The Second Life Coast Guard

By Wesley Regenbogen

The waters around Second Life are guarded and maintained by the Second Life Coast Guard, also known as the SLCG for short. They were founded in 2005 by Sanstrom Laxness, and have a number of stations and substations created and designed by various SLCG personnel. The SLCG’s first goal is to teach all who are interested and give real life safe boating courses from within the virtual world of Second Life. Their second goal is to assist any land owner that has water access in the setting up, education and maintaining of a proper “Aids To Navigation” system.

They communicate with their members through group chat and the groups associated with SLCG. They also have a grid wide grid talkie channels through which they communicate with each other.

Their monthly graduation ceremonies are held at the last Saturday of every month for new recruits, along with promotions of other active duty guardians. They have daily patrols. They also have SAR, dive, sailing, aviation, medical activities on an ongoing basis. Their ultimate goal is to one day have proper ATON systems in place throughout the virtual worlds.

The SLCG divides Second Life waters up into 4 districts. Here’s a listing of the different districts :

District 1 :

SLCG - RTC (Sector 6)

SLCG - Station Abbotts Field (Sector 8)

SLCG - Station Kania (Sector 7)

SLCG - Station Smugglers Cove (Sector 3)

SLCG - Substation Anton (Sector 7)

SLCG - Substation Bay City (the building is NW of landing point) (Sector 1)

SLCG - Substation Cranberry (Sector 5)

SLCG - Substation Indigo (Sector 2)

SLCG - Substation Poliahu (Sector 3)

District 2 :

SLCG - Station Cleora (Sector 4)

SLCG - Station Sarcee (no Sector yet)

SLCG - Substation Jadu (down the hall on the right) (no Sector yet)

SLCG - Substation Thryis (Sector 5)

SLCG - Substation Timandra (Sector 4)

District 3 :

SLCG - HQ (Sector 3)

SLCG - Station Bull Rock (Sector 1)

SLCG - Station Danshire (Sector 3)

SLCG - Station New Horizons (Sector 6)

SLCG - Station Santa Catalina (Sector 1)

SLCG - Substation Brook Hill Canal (Sector 1)

SLCG - Substation Dex (Sector 3)

SLCG - Substation Oleg (Sector 5)

SLCG - Substation Forkbeard (Sector 5)

SLCG - Substation Phoenix (Sector 9)

SLCG - Substation Starfish Cove (Sector 3)

SLCG - Substation Sunrise (Sector 2)

District 4 :

SLCG - Station Baitoushan (Sector 7)

SLCG - Station Terranova (Sector Eden)

SLCG - Substation BitBatBot (Sector 12)

SLCG - Substation Balloch (Sector Scotland)

SLCG - Substation Lowndean (Sector 12)

SLCG - Substation Sheershank (Sector 11)

As you can see each district has its own substation(s). These are all maintained by the SLCG.

Whether sailing, personal water craft or motor boating is your thing, knowledge of safe boating practices is an important thing to have in real life.

If someone has an interest in joining the SLCG, they can do that, but they won’t be able to stay permanently. First there will be an interview. To join SLCG permanently, you need to have a certificate of an online boat course ( which is free, by the way ), which can be found on this website : http://www.boatus.org/courses/ . Depending on your time, it could take up to 2 weeks to fully complete the course.

Personally, I think the SLCG is doing a very good job at keeping the waters of Second Life safe and sound. The fact that an organization like the SLCG teaches everyone the basics about boating and sailing, is a remarkable effort.

 More information about the Second Life Coast Guard can be read at their website at: http://www.slcoastguard.org/index.php .

Wesley Regenbogen

Grace Wrigglesworth and the Safe Waters Foundation

By Bixyl Shuftan

Among the sponsors of the upcoming Fantasy Faire is the "Safe Waters Foundation," a group promoting merfolk and their communities in Second Life. Their founder and leader is GraceSWF Wrigglesworth, also known as simply "Grace." I recently went to have a chat with her.

I accepted a teleport to a location high in the air in Union Passage, the same sim where the Safe Waters' HQ is. Grace was a little different from most merfolk in that her tail resembled a shark's instead of the scaled fins many have, "Well, given your size, let's sit over here," she suggested. And we went to a certain spot in the building.

"So this is your office?" I asked her?

"It's like a private area," Grace told me, "was a build from one of the Second Life party events. I loved it so (I) asked the builder/volunteers to put it up here." Grace explained why, "People are so fascinated with mermaids and such, that there are constant interruptions when trying to do the work to keep things moving. So this is up high - hard to find and harder for people to listen in. So I can speak openly."

