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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😀

I've done the "just go sailing" vs the "refit" recently-ish.... We bought CT in what could be described as bloody tired but not yet dead condition. It was the biggest boat we could afford at the time (family of 5) that was structurally sound and had a good few of the expensive parts replaced. She was bloody ugly thou... but we had a boat that we could take the kids away on and make family memories. Our first trip away was 11 days over Christmas/New Year up to the BOI's and included an overnight at the Hen & Chick's where the snorkeling/ diving was epic. It may not sound like much of a

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

Heading out from Havelock the other morning... turned out to be one of those crystal clear days... no wind that day but some nice but fickle drafts on other days. First time into Tennyson and Elaine... lovely areas. Tucked up into a small cove... a sunset rum then a feed and nestled up by the diesel heater all toasted... Rinse and repeat for 8 days... just the tonic. Every anchorage to ourselves with only a hand full of pleasure boats to be seen.

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.

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

Hopefully that sends a message to the muppets out there driving boats like they would their cars. Proper look out or pay big bucks. Crying shame the ferry skipper's a paraplegic requiring care 24/7 and ending a nice little retirement gig plus the ferry boat went to the bottom. When you consider the costs of just those two factors seems like Onopotos skipper got of pretty light.

1971 One Ton Cup in Hauraki Gulf Syd Fischer, Alan Warwick...Stormy Petrel, Young Nick etc

"The powerboat was travelling at an estimated 20.5 knots en route to Rawhiti Point around midday when an engine alarm sounded from the display unit next to the helm as the ship passed Toretore Island. Thomson was looking down at the display unit, scrolling through a list to identify the fault, for an estimated 90 seconds when he hit the ferry." If an engine alarm goes off, isn't it a normal instant reaction for virtually any skipper (let alone an experienced one) to almost instantly reduce power down to idle and select neutral while you try to figure out potential causes and quickly consi

Yes, forming a defensible legal opinion to support the conviction (or not) of a person involved (or not) in the wrongful (or not) death of 5 individuals should be a rushed thing. Speed is of the essence. There shouldn't be any need to refer to precedence or consider the wider circumstances as set out in the Sentencing Act. No need to wade back through the volumes of evidence, cross referencing and untangling the various lines of the submissions from prosecution and defence. Really that stuff is just so much toilet paper. As for the endless writing and rewriting of the findings - th

Amazing the comments from people who have no idea... The cabin top has deliberately not been installed as the boat is currently undergoing testing and sea trials and not having the cabin top makes it far easier to access parts for adjustment.

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

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

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

Someone saw 44kts in the puff, we had a little lie down after the photo was taken but nothing broke so that's an achievement https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1028390682133930&set=a.587703092869360

if the rudders are too heavy for steering they might need kicking under more to create more balance on the leading edge