Ever wonder how much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? Yeah, me neither. Ever wonder how many waves you could load up on a Homestead sim and still have a crazy fun surfing experience? Yeah, me neither. But I've found one!
I thought that surely this would be a killer to sim performance, so I asked Luscious Starship about it. She promptly replied, "Don't call me Shirley!" She went on to say that the sim stats have looked pretty solid with FPS staying mostly around 44.5 and almost never dipping below 42, with Time Dilation staying around .995 with dips down to around .96 when the wave first rezzes. Nash, of course, has had to be careful about running scripts and prims, but the atmosphere of the surrounding beach hasn't suffered. Nash has had to give up wearing a prim or two… mostly his hula skirt, I think. One of the biggest problems with running this many waves Luscious said is Inventory management…. boy can I relate!
VW Sands and Lissa Pinion dropped by to take a look. I don't have permission to quote VW, so I can't tell you that he said things like, "Its......farkin off the charts", or came up with the name FrankenBreak.
When I was there, some of the waves running were a Maverick, a Sunset, the Cortes X2, the LDS waves named after surfers such as Kimmy Jigsaw fluffs, Colleen, Nash, Mick, along with the Phatty (Starship Giant), Crying Tiger, and Shipstern's Bluff. The Nash has to run last in the series because, as Luscious put it, "the Nash clobbers everything. If there's a wave in the way, the Nash takes it out."
There was some discussion of a new namesake wave, who's name would be taken in vain will remain anonymous (can you have an anonymous namesake wave?). If it does ever sees the light of day, it might be called the Smart-As*. When it rezzes, it would rise up, turn around, moon the beach, and then drop back into the sea. Shall we take a poll for who's wave that would be?
Many hours were spent setting up and testing various configurations. Many surfers suffered - boards had to be retired. But the end result seems to be worth it.
If you've not been there yet, pop over to Zug and check it out. It's a hoot!
It all began with the change to our full sim. We had both always lived in a tropical area and had been utilizing Sunshine's amazing Patch Thibaud compound since we created Sol. Heck, Sunshine had been using the home for over two years! We were both ready for significant change and decided we wanted a seasonal mountain environment. The full sim was recreated first with the mountain range, the home site, the forest, the meadows and the iced over ponds and lakes. The surf sim re-design came soon after and here, we went full arctic - a seal colony lining the shore; ice forming as the waves hit the shore; orcas breaching, just hoping for one of the many seals to come into the water; narwhals rising up to the surface; polar bears stranded on the icebergs; floating ice and the HP Joaquina wave crashing into the icy shore. Neither of us had seen this done in SL and decided it was time for something new and different.
SurfWatch: How long will it be available?
We re-designed Sol back in November and this unique surf experience has been available since late November 2010. As the Northern Hemisphere Winter in RL fades, so will the Winter SOLstice and Arctic Sol environments... so expect the thaw to begin in late March 2011.
SurfWatch: What kind of activities and features do you have available?
Of course, we have surfing on the Arctic Sol sim to the West...it is the primary attraction. On the full sim, we have sledding, ice skating, ice fishing and just plain, exploring. We have many animals in meadows, in the rocky hills, and in the woods. If you visit, be sure to have your sounds turned on as we also feature natural sounds of the environment as well... the seals, the orcas, the wolves, the wind...
SurfWatch: What is your favorite feature?
We enjoy the whole environment, both sims - the snow falling, the water rushing under the ice, the seals yelping, the whales breaching and the view. The surfing in this environment has provided some of the best rides that we have experienced in SL, too. The lag has been minimal even when we have full weather systems going...it is always a good day for surfing at Arctic Sol.
SurfWatch: The SLSA 2011 Season 1 surf comp is taking place here, what kind of challenges does this create compared to other surf competitions held in the past?
The Sculpty Creations Arctic Challenge kicked off the SLSA 2011 Season 1 comp series with a huge success. When we were asked to submit the sim as a competition site, we let the SLSA Directors know that we would make only minimal changes to the sim. Our sim was selected and we did exactly that... only thing we removed was the weather system. The sim performance for both weekends held up better than any surf competition that I can remember and provided excellent conditions all day for both. Every surfer and staff that participated commented on the positive experience here at Sol for this competition. And the best part? We did not perform any restarts for days before the actual comps, so no risk of getting a bad server on a restart on Comp Days! And keep in mind, the sim has been on SL Showcase/Destination Guide since early January and our visitor count stays on the high side...and still, no need for a restart!
SurfWatch: What would you like people to know about the sim?
Jac and I have always provided nature oriented, realistic environments for everyone to enjoy. We would encourage others to follow our lead and step out of the box now and then...not all surf environments in the real world are tropical, not all are even sandy, and not all are in warm environments. Do what you enjoy most, experiment and make it the best you can within the virtual world we share. Visit our Winter SOLstice sims and surf in a low lag, optimum surf environment...and enjoy the cold, exhilarating experience that only be found for a few more weeks on Arctic Sol...but be sure to wear your warmest surf gear!
And be sure to keep your eyes open and ears to the ground...we are in the midst of researching our next surf environment...!
submitted by Persia Bravin The Second Life™ surf scene has just been featured on a real-life surfing website called Surf Blurb. Written...