Moana’Ina Beach at The Weather Channel’s (TWC) recently launched Weather Island will be see surfers from all over Second Life gather on Saturday, April 14th, 2007 at 1 pm SLT (PST) to compete in the first ‘big wave’ SL surf contest. Come see the top surfers in Second Life battle these epic conditions for the top placing!

Surfing in Second Life has been developing and expanding by leaps and bounds over the past few months with the work of Sebastian Saramago and Heather Goodliffe of Surf Systems Inc. They have developed a line of surfboards which are scripted to work with the wave systems they have designed. The surfable waves in SL range from foamy, whitewash to crystal clear pipe waves to the massive, bone-crunching big waves found at Weather Island and Hedonism Isle. Surfboards that function with these waves, including a line of boards featuring artwork by Namiko Surf Co., are sold at beach locations all over the grid.

The first surf contest was organized by Keala Mimistrobell of Namiko Surf Co. recently on March 23rd, 2007 at Chi and saw surfer girl, SamyJo Ah, crowned as Second Life’s first ever surf champion. Over 16 surfers competed in the event which lasted just over two hours and saw the island completely filled to capacity with spectators. A 9-minute machinima video was shot at this first surf contest by surfer, Namiko Team Rider, and film director, Valent1ne Apogee, and is available to view on the Namiko Surf Co. website or Google Video.

The EPIC Surf competition at TWC Island is open to anyone! Prizes range from cash Lindens to points redeemable at Namiko Surf Co. to merchandise (including wetsuits, t-shirts, boards and more) from the contest sponsors — Reaction Surf, GR Boards, Sport2.de and more. Contest entries have closed now. SamyJo Ah will return to defend her title as SL Surf Champion and will join many new and returning competitors on the big waves. Don’t miss this unique and exciting event and come early to get a good seat!

It’s time!! Here are the heats for the first big wave event, the Namiko Epic Surf Contest at TWC Island:

Heat 1

1. Gypsie Summers (R)
2. AlexSurfer Hirons (G)
3. Valent1ne Apogee (B)
4. Cierra Theriac (O)

Heat 2

1. Aries Ashton (R)
2. Thor Bishop (G)
3. SamyJo Ah (B)
4. Warren Barthelmess (O)

Heat 3

1. Kimmy Leroux (R)
2. Eield Decosta (G)
3. Creed Lisle (B)
4. Tabby Babii (O)

Heat 4

1. Flynn Sheridan (R)
2. JD Snook (G)
3. Gerran Voss (B)
4. Polysilox Apogee (O)
5. Frankie Miles (P)

Heat 5

1. Pablitin Couffer (R)
2. kiddd Ikarus (G)
3. Malcolm Sydney (B)
4. Seano Osumi (O)
5. Vincent Olivier (P)

(R) - Red Rashguard + Surfboard
(G) - Green Rashguard + Surfboard
(B) - Blue Rashguard + Surfboard
(O) - Orange Rashguard + Surfboard
(P) - Purple Rashguard + Surfboard

Competitors, please start by wearing the coloured rashguard for your first heat. We will provide EPIC surfboards for you. For those of you that get to the subsequent rounds, we will re-assign the colours and you might need to change your rashguard and board. Each heat is 10 minutes long.

Good luck to all the competitors!!

For more information or questions contact:
Keala Mimistrobell (IM in-world or keala [dot] mimistrobell [at] gmail [dot] com)

The following are some suggestions to help you reduce lag with surfing during surf competitons:

1. Detach all items that use scripts (AO’s, jewelry with bling, wings, etc.). Spectators can do this too to help.
2. Turn off streaming audio and video if on.
3. Change your group title to none.
4. Change your preferences (you may not need to do all of these, just the ones you can live with):
   1. General tab
      1. Change ‘Show Names’ to ‘Never’ (you can turn this back on when you finish surfing)
      2. Select ‘Hide My Name On My Screen’
      3. Select ‘Hide My Group Title’
   2. Network tab
      1. Set your Disk Cache Size (MB) to less than 500 MB.
      2. Click ‘Clear Cache’ and relog.
   3. Graphics Detail tab
      1. Deselect ‘Enable Bumpmapping and Shiny’
      2. Deselect ‘Enable Ripple Water’
      3. Select ‘Normal’ for ‘Avatar Rendering’
      4. Select ‘Sun and moon only’
      5. Select ‘Low’ for ‘Terrain Detail’
      6. Move the slide bar for ‘Object Mesh’, ‘Flexible Mesh’, ‘Tree Mesh’, and ‘Avatar Mesh’ to the far left.
   4. Adv. Graphics tab
      1. Deselect ‘Anisotropic Filtering (slower when enabled)’
   5. Audio & Video tab (I don’t recommend doing this)
      1. Move all the slide bars to the far left. Remember to move these back after you surf.

– compiled for your surfing pleasure, by Malcolm, the King of Lag.

Cross posted from the Second Life Travelers blog!

For my first entry, I chose the Laguna Beach Club located in the sim of Laguna. Laguna beach club is 22,848 sq. m of sand, waves, and boardwalk. It is a beautiful piece of land, built and designed by Valiant Strangelove with the help of her two GM’s, Careless Heart and Lester Nefarious.

The Beach club is very special to me, and hence why I chose it as my first entry. I am here almost all of the time! There’s a great laid back atmosphere that is hard to find anywhere else in SL. Events are held at least once a week, which is usually great live music from artists such as BlackBloom, Dann Numbers, Fflewddur Llainfair, Maximillion Kleene and Jamba Jams! Occasionally their are some excellent documentaries and indie films as well!

The club consists of three main areas.

The first area is the entrance boardwalk, here you can relax on some of the many couches. Get an intimate massage around back, or head to the pools for a swim with some friends! The boardwalk is another example of Valiant’s fine architectural design. Everything is placed well, designed to be easily navigated, and looks great! Check out the nooks and crannies of this area to find all sorts of romantic places and great hangouts.

The second area is the main boardwalk where the majority of Laguna Beach Club can often be found. This area is famous for its numerous couches, where many groups of friends have taken residence. The dance floor is full of great poseballs for you and a companion to groove the night away to great live music. Or, if you prefer to go solo, you can head over to the bar, grab a tropical drink and engage in conversation with some of the many visitors of Laguna Beach Club.

The third area is of course, the beach! Here you can find the majority of the Beach Club’s hand-picked shops.

Namiko Surf Co. has its own store here featuring high quality swim suits for men and women, wet suits, and Namiko surfboards made to surf on Heather Goodliffe’s waves. You can find the water at the end of the beach, throw your board out and hit some waves for a great time!

Surf Republic has a shop here for jet skis, which are also for use with the waves! Last but not least, H20 ocean sells some great aquariums and props!

For others, a beautiful waterfall hides some great hidden romantic caves for you and a loved one, and the Life Guard station always has a friendly staff member available to monitor the beach for any disruptive visitors. If you are looking for a more relaxing time, just hit the sand and pick a lounger to lay back on and enjoy the sun.

If you love great live music, a fun beach environment, and a ton of awesome people. Then I highly suggest visiting the Laguna Beach Club. You will not be disappointed.

Check out the Gallery for more pictures of Laguna Beach Club!