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Some pictures form the Mokes the last time this topic came up. Pretty sure the boys are only breaking the law in one of these pictures

And I am not a racer... unless I see another sail on the horizon...

Cant say it is really much of a change for many regions where it s already compulsory under local bylaws. we just have a couple of older manky pfd's we wear when we want to leave then locked in the dinghy. Its now one single rule for all of NZ. Great to see a single easy to understand rule hat is based on risk (being an older pakeha male i sit rright in the risk group)

I disagree, we should get upset. I think the country has some more pressing issues that could do with attention than this.

Look this obviously does not go far enough we are going to stop all drowning by introducing legislation that all swimmers must be equipped with emergency floatation devices and only licensed beachgoers who have completed a level 1 water awareness course be allowed access to the coastline.

We have a self tacker on our Ross 35, we removed it for many years but 5 or 6 years ago i shortened it so i could walk around the outside of it and put it back on. It is a single 2:1 sheet running forward to a single block with a becket and then back to the port primary with a outboard/ inboard adjuster for the track run back to the cockpit (i need to find a better system for this). It is amazing when short handed sailing in anything over 15 knots. I broke the original track in a bit of blow a while back but got a replacement harken on from fosters - the track needs to pre bent at the fac

Self tacking jib with straight track and one sheet + barber haul. I hope the basic set-up can be gleaned from this non-action video: More action here: The sheet can be operated from either cockpit. Advantage of straight track: Simple installation on cross beam and low tripping risk. Disadvantage of straight track: The car needs some help after each tack/jibe. Once in place it stays in place thanks to sheet line friction. /Martin PS The boat turned 40 this season.

Good outcome

I had a friend who became seduced by several of those sailing youtube channels and decided to do an offshore cruise but first he needed to build his Dream Boat, his kids were young mostly preschool or thereabouts. I asked him what his primary goal was and he said to experience offshore cruising with his family. I told him to forget the dream boat and buy a well maintained going concern that was appropriately equipped then go. He brought a leopard 42 and off they went for 18 months around fiji, vanuatu Tonga etc. They had a ball then re-settled in Brisbane and sold the cat .....job done ! If h

I’ll bang on further…aside from the excessive cost of marina fees corrosive impact on vessel values. One week on the hard 10m stinkpot for diy bottom job all up lift wash relaunch and yard fees $1800. I have no objection at all to people making money I do however object to being robbed. There is little difference in yard costs here in the City of Sails a buddy recently had a serious open wallet osmosis surgery done and the hardstands fees alone were eye watering. Whangarei is cheaperer a bit of a commute though. The Okahu Bay debacle further adds weight to evidencing t

$900 pm for a 10m marina $1200 pm for a 12m marina has also made a major contribution to reducing the value of moored vessels.

...because circumstances change. Also, while past owners attach emotional value an item, the current owner may not have bought the item with any emotional involvement and so they make an entirely pragmatic decision. Maintain and spend the value of the boat every two years in doing so, or use and then onsell to someone who is looking for a viable project. We are in exactly the same position atm. To upgrade SO and bring her back to a 10-year condition represents significant investment - more than she is worth even once it is done even without labour costing. We are better literally givi

Those stats don't even mention what I was commenting on. C'mon. At best, the reflect general societal demographics, with a skew towards who actually goes boating. All your stats cover is drowning fatalities. Not what the activity was immediately prior to the drowning, which was what I was commenting on. And, to be honest, it really sounds like you are clutching at straws to justify yet another law if the best reason you can point towards is ACC costs.

Stupid people make stupid laws, those that are likely to drown won't even be aware of this new regulation let alone how to be safe in a boat or near the water.

I actually wouldn’t mind except when you’re going for a walk to the shops or something you either have to lug your jackets with you or run the risk of having them nicked out of your dinghy

I have a similar photo in pretty much the same spot from 3 weeks ago or so. Starlink , regardless of what you think of the guy, has been a quiet revolution for cruisers. And given each time I go through the iridium go setup nightmare I end up wishing them bad thoughts, starlink was incredibly easy to get going and iridium can go rot. It's nice to be in touch with family via phone or video, take some timeout on a windy or wet day at anchor to look at the interwebs. Organize parts etc if required. The guys most upset are the world cruisers who rely on it in some cases for income. Part

No you don’t need Starlink to cruise. Or GPS, or a watermaker. Do they all make life more pleasant, safe and comfortable, absolutely. Photo as compensation for thread drift!

