The Sea Dragon (Schooner)  copyright 2008 by Robbins Enterprises

The design of this ship is fictional and was done using FSDesign Studio 3.5.1.
It will work in either FS10 or FS9.  It has not been checked for compatibility
with DX10.

Unzip the Sea Dragon.zip into your Airplane directory in FS10 or FS9

After starting FS, select a Sea Plane of any type and your airport to a Marina.
Then load the Sea Dragon.  Then SAVE this flight so that you can always
start out in the water. If you simply load the Sea Dragon while your sitting
on a runway, that's where it will be and it won't move.  You can always SLEW
it to the water if desired.

The ship is a Schooner, recognizable by it's triangular Mainsail and it's Jibsail.

Size:  Length     190 Feet.
         Beam         50 Feet.
         Mainsail   2450 Square Feet     Silk with Dragon Design
         Jibsail      1150 Square Feet     Silk with Dragon Design

A ship this size carried Cargo and a passenger or two.  Warships of this size
had less Cabin space and Cannon mounted on deck.

Instructions:

The ship has no engines.  Well, you won't hear them anyway.  To set sail
increase your Throttle.  All you'll hear is the wind and the water lapping at
the sides of the ship.  To stop, decrease your Throttle to Zero.  There isn't
anyway to shut it off, it isn't necessary.  If it should ever die, push CONTROL E.

The ship does not use Flight Simulator's wind for propulsion.  It can play a
part in other ways.  Strong winds can make the ship lean a bit, especially in
sharp turns.  Sailing directly into a strong wind will lower your top speed.  In
addition, if the winds are at 36 Knots, FS's fastest winds, the ship will stall
if you try to sail into the wind.

Maximum speed for a ship this size was about 8 to 12 knots.  The Sea Dragon
will do approximately 20 knots.  You'll have to take my word for it because
the ship does not have a speed indicator.  I did test it with one.

Ships of this era had very few instruments.  One of them was a Compass.  You
can bring up the Compass by pushing SHIFT 2   Additionally that will bring up
a Rudder Trim wheel, handy for long hauls.

SHIFT 3 will bring up the latest in technology, the GPS.  That's it, no other
instruments are available.

I recommend you set FS to the VIRTUAL PILOT mode.  Going there will put
you behind the large wheel.  Steering the ship with your Joystick will spin the
wheel in the direction of your turn.  If you are using Foot Pedals for the rudders
they will turn the ship but the wheel will not spin.

You can also command the ship from the SPOT PLANE position.  Outside you
can see the beautiful design of the ship and watch it move through the water.
The Rudder, located on the Stern will move when you turn the ship.

No matter what view position your in you can change the SAILS by pushing
SHIFT E.  In the VIRTUAL PILOT mode and the SPOT PLANE mode you will
see them move.  On Deck (Virtual Pilot) you will hear the bell ring warning
other sailors that the Boom will be swinging across the deck.

Running out of fuel?  Never.  There is enough fuel to sail around the world
if you have that kind of patience.

You may notice that the Jib is always deployed on the opposite side of the
Main.  This Sail is what makes the Schooner able to sail close to the wind,
which means almost directly into it.  Square Rigged ships, (those with square
sails) could not sail close to the wind. Therefor the Schooner was more
manuverable and could outrun a Frigate at any angle except downwind.

Sailing ships of this size had very large Keels that extended below the hull.
Because of this they were unable to sail close to shore.  I couldn't model a
Keel because the water in FS is not very deep.  So the Sea Dragon will go
right up to the shore.  If you get grounded you'll have to use the SLEW mode
(The Y key) and move yourself back into the water.  IMPORTANT: Turn
CRASH mode off.  On occasion you may run aground even though FS
shows nothing but water.  This is because the water if FS is pretty shallow
in spots.  Running aground can cause you to crash if it is enabled so
disable it.

Set your graphics to HIGH for water effects and lower the distance that
buildings and such can be seen.  From zero elevation you can't see some of
them anyway.

Real life Sailing is very challenging and very fun.  If you've never sailed a
boat before I recommend you do it.  The wonderful thing about sailing is
that you don't have to be going anywhere.  The Sailing is the fun.

1.  I give you the Sea Dragon free of charge however if you think it's worth it,
please donate $5.00 via Paypal to daveanjackie@netzero.com.

2.  You may also upload this program to other sites but PLEASE notify me that
you have done so.

3. You may not include the Sea Dragon on any media that will be sold for profit
unless you receive my permission.

Violations of para. 1, 2 and 3 are considered copyright infringment.


Have fun,
DJ Robby
studio@koolamradio.com