"Thank you so much for honoring me with this interview," Grace told me, "and honoring my difficult schedule."

I told her no problem. I asked how she came to Second Life. Grace told me, "Well I was very active in chat groups, AOL, MSN, and heard about Second Life somehow probably a person told me, and just loved the idea. (I)  came in as human of course, joined the Avilion sim ... They have a merrow group. I saw the mermaid signs here and there, and one day a mermaid swam by. I thought, 'Wow, she flew fast through the air.' I scrambled to keep up with her, and eventually found her to click on her. She started me,  isn't on much now. (I) miss her too." Grace told me she was "quite active at Avilion merrow, and shifted to a larger focus on the community as a whole." She had nothing but complements for Avillon, suggesting the Newser write about it later, "for people who like roleplay and multiple species medieval, its a wonderful sim. I adore dragons." She showed me a picture of her pre-mer days, "there I am before I molted," she told me, her term for when she changed to the type of avatar she now wears.

Noting my furred appearance, she brought up, "there are mer furs in Second Life, furry upper half. You could try being a mer, and stay furry if you wish. Lots of lower halves. Mine just happens to be shark - but we call the entire package a mermaid, or merman (as) we call (the males)." I asked her what inspired her more sharklike look. She answered, "Well ... when I started there were not a lot of choices and they were hard to find in Second Life. I first sort of accepted myself with black tails. But when I found this one - oh a year ago at least, I told people I molted. This is my true self. I don't change tails all the time. Many people do, sort of like outfits."

 Grace told me she hadn't started any of the other merfolk groups, but instead had been "trying to encourage special interests of mers, to support their development." They included a warrior group and a "Midnight Seas group for mers in non-American time zones ... they are still really struggling to find each other. ... I help if they want and if I can." She did have some help, "We have a Board of Directors. Really, a LOT of people make SWF happen, but I started it. ... am sort of the shepard." Even though it has a board, Grace felt the organization was "not formal." So when I asked for how many groups were a part of Safe Waters, she answered, "that number would be hard to come up with. ... I offer to every mer group that asks about advertising her or for us to do announcements. ... Many don't even know I watch and try to help." Others that were a part of the Foundation included "Fancy's MerFurs," "Antiquity Merfolk," "Ceteceans" - a group for whale and dolphin avatars, "Petite Mer," and "Sea Dwellers."

Grace felt, "I think the first major breakthrough we had was when the group started to grow! Safe Waters Foundation! The chat became like a social network. The worst thing for mers is they couldn't find each other. And we've just gradually added things. ... Lots of builders have stepped up and donated their time and talents, as have other volunteers, LOTS of them!" She went on to say some came forward just to take on a particular project, "I'm good at .... empowering others to explore their talents."

Grace went on, I" don't want to .... encourage anything unhealthy. You know? Balance is key. In our charter you will find a list of values. We try to keep that the spirit of things. ... The officers volunteer mostly if someone does a project or two. If they go well and the leader leads (even if the event or project failed),  an officer or myself will nominate an officer. The board votes after open discussion. One no vote and they aren't invited. (It) brakes my heart at times - but there have been some key people I've not been able to invite. (There is) no formal written description of that. It is more ..... like a plant, organic. But (it) has kept the board centered I think, and it's not me running the show, not based on my personality,  although really it is lots of my life principles in what SWF does."

Grace mentioned an episode of "Designing Worlds" in which Fanci's Deep and the Safe Water Foundation were the subject, "it takes like 40 minutes to watch, but is the history of Fanci's Deep which is another major breakthrough in the mer community that has really helped. For Fanci's Deep - I'm the liaison mer for that sim. I give a long interview there, and you meet Aley. Aley is a very key figure - she's not been online much for awhile. (She) will only make things for free, will not talk voice, but she linked up the owners of this sim and me." I asked if this was Aley the noted builder of Second Life, whom the Newser has written about a few times. Grace mentioned, "Yes. She had the vision. I'm so sad she's not been around for awhile. Maybe she needed a break." I asked her, "Has this been the longest she's been offline?" Grace answered, "As far as I know yes." She went on about her, "Oh just can't say enough how much we want her back, for her humor, her honor, her honesty, her generosity ... so if you ever speak to her, or get messages to her, she has 200% of my loyalty and support. She has done miracles here. The owners Mark Twain and Nber Medici of course are part of it. But I think she gave the idea to them (pirate ships on top and mer community below) and SWF to anchor it so to speak."