Good one. Keep in mind that what compromises works depends on size. My boat is 800 kg ready to sail. A 'problem' I solve by a quick yank on my barber haul line is likely impossible to deal with that Gunboat cat. Also, my track is shorter than his. It only covers upwind work including the more open/flatter sheeting used when the wind is up. Everything else is dealt with by using the barber haul and easing the sheet. /Martin

I saw a video where one of those youtube sailors went all the way from Waiheke to Te Kouma.

Kinda cracks me up all the on line hand wringing over the thought of sailing anywhere without starlink.

"Changing" When you hear that from our corporate overlords its means the price is going up or service being reduced or both 🤣

Yep I do - it's called a junk rig.

Translation: this idea is still unproven and not ready to provide any service. Its not impossible, but has significant challenges due to being a passive device carried along on the stratospheric winds. As helpful as the Ai summaries sound, the robot is trained to maximise your usage by being be helpful rather than critical.

Kind of. The telcos are renting capacity on the Starlink constellation to transmit their NZ licensed LTE radio spectrum, this is spectrum they would usually transmit from a terrestrial cell tower. Specifically OneNZ took their Band3 (1800MHz) and contracted Starlink to transmit it from their satellites. SparkNZ have not published what they are using, but some sleuthing has determined it's Band 7, which is kind of odd for reasons I won't go into. This is why space comms works with existing handsets everyone has in their pocket Geostationary and blimp don't really work in the

Sad but true. The fixed costs are so high now (mooring, antifoul, insurance) that there's really no such thing as cheap boat ownership anymore. And once you're paying all that, most people figure they might as well put in a bit more $ and have a much nicer boat. (Or not doing it al all). Hence the bottom falling out of the market at the lower end. Still a few people at places like milford or weiti making it work but not nearly enough for all the old boats.

Sadly Zozza yes she is our old boat. Whoever has done this to her needs to be locked up. Claude Smith designed beautifully built by Jim Cross. Breaks my heart to see her in this state.

A lot of the new european cruisers have a self tacking furler with 2:1 block on the the clew, deck mounted track. The sheet goes several metres up and into the mast, then out the back of the mast and back to cabin top clutch and winch. Have a wander along S pier at Westhaven for a look.

Had a self tacker on a boat a long time ago, no real advantage. Probably could work ok on a cutter setup to save grinding 2 sheets but on a sloop you're limited to small jibs and unless you have a big boat small jibs are so easy to trim. Ross 930's had them but all gone now at least on the ones I see in the marina. One reason may be that what you gain in quick tacks you lose in sheeting position and headsail choice? Plenty of guides out there; https://www.harken.com/en/support/selection-tools/system-diagrams/self-tacking-jib-and-staysail-systems/?srsltid=AfmBOooyI1OrCyA

As expected, those stats are largely meaningless and don't touch on the comment I made, specifically that "it is not recreational sailors that are dieing. And not people going short distances in inflatable boats from yachts to shore." The 10 year average for the "Powered Craft" category which includes yachts and tenders with outboards, is 12% of all drownings. As BP noted, drownings in that category is heavily influenced by one off multiple fatality events like the Enchanter sinking. The other catagories are: Swimming / Wading: ~33% Accidental Immersion (Slips/Falls): ~

I read the report. ( did you know that offshore means outside the surf line)? Basically there were two instances in one year where 4 or 5 people drowned in one sinking. Overall trends are not bad and the stats are not corrected for population growth. Nothing to worry about.

