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Through the eagle eyes of Josh Tucker, and the audacity/idiocy of the culprit, my stolen solar panel was spotted mounted on the pushpit of a small sailing vessel further up the Weiti River a couple of weeks ago. It had been disguised by painting it grey (terribly) but was definitely the one I had made. The guy lives aboard so we stalked him, got a look in his car which had gear of mine in it, and passed the info and photos on to the police. On Monday morning, police executed a search warrant on the vessel using Deodar. He was arrested and charged with the theft of my gear, is ou

Thanks for that. Francois Vivier designed Morbic 12. I have gone with Carbothane 133LH as a topcoat over Interprotect epoxy primer and the satin finish is a welcome relief from high gloss. Other positives with Carbothane is the recoating time is indefinite and it’s bloody damned hard as😀

With NZ's current financial issues, it must work out cheaper to send our Navy vessels to Samoa for a complete Reefhit 🤔

I really don't mind contributing my little bit towards that.

Yeah... this is actually quite awesome of the NZ system. When my son passed in a dirt bike accident, ACC provided a one off payment and 80% of his salary until my grand daughter, who was unborn at the time, turns 18. It was a substantial relief to discover that this even existed. She's able to get on with just raising her new born, without the stress of also being the only income earner.

Hell no! Then everyone would be out there in February and March when the weather is best and I'm out there. Leave as is so our anchorages aren't crowded. *Declaration of Self-Interest*

I don't think God intended teak trees to be steam bent but I have sinned and succeeded😀

@chrischamberlaine4160 22 hours ago The Bayesian disaster - in very simple terms for the layperson. This is a one in a million tragedy but we should examine the facts and learn from them. Bayesian boasts the second highest mast in the world at 75 metres on a length of 56m. She has a lifting keel to enable her to get into shallow areas. Fully down it gives a draft of 9.83m and raised a draft of 4m. A sailing yacht has a keel to counter the heeling moment generated by the power of her sail plan. I’m sorry to say that size matters to a superyacht owner and naval architects are seduced

Nervous moments on the router table reducing the Navy Whaler oars by 300mm in length and shaping the new handles. They are nesting nicely now and the new mainsail just arrived all 7.8 sqm of it.

I was there. We were within VHF range to hear the Mayday off one of the boats. 2 closest boats stood by (and not that it would have helped, but interesting to hear one had a defib on board). From what I understand, both sailors were experienced, not paying beginners. Awful news to hear during a race, but damn good reminder re safety. I have never done a race where I was clipped on so often. It was windy, but not more than low 40s, so not too bad. But seas got very large and at times, very confused, so could have been easy to get thrown into a Chinese or the like. We had the helm washed of

Not sure if this is marine talk or tech talk, but hey, I’m away sailing & it’s related. Starlink, bloody amazing! Total game changer for cruising, wifi calling, WhatsApp or any other net comms apps, hi speed interweb anywhere, pair it up with Predict Wind and you have tracking in realtime, over the horizon AIS, their very accurate weather routing blah blah blah. Island Time squeezed in fitting it a few days before we left, thanks Matt!

Thanks for the heads up. Hope you find your stuff, or some karma sorts out the perpetrators. The river has been trouble free for a while now, so a shame to hear it has changed. There is always a bit of ebb and flow (excuse the pun). I know of two live aboards who aren't on the river currently, one who moved off permanently, and one who is on the hard currently doing maintenance. I know the one on the hard has on occasion spotlighted and challenged delinquents in the middle of the night pocking around moored boats in borrowed dinghies. I know there is mixed views about live aboards, b

Better to let the guilty go free than lock up an innocent man something something...... Anyway the short story is don't cut the corner where steep underwater geography, strong currents and a ground swell are in play

Hi Matt, The solution I came up with when I rebuilt my fridge is I cut a square flange from 1.2mm 430 stainless steel and embedded that in the top of the fridge that receives the lid. I then cut a similar square flange for the lid. I fitted a standard magnetic fridge seal to the flange on the lid. The lid is hinged and seals on all four sides with the magnetic seal. I had the magnetic seal made to fit so there are no joins in the seal: Seal-A-Fridge: 0800 36 77 99 www.sealafridge.co.nz Although the seal holds the lid closed, I retained the original latch so the lid is latched

Without wanting to shift this into an even more political area (mods!!!!) the situation is a result of residents voting with their short-term brain. If you oppose the rate increases that are required to continue services and to ensure that systems like sewage are consistently n+20% capacity, you have ipso facto agreed to the inevitable less than ideal outcomes. In Rodney, there has been 40 years of retirees and small farmers screaming about their limited means while they crosslease and subdivide their nest egg properties (generalisations, but not by much). Hence, the Mahurangi shitflow.