Grace told that there was one concern, "as our goal is to foster communication amongst the mer community, I was a little worried bout SWF being seen as favoring one mer community over another. But I think we achieved it by keeping the focus of the overall umbrella of mer community in Second Life. We support all mer sims, and designers, as we can, and if they want of course." She went back to Aley, "she is the heart of this place. You can see the beauty she created in the video." The video showed Fanci's Deep as named for Fanci Bebbe, who passed away in 2013 and had a memorial set up in her honor.

Grace mentioned the upcoming Fantasy Faire, "We are a sponsor at Fantasy Faire this year, for the benefit of the Relay for Life ... the Fantasy Faire will include a mer area this year. (It's) kind of interesting, it crosses two of their sims, with swimable waters. I'm excited - FF has been great to work with." The Fantasy Faire mentioned Franci's Deep on their website recently.

Grace mentioned they've been doing some advertising, "Everyone is a potential mer, so we try to do marketing outside the existing mers, in addition to fostering communications amongst. And then (the) new campaign we are just starting is Save Our SL Seas." She mentioned their Headquarters had some ad spaces available, We offer the adboards very very cheaply so owners can keep the info current. It was awful trying to keep notecards up to date. That is how we started sharing information. Now we suggest people stroll the headquarters and click on adboards. I mean - who can't pay 25L a week? And funds go to our SWFAccountant and used for SWF projects It's like a mer catalog, though many just won't advertise - want me to give free space."

I switched to my Anthroxacty anthro shark about this time, which got Grace's attention, "Oh look at you!!! Lovely." She mentioned "Tithis offers something similar," calling it Tideborns, "we'd love to get them to put up adboard downstairs, those have been a huge breakthrough."

Grace then invited me to see their "transformation center ... it is so hard working with people trying to transform." I asked about it, and she told me, "we've been calling it the changing room, (but) people seemed to think it was for people without homes to change, which is fine if used for that. We wanted newbies to have one place to find everything needed." She then began swimming, "let me take you to the normal old entrance. (It) was terrible trying to tell them how to get there too. So I took (our) landmark and renamed it our 'Transformation Center' *giggles* "

We headed to Union Passage (166/231/4), appearing in a building. "This is our headquarters," she told me. We were next to a desk with a cube, "New Mer start here," which had a notecard for newcomers to the place. Grace went on, "across from that desk is a wonderful concept: transformation kits. You can buy for 10L, keep in your inventory, and give to a newbie. I don't always have time to stay and help. So I wanted to have those, and thought might as well make them publicly available. Anything to make it easier to try mer."

We went up to a board, Grace saying, "Here is information on Fanci's Deep under the sea." Then we went out to the front of the building to what looked like a wooden door under a rock arch at Union Passage (177/227/1), "this is the changing room." Clicking the door open revealed a teleporter, "click again to go up." We both went up to the location, which had two rooms with posing stands and closeable curtains. On the other wall, there were two freebie tails, a blue one for males, a pink for females, and instructions for wearing those. Grace stated, "Many mer stores offer free mer tails as a major promotion tool. So we try not to compete but are trying to increase the size of their markets. But some ..... have some friction there, I know. It's all about balance."

Grace mentioned the "major officers with SWF are Cynthia Main, Zohee Goldshark and Celtic Infinity. (I) call them senior managers. I think you can see the other officers in the group if you join. They work a LOT. She also mentioned Wlfric Gausman (Wulfric Foxdale), "created an entire sim and put SWF HQ into the middle of it. That was our first involvement in a sim. He was so gracious (Wlfric was) when we were offered the opportunity to move SWF HQ to Fanci's Deep. We make a good anchor for mer. Anything you can do to help people find the mer option would be appreciated. I think people are not aware of the awesome underwater side of Second Life." She suggested one place to check out, Two Moons Paradise, "they bring a lot of mers into the world, huge supporter of Fanci's Deep ... they have land and underwater sections, a lot of international involvement."

It was about then that Grace had a meeting to go to, and we swam our separate ways.

So if you're interested in joining the merfolk of Second Life, even if for part of the time, the Safe Waters Foundation is a place you can go to with a number of groups under them with various themes, and an ocean to swim around in.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Union%20Passage/166/231/4

Bixyl Shuftan

Curt Bombastic Speaks About The Ice Bucket Challenge

For the past several weeks, the "Ice Bucket Challenge" has been going on in real life. In this unusual fundraiser for ALS (Lou Gerigh's Disease), people record themselves announcing they're taking up the challenge and nominate three others to either take it or donate an amount to ALS research, then dump a bucket of ice water on top of their heads. Started on television, it soon went to social media and quickly went viral, inspiring a long list of personalities from politicians to businessmen to musicians and more to record themselves getting the cold water treatment. The event is not without it's critics, calling it gimmicky or a frivolous use of water. But the result has been the ALS Association receiving much more in donations.

