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About bloody time !

I think comparing non endangered Dolphins riding on the bow wave on a 6 knot S#$%box to Endangered Hectors dolphins swimming in a Protected Marine Reserve with boats with razor blades under them do 40 knots is pointless, and in Coutts' case somewhat disingenuous.

Dogs Tiny boats North side of Waiheke Turned out great for everyone!

I went to the event. I will echo what Bad KItty said. Its incredible. I thought I knew all about it all, and was on the water for all bar 3(?) days of the AC when it was here. The sailGP is another level of viewing. in person is soooo much better than on tv, I wasn't expecting that. I hope it is in Lyttleton again, or anywhere in NZ for that matter - I'll be going.

That's one of the things that blew me away last year, first time we saw it live. Close, action packed, 10 boats with a stack of the best sailors in the world all in a closer quarters knife fight. We were in San Fran for the LV, and while it was fun, it was like most yachting, be great to participate in, just ok to watch. Sail GP on the other hand, watching 10 boats all charging for the first mark, holey moley! And the detail you can't see live, just look at the big screen, with replays of all the close stuff & incidents. Well worth a weekend.

If you listen to the whole interview its not really about the dolphins. Sail GP is ok with protecting the wildlife. Its more about the Iwi. Nowhere else in the world do they need to pay upwards of 300k to appease the various authorities. The layers of bureaucracy all trying to tiptoe around the Iwi and the dolphin huggers go absolutely over the top. There were a dozen iwi appointed so called dolphin experts on $600 plus expenses per day from last Wednesday. Sir Russell called it right. The woke madness around stuff these days is just too hard. The rest of the world bends over backward

It took a Lil more then a week end but.... New colors and name change... We did the bilge pee ceremony, that should keep us safe. More to do...

I was on Hotdogger 2-up and I can give you the scoop. We started late because we were debating going to the third reef. I think the time we spent stooging about didn't help the top batten cars in their efforts to live a long and prosperous life. We elected to start, and in the midst of sideways rain and a jib hank that had let go we didn't really look up and notice the issue. After tacking at North Head we slid under Start me up (which was fully crewed but still a fellow small boat) we set off into the washing machine. 2 reefs and a #3 were still a bit too much sail for the over

Cracking into renovating the Admirals bathroom and wonder if I should offer this feature floor tile to Wussell… (

Samassaan resting in Cherry Bay Lake Rotoiti….last 3days

and he would have to include himself in his minority report as a promoter of a niche sport "I feel discriminated against by DOLPHINS!!" It's a losing battle in the PR space, he should have played his hand better. No one is going to win against flipper! He could have said we delayed racing to do our part in the global conservation movement and show our commitment to the environment blah blah blah and everyone would be on his side!

Been using my noodle...s.

Had a blast racing to the Barrier on Saturday despite being 45 mins late for the start and extremely hung over. Apologies for Co skippers language and inability to keep a camera in one plane.... VID-20240303-WA0005.mp4

You can't make meaningful statements about that unless you also know the mortality rate and fertility rate for the population of 15,000,

Well we killed 10 of them in commercial nets in the last 6 months, any discussion around who's eating Hoki? I have dived my whole life, and am passionate about conservation & the world's oceans. But eventually we should acknowledge the impact we are having on the planet. We need to strike a balance. And imho the race there proceeding is in that balance. There seems to be an assumption that the race meant a dead dolphin, which is far from the reality. It's a marine mammal reserve, complete with a commercial port, power boats, marina and a boat ramp. Oh yeah, and a sewage overflow?

Sometimes where theories are hard to prove either way, it is prudent to revert to empirical data. Whilst it is often hard to obtain full datasets, some empirical data is usually better than none at supporting a hypothesis. The available data is that 34 events have been held globally, and marine mammals have not been harmed. That includes 10 races in this commercial port / mammal sanctuary. Given that the verified number of Hector's dolphins is 15,000, it sounds like there is plenty of them around to hit, and they haven't managed that, so perhaps the dolphins are smarter than we give

So, no one is vetoing the date or the activity, a contract is in place, but Russell (sail GP) continue to thrash about throwing allegations about unnamed parties who are stymying the entire New Zealand economy. Conspiracy theory much? Let's be honest, unless you can show up with a marine biology qualification with a major in mammalian sealife, your thoughts on the capabilities of dolphins vis a vis an F50 are conjecture at best. Well intentioned and honest, but uninformed in its most literal of senses. The people who do have this expertise seem to think there is a problem. For

