Nothing heard from them for a MONTH!?

[MarkMT 68]

"And if we had of been in something like these chicken sh*t Beneteau, Jeanneau or Hunters or anything like that, I would not be talking to you now."

 

What I thought was hilarious was the irony of the very next sentence...

"In the hurricane they discovered termite damage on the bowsprit which started coming back toward the deck, threatening to take down the entire rig. "

[Guest]

Yes.......those compulsory reporting forms for first arrival in Oz or NZ.....Can anyone comment how accurate they expect you to be with your arrival time?If you are trying to sail using whatever weather you are given,what is the best strategy for the form?Double the time that you guess you will take?And then advise them as soon as you are within VHF range?And just say you got lucky with the weather?

Also list the port of arrival as a few options. I got 'interviewed' after writing Akl but then landing in Opua. What's worse I got hauled up just outside the BOI by a Navy ship with Customs dudes aboard who got grumpy when I said I was going in to Opua, they said 'But you wrote Akl so you have to make landfall there or you can be arrested'. I replied 'We have no fuel, this sails like crap to windward and there is a big Southerly front coming up the coast, I'm going to Opua send the hand cuffs there, I'll be waiting'. They did come aboard after we had cleared in and interviewed me, felt a bit like I was in a court for people smuggling or something. No handcuffs though. I just kept pulling out the safety card i.e. it was unsafe for us to carry on. I think that helped a little.

 

Anal tossers!!!!

 

So add 10 days to your arrival time and list all possible ports that you may even have a outside chance at making landfall at. Off to take a boat to Aussie shortly and I'll be doing the same thing for that.

 

And it's all just bollix anyway, every boat in the Sth Pacific can be watched by a dedicated satellite so they can find you in seconds if they want too. I built the fecking ground station for it in the Sollies and it has good enough resolution to see if you wear eye glasses or knot and read 2" lettering. Don't be fooled you are out there in the deep blue on your lonesome and can't be watched if they want too. The Sat was built to suss for dodgy fishing fleets, people and drug runners but can be retasked if required.

[Guest]

 

And it's all just bollix anyway, every boat in the Sth Pacific can be watched by a dedicated satellite so they can find you in seconds if they want too. I built the fecking ground station for it in the Sollies and it has good enough resolution to see if you wear eye glasses or knot and read 2" lettering. Don't be fooled you are out there in the deep blue on your lonesome and can't be watched if they want too. The Sat was built to suss for dodgy fishing fleets, people and drug runners but can be retasked if required.

 

So why can't they find boats that are missing instead of sending out an Orion?

[Guest]

The wife was getting a bit concerned with our overdueness(and nagged by crews families),so she rang taupo radio who said,hang on i'll go and have a look at a couplve screens,and would ring her back.They rang her back 10 mins later telling her we appeared to be travelling ok !!. we never saw any shipping or aircraft during the trip.....

[PaulR 3]

So why can't they find boats that are missing instead of sending out an Orion?

 

They can put liferaft(s) in the Orion's bomb bay and can therefore drop assistance if required.

 

Satellites can't and even if they could, anything would burn up on re-entry.

[PaulR 3]

The wife was getting a bit concerned with our overdueness(and nagged by crews families),so she rang taupo radio who said,hang on i'll go and have a look at a couplve screens,and would ring her back.They rang her back 10 mins later telling her we appeared to be travelling ok !!. we never saw any shipping or aircraft during the trip.....

 

 

and another happy taxpayer is made