheet angle and is called "sheeting in". Giving slack to these ropes lets the sail respond to the wind pressure and it will increase the sheet angle. You are "sheeting out".

Well. No ropes in SL (which is a real deficit in case of mutinies).

Instead of ropes you deal with the keyboard. The key "cursor up" sheets out, the key "arrow in" sheets in.

As you are now able to adjust the sail according to the wind it's time to resolve one of the riddles we gave you in the first chapters. You remember the magical words "sheet 10" we wanted you to say to the boat earlier? Well. This was just another way to control the sail and had the purpose to set the sheet angle to a value that had allowed you to sail in nearly any angle to the wind. Now you know better and don't need to do this anymore :-)

Homework

You are now already equipped with all knowledge to sail around in Second Life. Let's make a break here and you try the things out, you learned. get familiar with it. A word to the wise: We still not told you everything. You will find many sailors that go faster than you. Well, be patient. We will get to this soon. You will also find navigation hard and will probably get lost in the seas on SL. Well. You are not alone. Tricks to deal with that come later. At least you can't drown in SL :-)

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