It was just a matter of time before the Ice Bucket Challenge came to Second Life. One place where one can take it is the SL Wrestling Community Building in the Alpha Centauri sim. Dropping by on Saturday August 23, Lilian Bombastic (lilian.stoneshield) was there, telling me, "you need to get the bucket near the sign but to be recorded we need to have out staff with the programs here to do it." A few moments later, Curt Bombastic appeared, "Hi Bixyl. Good to see you Again. Welcome to the SL Wrestling Community HQ."

"So the Ice Bucket Challenge has come to Second Life?" I asked. Curt answered, "Yep. Debora Stine Creator of MUSCHI Fashions Created The Bucket and was good enough to put one here at the HQ. So far we've had people from all over come by, from the wrestling community, to the roleplay community, even members of the CFL."

I asked, "About how many would you say have taken part?" Curt replied, "Oh ... lets see ... I'd say a good 50 to 70 people have come by so far and grabbed it and donated. We've even had some people come by and get recorded by Wildfire Productions in getting "iced" and issuing out challenges too. We put this up yesterday afternoon and already we've raised almost $7,000L as you can see. I think Its Great ... and I can't thank Debora Stine enough for coming over here and putting one out (laughter)."

I mentioned the video by Tahisha Fairplay that I found (and would go up on the Newser the following day). Curt laughed, "Oh yes, I recall her. I thought that was cool and she had fun with hers. (laughter) We also added the 'I'm Freezing' animation that people can grab after they ice themselves. But all proceeds go directly to www.alsa.org, so it's been pretty good."

I then asked Curt about any jokes about the event. He answered, "Oh there's been a few ... One person will be coming by later and putting on FRAZZLED hair after she ice's herself. One did it from the Titanic and got thrown into the water. Horses Morriesy instead of getting iced punt-kicked her mascot teddy bear into the sea. There's been some creative ones. As a community, we challenged the CFL Community and so far they've seem to respond in kind .... Its been fun so far."

I then asked, "At this rate, how much do you expect to have raised?" Curt answered, "Good question ... I'm surprised at its only been up for a day and a half so far and we've raised the amount we have. We intend to keep this up for all of September and maybe even October and see where we go from here. But I heard that in real life, they reached the $50 million mark and I think Thats AMAZING ... This time last year they reached something like over 1 million and they've more than tripled obviously cuz of this .... It's pretty cool."

"This has taken a life of its own. But the SL Wrestling community, oh hell, the SL community in general has really come out for this, so I think that its great. Next Month there are plans to host an ALS Charity Wrestling Event, maybe at APW Arena, or maybe here, still up for debate ... but it'll be a multi fed joint Super Event for ALS."



I asked Curt how fast word seemed to be getting around. He answered, "Definitely. We've had people from the CFL, roleplaying communities, club goers, I saw a Linden here earlier as well ... Word is getting out there."

"Oh? Which Linden was this?" I asked.

"I don't know," Curt answered, "(I saw him) as I was logging out but the dot on the mini map was blue, so I knew it was a Linden. I never caught the name.  I've been trying to find out."

Curt then turned his attention to a lady who has written about wrestling a number of times, " By the way, tell Charlotte I'd LOVE to see her come on down and give the Ice Bucket Challenge a try too. She's MORE than welcome." He then laughed out loud, " ... The more the merrier I say. I recently challenged Zarrakan Productions as well. She has an office set up here.  And I'd LOVE to see how Camera Kitty (as we call her) responds (laughter) ..... I challenged her last night at a VWE wrestling show ... so we'll see how she does this," he laughed again, "No doubt it'll be pretty good."


"But yeah, this has been a lot of fun so far. We've been advertising outside of the Wrestling community and lots of people have shown up and tried or grabbed the bucket and donated which is GREAT.  We Just opened the SL Pro Wrestling Community Headquarters two weeks ago, which I find is a great place here .... a place where we can promote the ENTIRE community to ALL of SL .... and this just helps I admit."


"It certainly draws attention," I commented,

Curt continued, "But its GREAT that the community has come together For a GREAT cause and its been a LOT of fun to do as well."

"Anything else you want to mention about the challenge?" I asked.

