** The RM Cutter **
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| *RM* Gaff Rigged Pilot Cutter |
The cutter is one of several types of sailboats. Traditionally the sloop rig was a rig with a single mast located forward of 70% of the length of the sailplan. In this traditional definition a sloop could have multiple jibs on a fixed bowsprit.
In the cutter rig, the gaff on the sails aft of the mast is divided between a mainsail below the gaff and a topsail above. This is useful for sailing with small crews as the total sail area is divided into smaller individual sails. These can be managed without the need for large crews, winches, or complex tackles, making the cutter especially suitable for pilot, customs and coast guard duties. For example, a pilot cutter may only have two people on board for its outward trip—the pilot to be delivered to a ship and an assistant who had to sail the cutter back to port single-handed. The cutter sailing rig became so ubiquitous for these tasks that the modern-day motorised vessels now engaged in these duties are known as 'cutters'.
The Pilot Cutter was developed from the need for a fast boat to take Maritime pilots from harbour to incoming large trading vessels. As most early pilots were local fisherman who undertook both jobs, although licensed by the harbour to operate within their jurisdiction, pilots were generally self-employed, and the quickest transport meant greater income. As their fishing boats were heavy working boats, and filled with fishing equipment, they needed a new type of boat.
Early boats were developed from single masted fishing cutter designs and twin masted yawls, and latterly into the specialist pilot cutter. These were effectively light-weight and over powered single masted boats with large steeply angled keels, making them deep draft under power and shallow draft in lighter sail.
In this ReneMarine representation of The Cutter, two passengers are switchable with the pilot. The sails that can be raised and lowered individually provide a reefing capability. A detailed cabin below includes a cuddle pose engine that is integrated into the boat so that it can be sailed with the passengers there. A new Sail HUD provides visual control of the sails.
INSTRUCTIONS
------- GETTING STARTED
You must be seated in the skipper seat before you can operate the boat. Right-click on the tiller or steering wheel and choose "Board". If you unsit at any time, the boat will reset and become non-physical until you start it again. When you are ready to begin sailing, type "raise" into the local chat to raise the mainsail or Press the Left most button on the ReneMarineHUD.
- To lower the sails and coast type command "lower"
- To engage the AutoTrim press the second button (type command "autotrim")
- To engage the engine press the fourth button and use the up/down arrows as the throttle (type command "motor").
------- SEATING
The Cutter has 3 seats. Rudder, Aft and Cabin. The boat is scripted to only allow the individual seated at the Helm and the Current Skipper access to the controls.
- Rudder Seat for the Skipper
- Cabin Seat for the Trimmer
- Hull for the Trimmer
------- COMMANDS
The commands can be entered into Local Chat.
(Note: the commands are case sensitive)
* raise - Raise the sails
* lower - Lowers the sails
* moor - Lowers the sails and park the boat
* autotrim / Toggles Automatic Sail Adjustment when in Cruise Mode (Disabled in Race Mode)
* motor - Diesel Motor Power
* c - Sets Camera Angle
* notecard - sends user this notecard
* hud - sends user the sailing HUD
* Up/Down arrows when motoring increase/decrease the throttle.
when sailing it increase/decrease the sheet angle.
(hold down the pageup button or the e button to
increase the rate of change of the sail angle)
* idxxxx / sets Race id.
* id off / turns off Race Mode and activates Cruising Mode.
* set dock - stores the current position of the boat on the boat
* dock - moves the boat to the position set on the boat with set dock.
Must be within 10M of that position.
* skipper Firstname Lastname - sets an alternate skipper who can take helm control of the boat. Only one alternate skipper is allowed at a time.
* camera - toggles between Active and Inactive Camera
* switch0 - switches the everyone to their starting positions control to skipper
* switch1 - switches the aft to the helm
* switch2 - switches the front seat to the helm
(note: the AV currently at the helm is granted control. Skipper always has control)
* alpha - sets the transparency of the Mainsail and the Jib.
alpha 100 is Solid
alpha 80 is a good setting
alpha 0 is completely transparent
* PageUp/PageDn - Page up moves the trimmer or helm to the port
Page Down moves the trimmer or helm to the starboard.
* individual sail commands
There are five sails on the boat that can be raised and lowered independently.
You can raise or lower any of the sails listed below:
ms - Main Sail
ts - Top Sail
ij - Inner Jib
oj - Outer Jib
tj - Top Jib
Some examples:
raise ms - activates the mainsail
lower ms - lowers the mainsail
raise tj - raises the top jib
lower ts - lowers the top sail
--------Sail HUD
The Cutter comes with a unique SailHUD that allows you to graphically control which sails are deployed or lowered. Click on any of the five individual sails on the HUD and it is toggled either deployed or relieved. Many different configurations are possible, each sail represents an additional amount of speed you can accumulate when sailing. You can slow the boat down by relieving some of the sails so that you can coast under power into your dock, or deploy all sails and glide full speed past the finish line.