It is funny how people forget that marine mammal sanctuary is also a major commercial port. Ground zero for med fan worm too. How outrageous to want to hold this event at a commercial port. Lunacy. Completely reckless. Lyttleton is hardly a tranquil fjord in the depths of a National Park and the sole habitat of one armed starfish and unicorn seahorses. That, and his main issues aren't with the dolphins, it is with the bureaucracy and cost of dealing with red tape and minority groups with disproportionate power. We have a major productivity issue in NZ, GDP per capita is plummet

Probably should be a good example of IOR landfill, but I guess it deserves to be brought back to life. Predecessor to the Farr 727 and sistership to Fantzipants. The rebuild will start later this year, when I get some time to move it out of its current nest.

When changing from A3 to Masthead Kite after Sail Rock I left front hatch open to ventilate the boat as it was champagne sailing. However; after several beers and another 10 or so kts of breeze it would appear it wasn't the best move!

talking of gravity, dolphins and hoops...

I have recently investigated this myself. Two out of three gas fitters (recommended by various people for marine work) do not know or understand the gas standards NZS 5601 part 2. For an installation like yours with a single appliance, you are allowed to use flexible hose to NZS 1869 Class C, which for the layman is standard BBQ hose, costs $12/m at Burnsco and costs the gas fitters $4/m. Two of the gas fitters claimed for that single appliance install I needed copper hose with flexible stainless steel at each end. The additional cost was several thousand dollars. Additionally t

perhaps this might assist those afflicted types

Not saying this boat is, but many of the Iwi that were awarded quota then contract foreign boats and crew to fish it for them. There were HUGE problems with slave like conditions, brutality etc toward crews and what not. There was a series of news storeys some time ago (pre covid) about this. I believe those boats were from Korea or Taiwan. They were certainly bottom rung in terms of maintenance, age, crew welfare and what not. Iwi were washing their hands of the issues claiming it was intermederiares that were doing the chartering. Strangely various vested interests were keen to keep such car

Keeping the alternator cool makes a huge difference for these small frame Balmar alternators. We have 2x 175a Balmar XTs and they very quickly overheat (our 614 is programed to not let them get hotter than 90c) and they very quickly reach that point, then cut their output to about half. To keep them running with a decent output, I have to have an bilge blower sucking the hot air right off the alternator. If that fan stops, the alternator will throttle itself back within a minute or two.

It's both. The population size is getting to dangerous levels where breeding can't occur fast enough to replace those that die. If it continues that tipping point will be reached. Once that tipping point is reached the species will be gone in 3 generations. No one knows when that exact tipping point will be, but we know that if the the current trajectory continues the Hectors will be gone. Unlike sheep we can't import more Hector dolphins to complement breeding stock. As the only species on this planet that can actually make a difference to the survival of other species I th

Converting from 12vdc to 230vac and back to 36vdc is extremely inefficient. Unless you have excess energy to literally burn, you'd be better off getting a 12v to 36v boost converter. You'll possibly find the manufacturer even sells a correctly sized boost converter. If you're buying an inverter that needs a 10A circuit breaker installed on the AC side, then legally this must be installed by an electrician and include appropriate earth/neutral protection. If you're buying an inverter with a 3pin AC socket on it, then these use a isolated IT earthing system and do not need an add

Yup it's criminal the way exorbitant berth rates have slayed the value of moored craft. Those who own or manage marinas should hang their heads in collective shame and a plague on all their houses I say. We have been without a yacht for 3 years now and looking at the costs of ownership in today's terms we could no longer justify the outgoings. I have reached for a sail and oar alternative the LOA is far more compatible with my retirement income.

Those noodles do a great job of protecting the dad bod from abrading.

Repeating for clarity. "DOC does not have a role in permitting or allowing the race to go ahead. DOC’s role is to advocate for marine mammals and to carry out compliance functions if any incidents involving protected wildlife were to occur which may have broken the law." As it happens, neither do iwi. There is a requirement to consult, but they do not have a right of veto. Russell's problem is he wants a race in a marine sanctuary, but he doesn't want to stop racing if it's a problem. Now he wants that all at a time that is particularly problematic ie breeding season. Whe

It's an awesome event, best yacht racing on the planet IMHO. TV, not even close to the real thing sorry. If fact, you can watch most things that happen now on dik tok, twitbook, youtube or somewhere, I still think getting out and experiencing the real thing is worthwhile? ChCh & the organisers put on a great weekend, even with Saturday being an imaginary dolphin watch trip!