Curt thought for a moment, "Ummm ... other than we challenge the SL community to come on down, take the challenge. You can contact Lyra Phoenix on our staff board out front to get it recorded and donate. Let's spread awareness of this and hopefully find a cure for ALS."

Curt told me he might have some more information on the charity event soon. He then told me he had to go, and we told each other goodbye and we went our separate ways.



One can find the SL Wrestling Ice Bucket Challenge at Alpha Centauri (164/173/28).



Bixyl Shuftan

The Secret Life of SL Mermaids

Mermaids and merfolk thrive in Second Life (SL), which has a zero-gravity dance environment for those brave enough to put on their tail and leave their legs behind. Landwalkers is the derrogatory term for SL people who haven't yet embraced the inherent beauty and bliss of being free forever from gravity and styles constrained by mere humanoid vanity.

Second Life is a place where people express freedom in many ways. Being merfolk is a particularly fun and empowering experience. As merfolk, we swim through joy in SL, enjoying complete freedom from gravity in our dances and Animation Overrides (AO). On Land and Undersea! Yeah!

My complete transformation to mer came this week. It was the second time in SL when I felt completely jurassic. I was with club owner Liz Harley, we were both mer, but she has such a killer AO that I was completely floored... JURASSIC ME!! EEEEK! I begged her for the SL landmark (LM), which she offered generously.

What an Amazing Store! OMG! Imagine Koi Goldfish outfits... done up with Japanese Kimono belts... and totally awesome AO animations... I had to have it all!!! No more Jurassic me! Now I'm full time merfolk for sure! (We shall see! Hee Hee!)

Anyways, today I got a group IM from Marybelle Lavender on Merfolk of SL. Oh, Merfolk party now at Hercules! Hmmm okies great! I'm in the gig!

Come round to Hercules for free merman and mermaid outfits!!! I plan to make up a kit for my students will full instructions on how to go mer!

Master of ceremonies at the Hercules gig was Xia Ysabel who has a very unusual merfolk avi, with octopus tentacles. Most merfolk avis have gorgeous fish tails. Way cool to discover the next generation of merfolk looks! Wow!

Also joining us for the merfolk dance party was Ellender Donner, and Psyche Spore, who is a wonderful dance hostess. Phoenix Ishmene arrived a little after the start and stayed later too.

I've been interested in SL merfolk culture since my early appearances in The Light Dancer's shows with Cellandra Zon. The first act of our first show was done in mermaid outfits, and I shall always cherish the beauty of those scenes (use them in my profile to this day).

Lately, I see a major growth in merfolk participation and adoption in SL. Previously, you've rarely seen them. Now, it's actually quite unusual not to have a merfolk or two in any given SL audience. Especially since I'm going full time mer just now! LOL

Musicians are a major factor driving the adoption of merfolk looks and culture. In particular Louis Landon's new CD is Solo Piano for Love, Peace & Mermaids.

Well, I hope you can find a minute to stop by Sea of Hercules, pick up your free merfolk outfit and give it a whirl. Try the merfolk dance ball there... Way fun! Being merfolk is a particularly joyous celebration of life that is truly at the core of SL fun.

-- Any1 Gynoid

Article originally in CNN

Fishing Boring? Not So

Fishing in Second Life can be so much fun. If you have not tried it you should. You can get a demo rod to find out what it is all about at any 7Seas vendor.

I have been fishing for over a year now. When I started I kept every fish I caught. I suddenly saw my inventory bulging, and then put some away in a container. Slowly I began to realize how silly this was . The fish are always there and so many fish to catch! I began to be selective in my haul, giving many away to non-fishing friends. Then I began attending contests. What fun!

There is a cadre of fisher people in SL who travel from contest to contest keeping in touch with each other in the 7seas social chat. Announcements are sent out in that chat with details of the prizes, type of contest and time . Most places have rods and custom fish to be caught, some very extravagant. I now host contests myself at Relaxation sim and Thorstar. The in-between announcements in group chat are the funniest and some of the most enjoyable I have come across in any group! A true chat group!

Most fishers are always ready to help out anyone who asks. Contests can be very quiet, with the fishers attending to who-knows-what off line, or sometimes raucous as the speakers tease the others and themselves. Many types of avatars love to fish, tinies, furries, vampires, skeletons, birds, kids and who knows what else you might meet. You will hear many languages so you know it is a universal hobby. Almost all contests are baited so you have to save money to buy the bait. You have a chance of winning lindens at the contest and sometimes you will get bait for standings on the fishing board.