------- HUD
The HUD Needle is an indicator of the apparent wind direction where the needle points to the direction that the wind is blowing to. You want to keep the wind into your sails. The Autotrim helps with this. But generally the boat will not sail if the wind is inside of 10 Degrees of the bow or the stern.
The HUD features Digital Wind Speed indicator that is displayed just below the Apparent Wind direction needle. To the upper right is the Digital Boat Speed in meters per sec. And to the lower right is the boat compass Heading.
The buttons from the left to the right are as follows:
* Direction HUD - the little red button drops the Direction Arrows
* Raise - This button Raises the Sails
* AutoTrim - This button toggles on/off the AutoTrim function that automatically adjusts the sail angle.
* Lower - This button lowers the sails and allows the boat to drift.
* Motor - This button toggles on/off the Diesel Motor.
If you power up the motor, you have to Moor the boat before you can raise the sails.
* Moor - This button Lowers the sails
turns off the motor and parks the boat in place.
------- Direction HUD
Press the small red button in the lower left corner of the HUD drops the directional arrow keys. These add the ability to steer and trim your boat without using the keyboard. When you use the HUD Steering and trimming option you can control the boat without affecting how you've set your camera.
------- Text Hud
Heading, Wind Angle, Wind Speed, Ground Speed, Depth, Sail and Sheet angle are all displayed under the digital HUD for your convenience.
------- CAMERA ANGLE
Everyone has their preference for camera angles. This boat features the ability to change that camera angle. The default camera position is above and behind the boat, and may be the easiest point-of-view for beginners. Once seated, you may need to hit "Esc" to go the default view. To change the default camera position in your boat you first must be parked in a Build area where your boat will not be returned to your inventory. Then you must perform the following steps:
Be seated From the seated position at the captains chair as instructed.
Set your desired camera angle.
type the letter 'c' into the Local Chat and press enter.
The boat will respond as follows:
[15:34] : camera Set
[15:34] : Ready.
Stand up by pressing the Stand Up button.
Sit back down and press escape to see your new camera angle.
------- ACTIVE CAMERA
Active Cam - The Active Cam offers the driver an adjustable and dynamic perspective when sailing. The camera view switches from side to side against the wind so that you always are looking around the sails to get a clear view of the water ahead of the boat. The cam position is dynamic and pivots to the Windward side when the sail moves with the wind. The position is adjustable on the fly and retains the settings.
commands:
camera - toggles the Active/Fixed cam
Enter "camera" in Local Chat toggles between the Active cam and the fixed cam
pageup/pagedown (pressed at the same time)
when pressed simultaneously toggles the dynamic camera adjustment mode.
page up - moves the camera up
page down - moves the camera down
up arrow - moves the camera forward
down arrow - moves the camera back aft
right arrow - moves the camera to the right side
left arrow - moves the camera to the left side
There is no adjustment for the angle of the dynamic camera
Press pageup/pagedown simultaneously again to toggle the active camera back into normal mode
The active camera pivots automatically from side to side when the boat tacks with the wind.
------- Texturing
Hull Texturing
The boat comes copy/mod so you can color your boat as you please.
Sail Texturing
The sails are copy/mod so you can texture them to your taste. Add numbers and pictures.
------- SIM BORDERS
A note about SIM Borders. Most Sailing simulator regions cover multiple SIMs. The SIM crossings are difficult at best and occasionally disasterous. This boat is under 32 Prims so the boat handoff is typically fairly smooth when the border is smoothly crossed. SIM Crossings can be more difficult the more prims and scripts you're pushing to the new area. The number of passengers on your boat increases the difficulties of SIM Border crossings exponentially. When crossing any sim border the results are typically unpredictable. That being said, it is best to make use of your MiniMap to identify the upcoming SIM crossings. If you're going to cross a SIM border it's best to hit that border head on perpendicular and not at an angle. That way you dont confuse the next sim during the handoff. It's best not to be turning while crossing a sim border because the handoff will send you spinning. Other things to account for are attachments that are heavily scripted. Collars especially are troublesome. It is helpful to remove your scripted attachments when running your boat across the sim borders. All these are helpful suggestions, but sometimes the handoffs will still be difficult.
------- SAILING
There are many sailing sims and instructions for Sailing in the SL universe. It is encouraged that you take advantage of the many resources available to help you. In the mean time it doesnt hurt to go exploring around with the motor running.
Wind Setters are recognized and displayed. So if there are race winds available in your SIM your boat will take advantage of them.
