We at Trudeau Classic Sailing Yachts were never completely satisfied with our HUDs. The text would never match up to the graphic it overlays for most screen resolutions. The SL-centric UI had worn out it’s welcome. A redesign was definitely in order and we had certain goals in mind:

Do away with as much HUD text as possible.

Emphasize a more naturalistic approach to sailboat control -  in keeping with the sensitory awareness of conditions around you and less on processing numbers. Make it more like real life sailing and less like an arithmetic exercise of matching sail angles to wind angles.

Intuitive buttons, icon based, and replace “hard” numbers with “softer” representation of conditions using analog dials rather than digital indicators. Now that seems more like the instrumentation that would be home on a classic yacht of the 19th and early 20th century!  Not to mention construction of mahogany wood and brass materials to fit in the design ethos of Trudeau Yachts :)

Here’s the design we came up with:

It is now a horizontal layout, from left to right are the wind direction, source and speed indicators, then the sail control panels, then other various control buttons. The HUD controls and surfaces explained:

Luff!

By default there are no numbers, wind or sail angles displayed. Sail trim is determined by observing the conditions around you. In RL your sails will let you know when they are out of trim (sometimes quite forcefully ;) ) by the luffing motion and flapping sounds they make. The new Trudeau HUD does the same:

Notice the luffing graphic. The faster it oscillates (and the louder the accompanying sail flapping sound is), the more your sail is out of trim. Sheet in a bit until it stops. Or the luffing might be caused by you “pinching” (sailing too close to the wind). In that case, fall off a few degrees until it stops. Does this sound more like real life sailing? We think so!

For those of you who must have numbers, don’t dispair, we still have you covered. Clicking on the Info Text button brings up a whole slew of precise data:

Since there is no exact text placement, the new HUD may be moved around and resized while onscreen without the problem of text misalignment. The HUD loads on the bottom center of the screen when worn. If you decide to resize the HUD, please work with a copy and stretch it slowly as it’s been observed that not all parts of the HUD resize at the same rate if stretched too quickly. The HUD’s opacity changes with the boat’s set alpha command.

Settings

The HUD has within it’s contents a notecard called settings.ini. Edit this card if you wish to change:

The number of degrees the sails are set with each click:
DegreesPerClick=5

The color of the HUD text display (in the standard LSL RGB color vector):
TextColor=<0.96,0.58,0.17>
Example: white = <1.0,1.0,1.0>
A color table is here

The overall strength of the luffing and tacking sounds - 0.0 (minimum) to 1.0 (maximum):
LuffLoudness=1.0

What, No Sync Button?

You are probably used to the Trudeau HUD with a “sync” button on it. The new HUD does not have this.  If you want to drop a copy of the HUD on someone else so that they may help you sail your yacht, please do the following.

1. Rez the HUD inworld.
2. You will see the message on the chatline “Trudeau HUD (<your name>’s boat): Channel burned in for <your name>”
3. Take the HUD back into inventory.
4. The HUD will now be titled “Trudeau HUD (<your name>’s boat)
5. Give that copy of the HUD to your crewmember (explain to them it’ll be good for your boat only)

The Mysterious “Helpsail” Explained

All of the Trudeau Yachts broadcast data to the HUD for display. The helpsail chat command tells the boat to broadcast what the optimum sail angle should be for the current point of sail. The previous EZ-Sail HUDs of the Trudeau Rideable Yachts (Trudeau 32, Bluewater, Tahiti Ketch, Sea Sharp, Sojourner) did not display this. The new HUD does when the text is toggled on after giving the /1 set helpsail on chat command (except from when you are under racewind - that would be cheating!)

EZ-Sail HUD

The new HUD comes in the EZ-Sail version as well. It has all the same features as the full HUD except that all of the boat’s sails are set with one control.

The Trudeau “Rideable” Yachts now have full HUDs for them as well.

The new HUD is compatible with most recent versions of our yachts and is a free update to all Trudeau owners. Look for the HUD update vendor at our Isla de Jacqinda marina!