Once you gather xpoints for every fish you catch you find yourself in the Hall of Fame. ( I’m there!) Breeding is the next thing! With a mama and a papa and some food called luv-n-flakes, you can make babies. Of course now that you have babies it is time to snuggle them, everyday, to get baby xpoints. With these points you will be in the Breeding Hall of Fame! (I am there too).

Well, if I have not enthused you yet, I guess you will not be a fisher. Too bad. It is so much fun! I admire the creators of 7seas fishing for keeping it going and inventing new interest with fish and xpoints. It is amazing how such a "boring" thing can become so magical.

Gemma Cleanslate

A Glance at the Second Life Coast Guard

While looking around at the SL7B, I came across an exhibit near the auditorium with a Coast Guard helicopter and a few vessels. Upon closer inspection, they read Second Life Coast Guard. One of the sailors was nearby, a neko with a parrot on her shoulder, Chakku451 Rieko. I had a talk with Chakku about what the SL Coast Guard does in the Metaverse.


Bixyl Shuftan: So how big is the Coast Guard in Second Life?

Chakku451 Rieko: Well, there are several Coast Guard groups in SL, like there are several police groups. The SLCG is not an official arm of Linden Labs, nor do we act as law enforcement.

Bixyl Shuftan: Where was your particular Coast Guard group?

Chakku451 Rieko: We're quite active throughout the SL waterways. My particular station is in Kirkstone.

Bixyl Shuftan: Was there just one ship there, or a few?

Chakku451 Rieko: We have one cutter belonging to the station commander. The boat commanders get a Defender class patrol boat and an Atlantic class RiB boat for patrols. Our air wing uses Dolphin class helicopters.

Bixyl Shuftan: What kinds of missions do the ships go on?

Chakku451 Rieko: We provide courtesy patrols and escorts for sailing events and do patrols to check for prim litter and navigation hazards throughout SL.

Bixyl Shuftan: Prim litter? Is it mostly just a nusciance?

Chakku451 Rieko: I usually find boats washed up on the shore after the owner has crashed during a sim crossing. Seems like most of my boating excursions end with me standing on the seabed with an upset parrot on my shoulder.

Bixyl Shuftan: Heh, the idea of a pet bird is nice.

Chakku451 Rieko: Thank you. Sansara can be a handful at times. ... I acquired him from a pirate.

Bixyl Shuftan: Oh? How did that come about?

Chakku451 Rieko: My RL brother was an independent pirate, meaning he didn't belong to a group. He gave me Sansara when he left SL. ... Let's just say he has a sailor's vocabulary.

Sansara : Hey! I'm the bravest parrot on the Grid.

Bixyl Shuftan: (chuckles) I take it there are also some RP (roleplaying) missions?

Chakku451 Rieko: We don't RP so much as offer assistance. We do the occasional demonstration, but for the most part we try to help out any boaters having issues.

Bixyl Shuftan: Have there been any incidents that stand out from others?

Chakku451 Rieko: Well...my very first patrol was for a series of boat races called the J-Classic, named after the boat that was used. During my patrol, I was approached by a pair of nude women in a sailboat who were looking for pirates. I didn't ask them, but I got the impression they wanted to be taken prisoner

Bixyl Shuftan: Women who wanted to be taken by pirates?

Chakku451 Rieko: They were really nice about avoiding the race route. Yes, I believe that's what they were looking for.

Bixyl Shuftan: Did you do anything about them?

Chakku451 Rieko: There wasn't really anything I could do. It was a mature sim and they weren't really causing any trouble. I gave them a copy of the race route and asked them to try to avoid getting in the middle of a race, which they readily agreed to do. ... Oh, my rank is Command Master Chief.

Bixyl Shuftan: The highest enlisted rank?

Chakku451 Rieko: Yes, I'm the Executive Officer of Muirhead Station. So I'm CMC (there).

Bixyl Shuftan: How long does it usually take someone in the SL Coast Guard to rise in the ranks?

Chakku451 Rieko: It depends. I was offered an officer rating when I requested to be assigned to Muirhead Station, but expressed a preference to remain in the enlisted ranks.

Chakku gave me an LM of Muirhead, as well as a notecard with a little information, and we bid each other farewell, and went our separate ways. I later went to the station, and found it to be well detailed, both the equipment and vessels.

The SL Coast Guard also has a website at: http://www.slcoastguard.org/ Both the website and the notecards Chakuu provided stated the organization made a strong emphasis of boat safety.

Bixyl Shuftan