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What a beautiful days yachting. Was a bit painfull near gannet rock and back up tamaki strait for us but we came away with the win in Motorboat III. Our son Lukes first race in the mix t motions and he did ok. Hes only just turned 16 and had another young mate of his on board so I was happy they even got around the track and home up the river afterwards... And my wife Sara was on the General Lee so our family was well represented out there yesterday..

I know I bang on endlessly about the impact that berth costs has on savaging vessel values, however this low wage high cost economy is far divorced from the time that saw me initially take up boating ownership. Swing moorings ready and affordable access to hardstands ,a do it yourself maintenance program etc etc all now fond but faint memories. Student loans little job security moonbeam housing costs the list of barriers to boat ownership are many and varied in this neo liberal financial landscape.

Before and after... Whittled away at a nice straight seasoned teak plank, ending up with nice looking set of companion way boards.., to replace the white ones which never looked pleasing.

Finally got around to going sailing…

Motoring over to the floating dock for a purchase survey. Deal done

first two fundamental rules of sailing. 1- Don’t scare the missus. 2- Don’t bag the volunteers.

For context FLORIDA WOMAN DETAINED AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO SAIL SHOPPING CART DOWN I-95 USING SHOWER CURTAIN JACKSONVILLE, FL — A Florida woman was detained early Tuesday morning after police say she attempted to ride a shopping cart down Interstate 95 at nearly 3 a.m. using a shower curtain as a homemade sail. According to investigators, 26-year-old Jessica Marino was spotted weaving through traffic while standing inside a shopping cart allegedly stolen from a nearby grocery store parking lot. Police reports claim the cart had been “modified for travel purposes” using d

Been doing a bit of work on CD and she is almost ready to splash. Lookinng forward to first sail .

Great to have family with a drone....

We’ve been really lucky on Carpe Diem with the people who have come through. Our other skipper is just 21 - she first joined the crew via a Facebook post when she was 19, and she now leads women’s series and women’s day out racing (I’m not even involved in those, they just happen). We also have a 14-year-old on board who’s already an amazing sailor. Even when racing was cancelled on Sunday, six of the crew turned up to do boat chores together, and afterwards we ended up at Squadron for a late lunch (after failing to get parking at Swashbucklers in the rain!). We used to race with 6 m

Dear bureaucrats, all I can say is we share the same dreams of anti fouling that works, and affordable easily accessible cleaning facilities.

After 12 years NZ has finally updated the Electrical Regulations that apply to recreational vessels and Lithium batteries. An amendment to the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 now cites AS/NZS 3004.2:2014 This came into force Nov 2025. Primarily, what this means for eveyone here, is that you'll no longer have to put up with me and @Island Timedisagreeing on which standard applies

I wont keep you all in suspenders any further ........................it was............................!!!!!!!!!!!!! The bolts that attach the flywheel to a flange on the crankshaft had unwound themselves yes all of them! eventually they contacted the bell housing, ie clunk-stop. The rebuilders reckon they weren't properly torqued at the factory, no harm to the engine , they had taken the head off as a precaution but nothing wrong there. I just have to source a few gaskets for them and its all go , hopefully the bill won't be too steep for that, they said its a very common engi

The new neighbour, i'm sure we will be hearing a lot more about it. Chatting with the owners the basics are 2 tons, lift keel, cassette rudder, 3/4 ton waterballast per wing, over 4m wide... An awesome build, and great colour choice too

Last week my batteries died. I decided to stick with AGM. Got the exact same so just a few bolts and job done. Plus due to various improvements in batteries I gat 20% more capacity. Cost 1168dollars for around 500 Amp hours. But I used 1100 in reward points on my credit card. So cost 68 dollars. Then took the old ones to the scrap dealer and he gave me 78. I made a profit of 10 dollars on my new batteries!