I've watched it religiously on TV for years, I was a bit annoyed at the $130 ticket price but having gone on Sunday it was well worth the money. The atmosphere is something that doesn't come across on the TV and being there really is an experience. I would rank it in my top 3 events I've attended in my life.

Because the battery will turn off, possibly at a critical moment - no lights, no nav gear etc. Known as "dark ship". That's what the regs are trying to avoid.

This is because that's what intelligent folk do. They know they don't know everything, so they reach out to experts who know more than they do.

Rogue 3 will be supplying the obnoxious music.

Dolphins?

I have a very nice little unit from YachtD that captures everything on the N2K network and records it to a sdcard. Unfortunately I now have billions of datapoints collected over 5+ years that I have been unable to process because the amount of information is over welming - but one day I plan on learning/using some big data processing tool to overcome that In the meantime I keep recording everything whenever the network is powered on...

Had a PLC operating system for one of the tour boats in Milford fail and the back up on the PC also failed. The second spare was on my laptop in Te Anau which I headed into Milford with. The tender driver nosed into the jetty and as I was stepping over, lap top case in one hand, he backed away early and rapidly... I do not recall the exact details other than the thought " The program is more important than me staying warm and dry"... as I was losing my balance I could have dropped the case, grabbed a rail and stayed warm and dry in a Fiordland winter, however I tossed the case into the te

Happened to me many years ago except I didn't fall off. I was a deliberate step around the stern of my dinghy. Didn't quite expect to be stepping off the dock. At night, 'W' pier where you could tie up freely for it seemed as long as u wanted (that is another story entirely), winter, wet weather gear on cos it was blowing a hoolley and raining , on my jack jones, but the worst of it was - holding a 'new to me' 8 horse long shaft Merc outboard that I had bought from fast eddie the outboard guy in Ellerslie (used to be a Miller Moyes place there by the motorway and the guy worked there. TB

Video:

Yes I am willing to try it myself but I don't have a bearing press, and so think I would have to resort to primitive procedures - like a f...ing big hammer to remove the bearings . I have yootube too, and of course it looks simple enough. D2 has a mechanical boyfriend so I think I will get his help and do it under supervision

The Admiral gave me a bit of a prompt to get the lawns done so I went by the mower shop on the way back to the ranch... Crikey it even has cruise control.

I waste far too much time looking at this

Nice morning for it…. good angle, too

The Americas cup can be taken out of the equation.Thats purely a Dalton thing,didnt get his way so takes the cup away,. 15000 maui spread around the west coast/lower east coast is not a great number. Seperating Mum and calf is the issue,minority sport and seems here or over the other place you are in the minority group wanting to have GP regardless of NZ sanctuary. Why sign an agreement then cry??

It was rather a lot more about RC not getting his way. Nothing happened that he did not agree to beforehand. The agreement was (I understand) virtually unchanged from the previous year. Sail GP has already signed an agreement for next year with (presumably) similar requirements attached to it. Talk of red tape is therefore grossly over-wrought since there was none wrapped around any of the deal this year or next. He's like the housebuyer who is trying to renegotiate the terms after they have signed the agreement.

Various govt ministers are calling the application of the law "red tape" so in effect are saying there should be a favourable application of it to suit private interests, the courts may view it differently, The Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 applies (its been around a long time) and while I think there's a very small chance that a dolphin would be hit it's not zero so who is going to take responsibility here if they do? The main point is that SailGP helped write the agreement and signed it! Its like the ministers complaining that the event cant proceed when its blowing 30kts because wind

I do concede on the GP cats,fleet racing anyones game,but actual AC cats win start win race,boring as truck.

Sounds like there is more risk, or as much risk, in a redesign than there is keeping them as is. What is the background, are you planning a voyage in the Southern Ocean, or Gulf Cruising? Brand new rigging can fail. Sure, there is a correlation with very old rigging failing, but that doesn't exclude new gear failing. Especially if it is a novel or un-proven design. Or poorly installed. An alternative design is to glass in a large lump of hardwood. You could then screw the chainplates straight to that, keeping them visible, so you meet your objective for inspection etc. This is w

More like, Russell tossing toys out because he can't get what he wants. Again.