Yes, it is a shame that Matakana Oysters need to close. But, some would question the logic of trying to grow and sell filter feeders downstream from a major urban area. A bit like trying to run a tranquil monastery retreat on Quay St, then complaining there is too much noise and traffic. Asides from a failing wastewater system any urban area is going to produce large quantities of things filter feeders are going to suck up that are very bad for you. Road run-off for example. Including heavy metals from break pads. How much agricultural land is around and upstream of the Mahurangi now

Centre board case exhausted my teak stock got one piece left just long enough for the all important tiller.

Spot of sanding and varnishishshshing (Sorry paint fumes from working in the tent made me sthlurr my typing) Converted the main to loose footed and filled in the old sail track recess with a new strip of oregon. And installed the recovered upholstry Red wine, tomato products, beetroot, green, red and yellow curries are now banned substances on board.

Surely posting this photo breaches the site rules? It must be contrary to the terms and conditions? Posting content that deliberately antagonises other site users, it's just blatant trolling now. I mean, here I am, stuck in Auckland on a rainy grey weekend, two bored kids in the house, a very long list of boat maintenance jobs confronting me, and Bad Kitty is posting this sort of inflammatory and controversial material...

Report any lights not working as Hazards to Navigation as per below (f we don’t report things nor working then we become part of the problem

Speaking of the Barrier I just sailed there...via Youtube on my incredibly unpopular channel. (The real sail was over 2 years ago - I just found the footage while scrolling through my back up files this morning, so made a video) Apologies for Fred Drift. Looks like I will need breast augmentation, laser hair removal, wig, and transition drugs if I ever hope to fund my sailing trip to the Bahamas or anywhere else in the world beyond Cape Reinga the way it is going. BP is right.

I can't see how the proposed facility will spoil the area. The actual site to be developed is all above current drying height, so of no use to yachties. The outer areas of the Bay are a good anchorage for yachts, and would remain so. And hardly a surprise that the normal groups are against it, they always are unless there is a slice of profit or hefty consultancy fee going their way. Whether it's viable, well going by the number of empty berths at the new Waiheke marina, probably not.

Last week I attended the wonderful Paul Whiting Tribute in Auckland. I mentioned to Penny Whiting that I am the administrator for the Whiting 29 website and I was keen to build up an online register of Whiting 29's. She then presented me with this massive book which contains historical documentation and photos on every Whiting 29 ever built. What a find! I have now digitised all the pages and uploaded it to our website for all to enjoy: www.whiting29.org Regards, Geoff

Suddenly your user name makes sense

Talk to boat haulage, if you were a back load you may be surprised at how affordable a truck is. Once you look at time, buying all the extra crap we all reccomend, getting ready to sail? Just a thought?

Still got to rig her but I think it’s time to go for a putter…

Looking at the rudder setup I would think that the blades would need to be all the way down to have the correct balance with enough blade forward of the rudders pivot point. Half rudder would make most of the blade being behind the pivot point and a huge load on the helm. Hard to tell from the photos but it looks like the centreboards have some angle aft? Again the centreboard depth makes a big difference as you need the centre of effort/lateral resistance of the boat to be in the right place in relation to the sail plan and not enough centreboard blade makes the rudder work as the latera

There is a really interesting map on this page that shows where it has and hasn't been found. It must need updating as none of the new BOI locations are included. https://www.marinepests.nz/interactive-caulerpa-map Interesting that it is not in the popular anchorages put more in the high current areas. Also interesting that the top of Coromandel and bottom of great barrier have it everywhere. Seems like an easy spot for it to spread via currents to all of the gulf.

Final coat will going on today…

Seriously! I see a few of these something is wrong out there in interweb land

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/swimmers-bust-alleged-poachers-at-goat-island-marine-reserve-in-leigh-north-auckland/ upshot is one of the swimmers got a message onto Leigh chat and the boat was filmed at Leigh harbour ramp and then stopped at Matakana by a park ranger and occupants ticketed. Well done swimming club,residents, lab staff and doc! Ballsy effort on the guy/gal that boarded and chucked their gear and catch overboard.

Well, if you're a cruising yachtie, pretty much zero?

