mattm

I installed one for a guy once, can't say it was that exact one / brand, and it was a while ago, but the components looked similar. It's was ready to go too, not diy build. The guy had some interesting ideas, and said he was going to be the import agent for them, as well as externally mounted bow thrusters (he had me wire up one of those too). He otherwise had no involvement with the industry. The boat grew fur (say 20mm thick, light weed) just as fast as any other, and the transducer itself had 2 to 3 foot long weed after a few months, the thruster got really covered also, lots of intricate s

So the micro switches 3 connections were 1- common, 2 - joined to common with the micro switch arm pressed in 3 - joined to common with the micro switch arm not pressed in Ie, 'normally open' and 'normally closed' contacts. That's how the ones I play with are anyway. Connecting one to earth would have been less than great advice.

He is an Olympic gold medalist in rowing, so has been in boats before, quite tippy boats even, but I think no sailing. Being a Picton lad I'd imagine he likely went fishing at least occasionally..... Recruited for his fitness post rowing, similar to Rob Waddell. I guess it shows what a huge role fitness and strength play in racing at that level in those boats.

Does it occur to anyone else, that with all the recent noise about what YNZ do / don't do for the average non racing boater, that this would be a great opportunity for them to get involved as advocates for all boaties, and ensure we have a voice against silly rules, lack of consistency, an input into new standards or revisions etc. seems glaring obvious way for them to be able to stand up and say 'we effected change that will save all marina based boat owners $$$$'. We otherwise lack a combined voice to challenge things like this. Are YNZ not our combined voice?

Some of the smart chargers link AC earth to DC negative, that's why CTEK now do a marine charger that does not link them. It also doesn't cost much different to the standard charger - no 'marine' = usual price^2. Good on them.

'Team NZ brace for impact as boat powers into chaotic nosedive on Bermuda waters' Did I miss the chaos? Not ideal surely. But no chaos. Overhyped click bait headline like normal.

Yes. For boats up to 32' with a tiller.

You and wheels are in another planet. The leading marine electronics brands spend MILLIONS on R&D, as IT said. Why would they share the results of their hard work? Buying cheap components from china wouldn't be an option if china hadn't copied someone else's hard work, or the idea for the item in the first place. Do you think the knock off manufacturers pay a royalty back to the company that did the R&D? Do you realise if someone hadnt put the R&D into making AP's in the first place, we wouldn't have them at all. Does that person not deserve a reward for their time, money and risk

For sure Ferrari, come on Wheels. If slanty's nifty machine fails next week. He will say 'oh well', that component cost $X, I'll put a new one in / up-spec / learn from failure and improve, part of the fun. If your B&G fails after 3 years, your furious, plus they make heaps of them. They all fail, they start crashing / crash tacking or gybing boats, boats are damaged or people are hurt the manufacturer have big issues. Their kit is full of programming, slanty has the benefit of someone else's base script to use, its complex, but the system is reasonably basic, in that it has no NMEA in or

He did question it later, not an official dispute, but a phone call asking for clarification. He was pointed to the harbour regs: 'The master of every vessel from which dive operations are in progress must ensure that Flag A is displayed in such a manner that it can be clearly identified by the watch keeper or lookout from another vessel at a distance in excess of 200 metres.', without defining what dive ops means. Swimming is ok, BUT not 'within any designated anchorage or mooring area'....... hmmmmmm.....

You need a dive flag to snorkel in Marlborough already, but only if you enter the water from a boat, if you walk in off the land, no need. A mate has a kind letter from the harbour master and a dented bank balance to prove it.

As far as I can tell, the current version is from 2014, with an amendment in July 2015. I started reading it again yesterday, but it put me to sleep in less than an hour. There are a fair number of hard to follow rules so far (up to page 39 of about 80). For example: batteries must be installed in a manner they are open to free air. If this is impractical they must be in a sealed box and have mechanical ventilation, even if batteries are sealed type. Vent duct must lead straight to open air with bends no more than 45 deg. Minimum exhaust vent rate (qv) for forced ventilation is calculated as

+1 I hear those have very good VMG, even to windward.