Wow, quote of the year Andrew. Do you actually think we sit around with our hands in our pockets looking the other way? Remember we as a SSANZ committee are just enthusiastic sailors trying to juggle life, work, kids and putting on amazing events for you in what little spare time we have.

like any boat they have their pros and cons, but this situation says seamanship was the issue more than the boat.

A couple of tears but in other wise good condition for its age. Missing panels aren't important. Kite seems to work fine without them at 30+ knots. But if you do want them too they are available for collection just north of Cape Jackson. Free drop-off in Waikawa. #RNI2026

back on track now. There is no dishonour in living to fight the next day.

Whats missing in the conversation about Auckland marinas is the limited choices. For larger new boats 14-16m and above berth fees are not a deal breaker but for older boats especially 12m and under that cost to park annually is often up to half the boats value or worse. What the alternative- moorings and as we all know all mooring fields have downsides either from weather, waves to access, parking and security. A friends son has a Piedy at Milford and granted its pretty limited re tides but they upgraded it recently and with a finger its $30 a week or under $5 a day. What would a communi

K, I appreciate you feel strongly about this but apart from there being a treaty between the indigenous peoples of NZ and the crown which is a nuanced, complex discussion well above and beyond talk radio resentment and outrage, the fact is that tangata whenua are a tiny minority on the water and there are rules they must follow as well. Resentful anecdotes about Maori enjoying their customary rights might be balanced out by having really good look around see which racial majority benefits most from NZ's democracy. The cray ban is lip service, too little and too late. Barrier and the Kings

My understanding is that a significant proportion of drowned males are found with their willies out of their pants. Boat in a nice safe anchorage. Possibly had a rhumbo or two, or perhaps a chardonnay on a nice summers evening. Went for a wee. Fell overboard and drowned. Most often at night, in the dark, at anchor. There is so many ways to die, it's not possible or practical eliminate all of them. I think the basic problem for boaties is several govt or local body agencies don't have anyone else to control, but they do have jurisdiction over regional waters. Hence why

We have been down this track before, "saving lives" is the catch all that bureaucrats use to justify rules like this. How many tender journeys between boat and shore have resulted in death. Very few I would imagine, noise in the data but it plays well among so called marine echo chambers. Lobbyists want to sell lifejackets, pearl clutchers want to save everyone and lawmakers want to be associated with "safety". More people drown in bathtubs let alone swimming pools or patrolled beaches. This is about passing another law to appear to be doing something and solving a non problem. I have sympa

'here's what the Government/major corporates aren't telling you' is a massively compelling statement to some people. It would be entertaining to sit in on an Ivermectin sales meeting: 'agricultural sector is stable, but our marine and medical sales are skyrocketing despite us spending nothing on marketing'

One wonders how a community facility built by and for boaties somehow became a profit making organisation?

Agree with your sentiments, but I don't think it's people thinking they are smarter than industrial chemists, it's using compounds that industrial chemists aren't allowed to use, regarding all the govt regulations. There are plenty of compounds / AF that work, we just aren't allowed to use them (and in several cases for good reason). And I doubt any readily available household items would work. So, the scenario then becomes one where people are deliberately using effective but highly toxic banned compounds. Just getting hold of that stuff is going to be an achievement in itself, given it'

Yup it was a bit bouncy on Motorboat III. Lightened right off now.

Not the weekend but.... Sailed Jonquil back to Whitianga Tuesday/Wednesday. Predictwind said we would be motoring all the way but we sailed almost all the way (used 20 litres of fuel) Left Auckland at 3pm Tuesday, got to Port Charles at 1am, left there at 7am, home 1:30pm, Sailed in the local race at 5pm. She's a little beauty and deceptively fast.

Did I say Massive sigh of relief

P re your first paragraph on which group benefits from the commercial take- Iwi led organisations currently control 65% plus of all NZ quota . A fact not often understood.

