As many of my readers know, the Blake Sea is the most widely used water
area in all of Second Life. It was created a few years ago, with support from
the community, to be a "sailing first" area of mainland, where races and
pleasure sailing can occur without interference from other residents. The Blake
Sea is Linden-owned, and therefore is supposedly open to everyone to use as they
wish.
There have been many problems in the Blake Sea over the years. Almost as
soon as it was created, the aviation community in Second Life saw the
opportunity to use the 30 sim estate, and surrounding sailing estates that total
over 100 sims. After some debate, an established set of guidelines for the
aviation community in the Blake Sea was determined. Namely this meant that
pilots could not fly close to the water (unless they were landing or taking off
from an airfield), they need to remain clear of sailboats, and they must avoid
areas that sailing races can occur.
Eventually, a third group joined the Blake Sea. The Pirates and Navy
roleplay battles in century vessels, and have an established leadership. An area
of the Blake Sea was set aside for their battles, the "Contested Waters" - a
four sim block of open water, with rezzing enabled and a short autoreturn. The
sailing community debated for a while, but with approval from Linden Labs, the
pirates and navy were welcome into the Blake Sea, with the caveat that they
remain in their own contested waters.
About a month ago, a new group has been gaining ground in the Blake Sea.
They have been sailing around in WW2 era boats, which are rather large and
visible from a great distance (depending on your draw distance). Some have been
combative between each other, but most have been peacefully sailing in the
public waters. In addition, this group (after gaining approval from the
community liaison, MarkTwain White) has placed an aircraft carrier in the
Southwest corner of the Blake Sea, in an area that is rarely used by the sailing
community.
There has been mixed reaction to this new entity in the Blake Sea, for the
most part split between the established sailing and aviation groups. At first,
the new group has been using the entire public Blake Sea estate, but after
discussions the group has agreed to remain in a small area away from everyone
else - just like the Pirates and Navy. This area, in the southwest corner of the
Blake Sea, is the least used by the sailing community, and does not contain any
racing lines.
For a majority of the sailing community, this was not well accepted, and
has culminated with a rather large protest on June 17th, 2012. Participants were
asked to silently protest the new group's activities, waiving white flags and
floating next to the aircraft carrier. In response, the aviation and pirate
communities, for the most part, started protesting their protest - waiving green
flags and lining up in helicopters and aircraft. It was a sight to behold!
According to one protester, Gwenetha Juliesse, who was waiving a green flag and
is an avid aviation enthusiast, "We already have established air traffic routes
over the Blake Sea area for people's convenience. There must be some way of
establishing battle zones for ships or so on."
A proposal has been submitted to Linden Lab regarding this issue, but they
have yet to make an official decision as of this time of writing. This proposal,
which involves setting aside a four sim block in the southwest corner for their
use, which mirrors what was approved for the pirates group.
Marianne McCann recently stated the "situation in the Blake Sea is
getting worse." She told of a group notice from Tig Spijkers on the SL Aviation group, "Effective and immediately all military style or combat boats,
planes, helicopters, etc are now banned from the Saliors Cove
regions. Only current exception to this rule are the aircraft and
vessels of the SL Coast Guard."
Gemma Cleanslate and Howdy Colter, pictures by Marianne McCann
In a press-release notecard, Nikira explained she got the idea while going about the Second Life Ninth Birthday event, "The idea for the "Adult Roleplay 2012" was born. A meeting with fair, lectures, discussions and also chill out in parties. The fair is designed to serve and inform our community without any profits for us, the organizers. Our aim is a non or only a low cost participation for the exhibitors." There would be a forum for presentations and discussions on the topics of role-plays, and a party area either for exhibitors events or for "come together parties." The date planned for the event is November 2012, for "about 7 to 10 days."