I'm not gonna bite BP, don't really care. 1 thing I will throw out there is while we are constantly under attack by; Council's, (removing facilities, price increases etc.) Marina Owners (Price gouging) Fisheries (no take areas that allow commercial fishing) & everyone else that views boaties as rich pr*cks ripe for the plucking, we just make it easier by dividing up all the people who love & utilise the ocean as a playground into multiple groups. Maybe recognise our common interests, and stick together as a decent size advocacy group? Just a thought

That sounds great in theory, but in practice, it turns into a flying spaghetti monster. And it is not about cost, although that is a factor. The issue is compliance. Can you tell me where you can haul a boat out and break it down? Will Pier 21 do it? Gulf Harbour? Last I heard it was a struggle to get those places to haul a boat just to do the antifoul. If you don't have insurance, is there anywhere that will haul you out? let alone then allow you to smash the boat to bits there? Have you ever tried finding a dump truck operator to take a smashed boat to a landfill? It

Bit of pseudo-legal going on in that article. Person in authority makes statement that sounds like it is mandatory for all boats to have insurance. There isn't any legal requirement to have insurance. Especially not 'wreck insurance'. I've never heard of it until that article. It is correct that you have to pay to have a wreck of yours removed from the environment. But how you manage that is up to you. You could just pay cash if you wanted. Or do it yourself. I've helped two owners of wrecked boats do it themselves. Just because people don't have insurance doesn't mean they

You know, I have been thinking about your post LBD - and it did give me a chuckle. However.... I have been lucky enough to be born in a western nation, I have worked my butt off for 40 years, I have no children (none that I know of 😆 ), no dependents (though I do help look after my elderly parents), no wifey (not through trying but sailing dreams and landlubber Kiwi gals not a good mix!) and a couple months back I went to a funeral for a lady boss of mine for many years, who retired some years ago now. During the funeral, her husband died of a heart attack during the funeral service - he

she gone! off to Tampa, Florida, to live her best life in the Gulf of Mexico. goodbye to the hardest, coolest, fastest, weirdest project I've ever had. 💚💚💚🌲🐺 awoooo!!

Made it back to NZ. Have to admit I do like it here.

Last I heard the UK is broke. Even the legendary Fastnet race now finishes in France cause Plymouth couldn't afford to host it. As in British yacht clubs with 'Royal' monikers hosting events in France cause of financial realities. I'm sure the Saudi's will have no problem funding an event at Jeddah for some more sports washing, but that brings some substantial moral questions into play. Ignoring the fact that region is highly likely to be in all out war by the time they get around to settling on a venue.

I found some of the insights in this article interesting...

"mate, you can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next" J Spithill

Somewhat ironic that a superyacht sinks and everyone's suddenly positioning for the coming lawsuit city Italy tour. Meanwhile boat loads of poor brown people fleeing shithole countries in search of a better life and freedom, sink daily but they have been reduced to a mere comma in the ongoing narrative obsessed with the how and why a rich dude died on his very large special boat. A large theatrical song and dance will proceed but at the end of the day we will come back to the quaint term Perils of the Sea, occasionally unexpected sh*t will happen. You can try and plan for most

Pure speculation but perhaps they had the toys out and left the bomb doors open... sounds like it went down pretty quickly.

I never knew until you posted that. And it is something I have given substantial thought to, pay moonbeams for life insurance, having two kids and an Auckland sized mortgage. In all my time investigating life insurance policies and benefits I never found out the cover from ACC for accidental death. And it is something I feel genuinely very warming to know exists. Partner knows a lady (acquaintance) who's husband committed suicide, they either had two under 5's or an under 5 and she was pregnant - absolutely guttingly heartbreaking situation. The exact situation this ACC policy is for

Maybe, but we don't know. Despite widely circulating details of the individual and their home (distinctive boat they live on) across the media, there's been no indication as to why they are looking for her. Perhaps it's overdue parking tickets? Or anchoring in a banned anchoring area. The point I'm making is that sometimes people just want to be left alone. And, there is a great irony. Assuming the authorities do have concerns for her mental health and wellbeing, the irony being that it is damn near impossible to access mental health services in this country. Particularly f

In-fes-tim-inal, adj, an infestation of extremely small battery problems. See: extrarodentially and infesterminal

Fiona Heenan’s 600km solo sail for Guinness record and charity Six hundred kilometres is a long way to sail a tiny boat with scarcely little legroom. Still, 57-year-old yachtswoman Fiona Heenan is giving it a go for a chance at a Guinness world record and to raise funds for her favourite charity Sailability. The Irish-born former cruising yacht instructor has always been a keen adventurer. In the 30 years she has lived in New Zealand, she has tramped extensively and cycled from one end of the country to the other. Her quest to claim the world honour of longest single-handed dist

I'm not that excited about it anymore, but I don't get the fixation on Olympics. I think our youth would be better served by a wide ranging, affordable, inclusive program to get kids out on the water.

I think this will be a slow-moving train wreck until MNZ finally admits they are stuffing it up. Or, they may just do their bureaucratic, live in denial thing, and ignore the reality of just how badly they are doing, play the "safety card", or the "minor inconvenience to yachties for a huge benefit" In which case it will be a never-ending train wreck. :-( Until all the cruising yachts are registered offshore, none have any safety oversight whatsoever, and MNZ can tell themselves how well they have done. As for Yachting NZ, I think the only thing they did that has any rel