Well.... yes I'm sure that helped, but if that was all there was to it wouldn't they have led the whole race? As well as being 60' long, it weighs over 22 tone(?) and is a very comfy looking cruiser, which sailed past Wedgetail - a well respected race boat, at well over twice their speed, surely there is more to it that just waterline length? Tactics? Some description of huge extra sail? Both crew up all night pushing hard?

Any guesses as to what else happened overnight? Did Celadon anchor (in the cable protection zone maybe)? How did Laissez Faire get passed everyone? Motor? Looks like Ilex has rejoined? Did they just stop overnight for a good rest, sail in and out of the port? What time will the tide hit the flush button or will there be enough wind today? The wind has swung back to the north which should help. Did the whole of Wellington city get woken up at 6am by the party on the Sunfast? They did very well, must be stoked.

Have to feel for Blink right now it's fairly hard to watch on the tracker, let alone being out there drifting around. They got sooo close to Scarlet, only to get left behind, which must hurt on an epic boat like Blink.

I thought that was possible too, seems unlikely now with Miss Scarlett heading the wrong way too. Sorry Farina, obvious now I read your comment again, think you have the winning theory at the moment. What will / can Blink do to avoid it? Looks like Booboo and Damon lured div 2 in for a raft up with the promise of huge amounts of rum, then when they got close enough, grabbed all the wind and buggered off into the distance... tactical brilliance.

Farina, where do you get your wind info from? They will be hirting if it is just tide and no wind, they are going backwards at 3 knots, and Miss Scarlet going forward at 3 knots. If they wait long enough, I'm sure Blink will be pleased to show them the way.

Strange, I guess we might get a better idea at the 10:30 update. Predict wind still has 7 - 10 knots in the area Ran Tan are in, can't see them going backwards due to current in that breeze. I don't think they got close enough to the entrance for anything local happening there to worry them, the entrance is also plenty wide enough for ferries/ ships and them to go through together. If you ask some of the crews from the Central Triangle race, you can *attempt* to enter in no wind, may just take a while. The distance back to Blink has halved. Hope everything is OK out there.

My experience is that painting gel coat will put you into a far more regular maintenance shedual than original gel coat. A local racer cruiser painted his decks and cockpit about 2 years ago, the decks still look good in most places, but evry bump in the cockpit causes scratches etc where they wouldn't have with gel coat. Damage appears to come from things like the main sheet blocks on the traveler, winch handles, maybe guests onboard with evil stud / rivet thingies in jeans, what ever. Yes the paint may survive 7 to 10 years of uv, but not mechanical removal, hard wear areas will look tatty

I don't necessarily disagree Fish and KM, partly my commment was because I was stunned to hear him say something that could have come from the middle of the heard, rather un Kevin from what I've seen. I do sometimes wish he would explain his point of view, rather than just re-state it, when people are trying to understand his thinking. Sabre...... ????

Whaaaaaat? ???? Surely risk taking should be legislated against to save people from themselves though? We should all be treated as no smarter than the lowest common denominator after all. Who are you and what have you done with Kevin?

Awesome boat SD. They are beautiful to watch sailing. I was lucky to be part of a regatta in Germany 2 years ago, I forget the exact numbers now but there were about 140 boats, of which 100 odd would have been classics, about 30 Dragons, and as many of the 30m2 class also, which are similar but a little bigger. Was brilliant to be part of, hard to pay attention to you own boat with all that around you. The fellow we stayed with towed his 30m2 for a round trip of over 3000kms to win the 2016 European championships in Sweden.

Would applying a little choke at the point of hesitation achieve the same test? Making it a little richer to see if that helps?

Haha yeah maybe, we are hoping to make trapesing look a little easier next time now that the boat has grip tape and some windsurfer foot loops. Cherubs sure are a blast though, much faster than I gave them credit for before sailing one. I do like a black yacht.