Frank

Erm, judging by the scantlings in the cabin photo she might be a tad more than 15 tons

I have seen a smaller tri being repainted locally, it took forever and absorbed a ridiculous amount of man hours and that was with all fittings off and the owner doing the prep. In observing and chatting to the painter I was humbled by his depth of experience and knowledge, he was highly skilled. In stating so emphatically that you don't want to do the prep (and neither would I ) you seem to be acknowledging the scale of the job in terms of time, planning, materials and skill . So bundling all that up 45K seems remarkable value for money, just be careful you don't go too cheap its an invest

Sorry, yes memory a bit vague, I read it about 50 yrs back

If I recall correctly Adrian Hayter author of Shelia in the Wind arrived in NZ via Greymouth, crossing the Grey river Bar in a small folkboat.

Stranded crew cant sail home to see their family and plead for the Gummint to do more

Headlice: Dramatic Rescue as Freak Weather Bomb Sinks Millionaires Superyacht

The AC is evolving as always, its a professional sport now for better or for worse but personally it was great to see the recent defence unfold before my eyes while sitting on the clifftop at Howick beach and sipping a beer It still seems surreal. I'm of two minds about holding the next defence offshore but Dalton is smart and if they play this right I think we could see 1. More boats. 2. A greater global profile for ETNZ, who they are and what they represent, particularly as it applies to home grown technology. 3. Positive spin offs for local business, think Southern Spa

The TP52's are fantastic boats but for me they would seem a backward step compared to the AC 75, I dont think its realistic to put the cat (foils) back in the bag now the punters have had a taste.

+1 for the Dow Corning 795, excellent stuff

I would have needed brown underpants for that crossing, but then why bother ?

Its just great to see another generation of NZ sailing talent rocking it on the world stage, gotta keep the production line moving !

The non legal status notwithstanding its Interesting that the local Iwi seem to be more proactive than MPI, good on them I say !

I live in Cocklebay, those beds have been hammered for years, a ban was long overdue.

The boat is strictly a boozer ... cruiser so marginal sailing conditions are verboten since the risk of ethanol spillage is unacceptably high , the rope shall thus be put to a better use.

I was rummaging through a locker on our ex US boat when I found a rats nest of seemingly unused but nice quality racing braid, it was labelled Spinnaker Net. I've never heard of such a thing but the web shows that it is hoisted to occupy the fore triangle to prevent a spinnaker wrap. I cant see us ever using this thing and clearly the previous owners didn't, also it looks to be a potential nightmare to rig. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this before I re-purpose the rope.