The actual data does not agree with you. The Water Safety Council produced a report in 2023 in response to a very high rate of drowning in 2022. 24 people drowned in incidents related to watercraft in 2022. The majority were middle aged white men. The majority were in coastal or beach settings north of the Bombay hills. Your prejudices aside, the people drowning look like us, and are doing stuff we do. They just had all the holes in the cheese line up. A reminder that our ACC system pays 5 years income to the dependents of a person who dies in an accident. So, le

Performance art ignores actual problems that would benefit from a well thought out policy solution but instead plays to an audience. Drownings involving a boat = 8 out of 10 in the news cycle, two drownings 10/10 add in a child and the dial goes to 11. Ultimately if you take this type of law to the logical conclusion there must eventually be a law prohibiting life since it results in certain death!

If there’s a parallel between property crime & not wearing a lifejacket I’m not smart enough to see it?

And if you stand up you can say that you’re stand up paddle boarding anyway 😁

There is no doubt that starlink makes sailing safer (you still need seamanship) . Cant help but think that given the tiny number of cruising yachts compared to land based users that the company could have generated broader goodwill and potentially more subscriptions by not milking it so hard.

New Personal maritime plan announced for cruisers. Many of the boats I know have switched to Fiji on a roaming plan and that'll get us back to NZ, but this new plan should do the business.

Ngāti Manuhiri revealed as buyer of RNZYS Kawau property The sale marks the end of RNZYS ownership of the land and Lidgard House, but not the end of the Squadron’s connection with the site. Under an arrangement agreed as part of the sale, RNZYS will retain access to part of the waterfront. Blakey said Ngāti Manuhiri had “warmly invited RNZYS to continue to enjoy use of the beachfront, jetty, pontoon and lawn area twice annually during the summer months for events such as Squadron Weekend and Youth Training Week, for an initial period of 20 years”. “Use of Lidgard House itse

This is a good read. https://contigoyachts.com/losing-everything-but-nothing-the-story-of-how-a-whale-sank-my-boat-in-the-middle-of-the-pacific-ocean/

Gotta look cool.... under any circumstances

me too. Didn't even need a phone in the old days. Ohhhh, THAT hotspotting. Ok. Ummmm, yeah. No phone is the only type I know.

Downsizing but a trip back to the DR first is the current plan. Angela hasn't been back to her island for over 20 years, so this seems like an opportunity.

There's been a few murmurings about possibly having starlink as primary and emergency coms for IVC, something that is not accepted right now. I'd say that idea has flown the coop because of this. A shame really, it's transformed cruising coms. We'd thought we might just forget the fibre when we got home, just take the mini and use it , but now after this debacle we probably won't. So there's the law of unintended consequence for them , they're going to lose customers on sea and land for a greedy little marine grab and snatch.

We're very negotiable. Don't even feel guilty about making us homeless.

Have I got a deal for you

I can help with that.

There's quite a few factors that affect the average persons disposable income in NZ, but regarding keelboats it's the ongoing marina and maintenance fees which have put the final nail in the coffin. We all know that whatever you pay for a boat is just the down payment, even parking a 10 m boat at Westhaven is near on 10k plus a year! 14 and 16 m? well that just makes people cry, and as for the NZ Marine industry-🤣🤣🤣 It makes sense at the moment for a couple on a budget who wish to go on a never-ending cruise to buy a bigger boat - do the necessary maintenance and at the end of the adven

From what I have seen an efficient true self tacker uses a deck track similar to a Ross 930 , it spans the width of the deck and usually stand some distance above the deck while others are recessed flush. IMHO the ones above the deck would be a right royal PITA as a trip hazard and general impediment for mobility on the foredeck. A flush installation would be quite the project to create the recessed groove and put provisions in place for the loads. Seems to me that unless it's a race boat its an awful lot of faff, time and $$$$ to avoid having to trim a sheet, KISS applies

I assumed it was just overdramatised, but you make allowances for that these days. All the self promoters out there with their channels etc. Maybe this guy hit a whale..

Definitely ai slop and full on self promotion. Standby for the youtube channel! As for hit by a whale who knows but does not smell right. Diving on a sinking boat to find the hole while its full of water? Boat goes down in settled conditions, cruising armada incoming, gets rescued 5 minutes later, gets a 95k insurance payout story all over the US media channels but now he tells the "real" story??? Sure maybe it happened the way he said, but its pretty neatly packaged