On your second paragraph, you are possibly misunderstanding my position. I agree with you whole heartedly on that. This ban is long overdue. I have never eaten a NZ crayfish, primarily for this reason. I don't want to be part of the collapse of the whole ecosystem, with respect to kina barrens and the wider impact of that on juvenile fish habitat. But I'm not really following the point of your first paragraph. I do note that it appears politically incorrect to question any race based rules in large parts of our society today. I don't think that is healthy. Most people are just too scared

Getting colder and harder to do stuff now. Haven't been stuck yet with bay freezing to about 1/2 inch overnight . Locals keep saying it will get cold soon! Shortest day not far away.

Thanks Frank, she gets along pretty well too.

Well looks like the NZ spring is colder than November at 60 north. We are just getting snow down to sea level now. Has been a few hundred metres up for a while but now down to deck level. Doesn't make getting out of bed easy each morning.

Thank you for clarifying that “no anchoring” doesn’t apply if you’re in an emergency. I’m sure the entire boating community was waiting for that revelation and incredible insight. Next you’ll be telling us that “no stopping” signs on the motorway don’t apply when your car catches fire. The “unless you can’t safely make an alternative anchorage” line is literally the same safety clause on every no-anchoring area in New Zealand and everywhere else on the planet. It’s not a loophole, it’s just the bit of common sense that stops people from sinking. Red means no anchoring. Explainin

Panmure bridge...well back in 1971 we dropped the new rig into Roulette 2 off the side of the bridge.

Bad Kitty’s winter cruise going well, up in the NE cnr of Fiji. Quite isolated, normal to have a Bay or even an Island to yourself. Stunning scenery, diving & fishing, with the Fijian locals their usual friendly selves.

Racing is just the canary in the coal mine. Young people can barely afford to keep a roof over our heads, let alone have kids or maintain a sailboat. A lot of old boats are going to be scrapped in the coming decades.

Everyone I have spoken to answered in Polish

Done. You can see freezer temp circled in red. Now got to get the eutectic fluid to be solid frozen at about -21....

its yet another example of unintended consequences. People wear their nice life jacket in dinghy when not needed. It gets wet, maybe it gets stolen ashore. Then not worn on way home or to next bay, when it otherwise might have been, or should be. I wear a LJ a LOT when sailing and always when shorthanded. They are good. But I dont (and wont) put my nice LJ on with my AIS inside and PLB strapped on, to go 100m to beach or the boat next door. In simple terms its more than a dumb rule. If it were actually enforced, i posit it makes boating more unsafe for some people.

Umm, nope, that would be against the laws of Physics. You don't get anything for nothing!

I can assure you having previously been on the committee... that there is no hands in their pockets, looking the other way, pretending there was nothing they could do etc etc... Division cut offs / splits were regularly discussed (and passionately!)... but in a democratic system you need to have the numbers in support before making any changes. Just because something didn't change doesn't mean it wasn't discussed and debated. I think your post is poorly written putting a negative light on the committees of the past who all put in their time on a voluntary basis. Having said that It's always g

forestay tang and forstay aren't inline originally there was an anchour fitting welded to the tang and bolted through the deck. which mostlikely would have kepted it fwd. Now the tang has tryed to align itself with the forstay - pulling aft through the deck and peeling the studs out of the stem. mostlikely do a new aligned tang that letterboxes through the stem with a welded end plate and bolts

*crustaceans - not frustrations 😁

Option 1 - they need to get real and live with it and educate, but cut the banning anchoring crap. Latest evidence I heard / read sometime ago, is natural currents are way more effective in spreading it than an anchor ever could be.

Personally I'd hesitate to use GPT's version without careful checking. Superficially it does the job, sure, but I'd lack confidence that the important details are correct. I don't have the expertise in this area, but that's often the case in areas where I do.

Yup. The wide range of active ingredients proposed (an intestinal parasite drench, a metabolic disrupter for green leafed plants, and an alkaline flavouring agent) suggests not a great understanding of the biochemistry at play...