We’ve been hard at work sea-trial testing our new J-Class Yacht. Unfortunately, it seems the SL grid has been just as hard in resisting our efforts.  expired_region_handoffs on what seems like 9 out of 10 sim crossings lately tends to dampen the spirits much more than any virtual water ever could.

The thought occured to us, the sailing would be great if it weren’t for these miserable sim crossings currently afflicting SL. Yes, yes, we know LL is hard at work on updating their internal wide area networking which will once again open our seas to glitch-free racing and cruising (Jacqueline said with tongue firmly in cheek). But for now, a vehicle that could be operated within the confines of a single sim would be ideal. So we took our J-Class boat, shrunk it down to liliputian size, installed a radio receiver and voila! the Trudeau RC J-Class.

J-Class RC

The Trudeau RC J-Class is our remote controlled pond sailor/racer. Modeled after the magnificent J-Class America’s Cup racers of the 1930s (more on those amazing boats with the release of our full sized J-Class), it consists of the highly detailed graceful 2m long boat (also suitable for display on your SL mantle), the RC transmitter HUD and the RC transmitter and animation AO worn by your avatar inworld (both male and female scaled anims included).

RC 1 RC 5 RC 2

The boat itself shares many of the features of the full sized Trudeau fleet, with built-in hull color selections and artificial wind. Since, as in RL, racing is the point for most RC fleets, SLSF windsetter compatibility prompts you for acceptance of racewind and boat to boat windshadowing will test your competitive strategies. Rudder and sail set are remotely controlled over a 100m range via the RC HUD buttons:

RC HUD

Touch the boat when at rest to bring up a menu choice of options:

 J-Class RC Options

If the built-in color textures aren’t exactly what you had in mind, download the PSD hull template here.

For information about custom sails, contact the very talented Bunnie Mills inworld.

As much fun as SL sailing can be, when you get tired of spinning in circles before being launched through the air, come try something different – the Trudeau RC J-Class.

Credits: AO animations – Larinda Cordeaux. Sail textures – Bunnie Mills