nantucket yacht club

Nantucket Yacht Club

The Full Story

Nantucket Yacht Club (NYC) was one of the two original Yacht Clubs which were formed in Second Life in 2005 and a long time before the formation of the now well-known Blake Sea.  Amongst its Founder Members were Glida Pilote, Francois Jacques and Cory Copeland.  It was created in the Second Life New England (SLNE) group of just six sims, and with a New England theme.  Barb Carsen was the Estate owner and Tasha Costolany was an Estate Manager.  The New England Estate was taken over by Sudane Erato and about six months later NYC moved to a new sim, which back then was the new Bismark Sea.  RJ Kikuchiyo created the NYC Clubhouse in those early years, and the Sankaty Lighthouse which today still forms part of our Clubhouse.

One day, back in the very early 2000’s, Kanker Greenacre announced that he had designed a yacht which could sail on the water of Second Life by using scripts that he had developed, and so was born the grandfather of sailing, The Tako.  Racing as we now know it stemmed from the development of the Tako and sail-boat racing started with just a couple of Yacht Clubs, NYC being one of them.

In those “old” days we would hold our yacht races in the limited sims and around “Svars Island” in the Bismark sim; Svar Beckerstead.

In 2008 Linden Labs, together with several eminent yacht club officials of the day, worked together to create the Blake Sea. It took a lot of goodwill and planning to make the move as smooth as possible.  It felt surreal where one moment we were in one location then the next day we found ourselves in a new sim that Francois Jacques had taken on the Northern edge of the Blake Sea.  Also in 2008 The Madaket sim was offered to NYC and became part of the NYC estate, and thus was born the Nantucket Yacht Club as we know it today.  Past Officers, and members of NYC, included such names as the ever-hard working Jane Fossett , Chaos Mandelbrot well known for his cruises, the wacky Armchair Binder, also Hpathe Boucher & Quirky Toruk.  So many other names of the past that helped create NYC and fond memories.

Our then Commodore, Francois Jacques, worked tirelessly to bring sailing to ALL peoples and not just NYC Members.  As such she created Sailing Resource Centers throughout the Second Life Mainland to promote sailing.  Francois can be proud to know that many people took up sailing as a result of her efforts.  Sadly, Francois passed away in August 2012, but her legacy still lives on and we hold an annual Memorial Race in her name.  Francois’ famous motto is “Ladies & Gentlemen have you sailed today?” Gemma Vuckovic took the Commodore role after Francois' passing, and she's still the current NYC Commodore.

Following Francois’ passing, in September 2015 Nomad Zamini took over ownership of the NYC sims. However, in view of the increasing absence of Nomad from SL, the NYC Steering Committee decided that we needed a new owner for the estate.  Because of his experience of running the Sailors Cove sims we approached Patrick Leavitt to become the new owner of NYC, thankfully he agreed, and we appreciate all he has done for us.

Today NYC is proud to be one of the longest-established sailing clubs in Second Life and with a prime location and a full seven day a week calendar of races. We teach sailing and have a vast variety of yachts for sale in our shop, The Loft.  Our unique position in the history of Second Life sailing is something we are enormously proud of.  Recently, our Marina was re-designed which proved to be extremely popular, with much sought after berths rarely becoming available.  We have a new Clubhouse and surroundings.  Regular dances and parties are held in our purpose-built venue, The Park. 

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