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MuzzaB

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Everything posted by MuzzaB

  1. Outside of Motukaraka Island (or Flat Island as I always knew it) at Beachlands. I believe it is Dennis Rock (2 "n"s) on the chart.
  2. MuzzaB

    Jasmine

    Yes. I think they would be on my list of exceptions too, especially Ceramco; always thought she was good looking. It was more the late IOR boats I was referring to. He had some really successful designs in that era and they won a lot of races, it just happened they were not pretty to my eye. Exador was a true champion but I don't think she wins a beauty contest. But then looks were not the objective of the design. Getting the best from the IOR rule was. But that is just my eye and we digress.
  3. I can't comment on the maintenance issues because the boats my family owned and my subsequent boats were a lot younger than these boats are now. But I can comment on the sailing and cruising qualities of the Raven, Tracker and the Reactor. My family had a Raven around the late '70s/early 80s. I had two Reactors at different times (and raced couple of others), and did a lot of racing (and cruising in company) on/with a friend's Tracker. I would echo what has been said about the Raven. If you can get past the looks, they offer significant space below for their length, are a very dry boa
  4. MuzzaB

    35 Footers

    I have never sailed a Shiraz though I always thought they looked like a reasonable cruising boat. I have sailed a Lotus 10.6 offshore including an extended period on the wind in breezes up to force 7 (as is quite common on a return from the Pacific Islands). It was not a happy experience though in large part this was due to the owner's incomplete preparation of the boat rather than a fundamental problem with the design. The cockpit was not conducive to comfort and easy working when sailing to windward for an extended period with a decent sea running. None of this was insurmountable
  5. Bandwidth was in part what I meant when I mentioned inefficiency. The other aspect was the antenna required for efficient transmission; typically a backstay antenna with insulators. The short whip antenna for the VHF 2m band was/is simpler and an easy option for powerboats and launches. On my last boat in N.Z. I didn't bother with a masthead VHF antenna, and just used a whip antenna at the stern mounted a little over 2 meters high. That was enough to give full coverage across my cruising range between the BoI and Mercury Bay thanks to the repeaters on high points of land. HAM operato
  6. It may interest the younger folk and amuse the older folk that we have just passed the 45th anniversary of the introduction of Marine VHF radio in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office - which is those days administered all things radio, including licences and examinations, introduced the service in April 1976. Initially coverage was provided for Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf via Auckland Radio ZLD (with transmitters at Musick Point, Motutapu and on the Coromandel), Wellington and Mana/Cook Strait via Wellington Radio ZLW, and in Tauranga via the Tauranga Harbour Board. Services
  7. There is an article in one of the newspapers (can't remember which) published in '37 or '38 when she (New Golden Hind) was under construction and which described the intended rig as a schooner. I speculate that this may have been the intention, but that the rig plan was changed before completion.
  8. BTW, I suspect the schooner in the other photo - identified on Waitemata Woodies based on how it is recorded in the Auckland Library, is also Morewa. I have found that as online sources of photographic history increase, and time passes by, the misidentification of a photo, as to subject or date, is common. Over the years I have provided suggested amendments to NatLib, Auckland Library, Alexander Turnbill etc together, with evidence where I have it. Sometimes they make the change - sometimes they don't. There was one online library source - which shall remain nameless but is in the cent
  9. The photo of the Centaurus and the Samoan Clipper together was taken on December 28 or 29, 1937. The New Golden Hind was not launched until 1939 (I think). I believe she was always ketch rigged. I'd suggest the most likely candidate is Morewa, which was owned at the time by Sir Ernest Davis, who was mayor of Auckland at the time the photo of the flying boats was taken. Here she is (from this source... https://rnzncomms.org/ngapona-newsletter-3/ )
  10. That rings bells. Andrew Taylor. Could be. I seem to remember a young Rohan Lord sailing an FA at Howick too, by which time I was in a Starling or maybe a Europe - but that would have been a couple of years later.
  11. Just for fun. In my ongoing quest to scan and archive hundreds of old photos I came across a snapshot of Auckland I took from Musick Point in 1977. In the bottom of the photo there happened to be a Flying Ant, sail number 289. Attached is an extracted enlargement - but still fuzzy and small. I may have known who it was at the time, but have no clue now. I know some others here on Crew used to sail FAs as a kid (as did I). Anyone recognize the sail number? My guess is that it was part of the Glendowie fleet which was reasonably strong at the time.
  12. Here is Jipcho at the start of the White Island Race in 1981. Ants and Epiglass NZ also in the picture.
  13. Part of it is realizing that many of us are now also a little "antique". Sometimes it comes as a shock. Because I started keelboat racing as a young nipper on the foredeck from both ends of the harbour, I raced against Namu and some other EnZed Thirty-Sevens (I'm not totally American) when they were still relatively young (excuse the pun). Nemesis and Notre Dame were active at the city end, and Amber at Bucklands Beach. Several others here on Crew did the same (as already noted). Many of the boats of that era which were competive at Richmond, Squadron, Akarana, Bucklands Beach an othe
  14. Scot Tempesta has posted his video of the NZ 37.
  15. MuzzaB