Under construction in the Trudeau boatyards for over 3 months, the Tall Ship Tradewind launching into the Second Life Seas on Sunday, February 24 was witnessed by a very large and enthusiastic turnout. The event filled up the sims around Trudeau Cay in the southern United Sailing Sims and in my mind I was counting down seconds until a spontaneous region reset :) But she held and following the Christening by Larinda Cordeaux:

(Launch photos courtesy of Bato Brendel) 

(Launch video courtesy of Marktwain White) 

Tradewind’s slide down the ways took slightly longer than anticipated (boy, those scripts are the first to go in a void sim populated by 50 people!). She finally hit the water, settled to her waterline, and the party was on!

About Tradewind

Tradewind is the Trudeau tall ship. The shipwrights at Trudeau have modeled Tradewind after the ocean-going vessels from the great age of sail - boats used by whalers, mercantile traders, smugglers (and yes, pirates!). She is rigged as a brigantine with working square sails on her foremast, fore and aft on the main and staysails between the masts. Squarerigged vessels are best suited for following winds (blowing from behind the boat) and the great ships depended on the tradewinds for trans-oceanic crossings. Hence our name :)

Using a combination of rideable physical vehicle and avatar worn attachment, Tradewind offers the best of both worlds, realistic sailing for you and your passengers and crew in a beautifully textured, completely rendered - above and below decks - traditional tall ship. The Tradewind attachment can also be rezzed inworld for display and liveaboard purposes.  The full cabin interior primset rezzes separately to minimize the attached primcount while sailing.

Secondlife brings back Windlight. OK, so there’s a few problems with shiny textures and other gotchas, but it overall it is stunning, just stunning.

Well done LL, you’ve made a lot of sailors very happy. You will make them even happier when you smooth out those sim crossings ;)

If you’d like to purchase a Trudeau yacht as a gift for a friend or loved one this holiday season, you are in luck. We’ve switched over to a vendor system that has a “Buy as a gift” option:

Just click the “Buy as a gift” button, the vendor will prompt for the recipient’s name on the chat line. Your purchase (if done within the following 30 seconds) will go to the named recipient. It is better to give than receive, right? Right? ;)

Schooner Larinda and the boat show found it’s way into the style blogs:

 Style Hotline

Thanks for the mention, Bing :)

We proudly launch our topsail schooner “Larinda“, the largest and most elaborate sailing yacht of the Trudeau fleet.  After a flurry of building activity in the Trudeau yards, the last bit of varnish and antifoul paint dried just in time to make the opening of the Sailors Cove Sailboat show running Oct 14th though the 20th.

At 70 ft from sprit to fantail, she is influenced by the designs of famed naval architect John Alden, considered the world’s greatest schooner designer. Also reminiscent of the 19th century New England fishing schooners, she was lofted and built up from RL boat plans, so her lines and proportions are as exacting and true to life as we can make them.

 Like the other larger Trudeau yachts, she is a combination vehicle (27 prims) and attachment (254 prims). Thanks to the ingenious sailing mechanics originally devised by Kanker Greenacre and modified by Jacqueline Trudeau specifically for the Trudeau line of yachts, she *really sails* using the SL wind.

Quite a few of those 254 prims were used in constructing a fully outfitted cabin, enterable via 6 opening hatches. Companionways in the split deck house are offset to port for easier access beneath the booms.  Below are 2 double berths - a forward vee-berth and aft double quarterberth, all with a couples lying cuddle poses. The “L” shaped settee cushions have correct sit orientation scripts, but of course you’ll probably want to add your own poseballs for your preferred belowdecks activities. ;)

A selection of traditional nautical color schemes are set by voice commands.

 See Larinda and the rest of the fantastic boats at the Sailors Cove Boat Show running through Oct. 20th. And a BIG thanks to Tasha Kostolany, Izabella Bentham and Ravishal Bentham for organizing this fantastic SL event.