[Rob Denney at tthe clubnight]

I was certainly impressed by the lateral thinking behnid the 8.5 proa. especially the idea of removing the racing hull and adding the cruising hull. However, the idea of 500kg of lead swinging around the place was a bit scary, not to mention possibly illegal? I have looked at the rule and wonder if a 350kg proa is 550kg underwweight, or is a 900kg proa with 550kg of lead swingin around the place? Anyone? Bill?

 

5/Weight

 

The minimum weight of the boat in race trim equipped to cat 5 including..

 

mast (s),boom(s), prod (s), all running and standing rigging, centerboards, rudders, engine, anchor and permanently attached equipment

 

But excluding... crew, consumables such as food, water and fuel shall be 900 Kg (for a boat at maximum length of 8.5m).

 

For boats shorther than 8.5m the formula for minimum weight in Kg is:

LOA (in metres) x100+50 = XXXkg

 

In the event that a boat is underweight corrector weights to bring the boat up to the minium weight shall be added to the boat divided equally between the two hulls in the following positions...

 

2m aft of the bow

2m fwd of the stern

 

If the boat is designed and built to the class weight, i.e it is supposed to have a 350kg floaty bit and 550kg of ballast, and it always sailed with the ballast as part of its usual sailing trim, it's probably within the bounds of the rule. This is provided the ballast doesnt swing outside the box, and the beam and length of the overll structure dont exceed the box limits, particularly diagonally. Your box cannot be a parallelogram.

[Missing catamaran - keep a lookout please]

Yep, hes really grateful, thanks everyone.

Just for now let us all know if/when it moves from the Greenhithe mooring, the owner lives out at Bucks Bch so cant keep a regular eye on it and I'd hate for it to happen again.

[Missing catamaran - keep a lookout please]

The owner has happily been reunited with Cabernet thanks to Crew.org's help and its going to stay on its mooring where it is now until other things are resolved.

[Missing catamaran - keep a lookout please]

Thanks for that i have passed the info on

[Missing catamaran - keep a lookout please]

A freind of mine has asked me to put this up here so you can help find his cat which was removed from its Tamaki River mooring on Saturday 10th April at approx 11.30am and was seen heading north or possibly west, up the harbour.

He did say it was part of a matrimonial settlement that has not gone well and the ex may or may not be involved in its removal.

He said entry would definitely have been forced and then possibly hot wired to get motors going.

People on board also didn't appear to know a lot about sailing as they were seen trying to remove the sail cover which doesn't happen because of the lazy jack system.

His concern initially is for the boats safety and whereabouts. It could be cruising the gulf or hiding out somewhere but neither he nor his ex-wife are aboard and any body else is to be considered trespassing.

 

Its a Ron Given cat called Cabernet as pictured sail No 7404

 

If you see this boat call Alan Vickers 021 051 3040

He has contacted the police and harbour master.