    Saint Stefan

    There was a Harmonic 33. The only thing it had in common with the 24 was that it was built for and marketed by Compass Yachts. I don't think many were built. I remember Saint Stefan but like Wiakiore I thought she was a C&C although I seem to recall the coachroof was a little different from the standard C&C 33. Fading memories.
  16. It is a shipping traffic separation zone, entry to which is prohibited for the VG competitors. Edit - looks like you got two answers (the same) within a minute
  17. Very sad and surprised. I never knew him well, but sailed against him in dinghies and to some extent in bigger boats.
  18. MuzzaB

    Jasmine

    Although I have enjoyed sailing on various Farr designs over the years I have never thought of his boats as particularly pretty. Jasmine however was one of the exceptions. her original hull colour was - as the name suggests - pale yellow. That might seem an unusual hull colour these days, but it worked.
  19. The date follows UT (old GMT). As I post this we are at 2335h UT so about to roll over to the 15th. Getting that wrong was a common mistake back in the days of celestial nav. [Edit to fix stupid stupid stupid spelling].
  20. We used the 8'6" Parkercraft as a tender for a while when I was a kid. I think my father's thinking at the time was that the boys couldn't do too much damage to it. We installed a pretty good PVC gunnel strip. With a 4hp outboard that thing would fly, but it was terrible to tow in a crosswind and did not track well. It was as ugly as... The image of the Townson reminded me of the tradition Squadron dinghies: not glued clinker but the old clinker brass-riveted over bent frames. When I was a wee nipper some family friends had Tawera. When they sold her they kept her dinghy, which may
  21. Slocum used a sextant and tables. He even claimed to have used the lunar distance method to determine longitude though this may have been more of a tall story. Slocum took regular meridian passage sights but may have relied on DR more than he let on for longitude.
  22. Thanks for the kind words Kevin. BP, to your point, I recall an approach to the Cook Strait area from the Tasman in the days before Sat Nav and GPS. The weather had closed in and the wind was fresh from the south west. I had no sextant sight for 24 hours and we had not seen land. We were still north of Cape Egmont. Over the space of about 30 minutes there was a very noticeable change in the waves and the motion of the boat. One of the crew even had a little panic because he had not experienced this before and convinced himself we were about to run ashore. Our DR coincided with t
  23. Some facts: He rounded Cape Horn without hitting it. Cape Horn lies at 55 degrees 59 minutes S. He had charts. He had a sandglass. He didn't see land during the rounding. He estimated his latitude at rounding to be 56.9S, in round numbers, one degree of latitude (60NM) south of the cape. Reasonable assumption: He knew his boat and was able to estimate speed through the water - he may even have been using a traditional log line, which would have been consistent with his navigation approach. He wasn't racing, so his course would have been considerably nor
  24. Yes. 1976 OSTAR. Innovator of Mana was a custom Nova 28, flush decked.
  25. MuzzaB

    Jim Young

    I sailed and raced with Jim decades ago. His contribution to N.Z. sailing will not be forgotten. He was never afraid to be radical in his designs.
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