Chewing Gum

Spot on Steve - well said - I was not going to post again but your comments sum it up perfectly. Interesting to see the number of posts in such a short time. This topic has struck a raw nerve. How do we get the likes of MNZ, Govt and councils to take notice, see sense and maybe read some of what is written here - a forlorn hope I feel. The lifejacket legislation/ local body rules is another bugbear of mine along with the fanworm thing, all costly and irrational imposts on the average boatie. As mentioned earlier we haven't yet sunk to the level of over the top as in Australia but give it time

Herald is desperate to sell papers that's why most front pages have stuff fuelling the housing debacle. As for this story - they should leave the guy alone. He has done amazingly to make that trip around the feared East Cape and must have struck some reasonably big seas. It sounds like he possibly was under prepared but he has not requested help from anyone and will have learnt heaps from the experience. Back to basics sailing - I like it, reminds me of being warned not to leave Tutukaka in a strong NE many moons ago in a Stilletto also with little experience and no communications - we had a

There should be a spring loaded pin on the furling drum that stops the sail from unfurling.

yes our socket was also flogged out - we replaced the plate containing the socket with a new one (it was possibly 30 years old)

Is this on a Leisurefurl system ? If so we have found the best way is to get rid of the furling line altogether. Way quicker to hoist the sail and to furl. To furl - just go to the front of the mast and use a winch handle in the socket provided.

This may have posted here before, but quite interesting: http://www.yachtteleport.com/ Go to the video page and start from No 1 - if you have the time !

Nice looking boat at a very good price. Shame it hasn't got walk through transom, for some reason euro boats don't seem to have the setup like the 1220 - I guess because they don't lie at anchor that often. Even when they do have walk throughs it is often high off the water a la the Hanses. Fixed prop but that could be easily changed.

That 1220 is certainly a good price, I can remember not that long ago they were well over $250k. Boats not a good investment these days but not why we buy them I guess!

Few things I don't like about that boat: Old Beneteau Centre Cockpit (high cockpit not good at sea and not as nice at anchor and closer to bow - more motion and closer to any spray and split accommodation means cramped below) Short keel = poor windward performance In mast furling - poor furled performance, prone to failure, no proper battens. Also a lot of risks purchasing offshore, as to set up any boat properly takes time and effort and access to tools and good tradespeople even if you do a lot yourself.

Awesome effort from the sailors and so close to golds for the women. If you discount the disqualifications Aleh and Powrie far outperformed the opposition.

Pros of steel - only one that I can see - it is strong. ( I owned a steel fishing boat for a long time) Cons - never ending maintenance, cold noisy and slow (too heavy). Also not easy to modify. You don't need a heavy boat to be comfortable at sea and they are always slow so you spend longer at sea for a longer uncomfortable time as passages are usually just means to an end. I sailed an Orams 53 to Tonga and that was over twice the weight of a 1220 or a Regardless and no more comfortable at sea. It is important that a good cruising boat is a good sailer firstly for the pleasure tha

Thanks for the summary ScottiE, I was hoping someone might know.

We like our Regardless design, still have it 12 years on and the ladies like it because of its airy feeling below decks and good cockpit especially when when the transom is opened up. Reasonably quick and comfortable at sea. 1220s are good boats also (did a Noumea race on one) but not that keen on the slopey side decks and twitchy helm. Also not as easy to see out of from down below as the Lidgard. Speed is very similar.

Island Time , you misread me - I said "apart from" Coutts was definitely a standout as evidenced by his subsequent career.

Great stuff from the sailing team. Could this be our best ever showing? I can remember being a bit disappointed in results in earlier times apart from the board sailers, the last Olympics and a few others (Sellars and Timms, Coutts)

Fire is probably the scariest scenario on a boat. We have some smoke alarms including in the engine space so hopefully will get at least some warning

I agree, we have both but in the event of a small fire I would use the CO2 as the dry powder makes one hell of mess and is best used as a last resort. Only thing with CO2 in a boat is be careful not to asphyxiate yourself !

Isn't it usual to use a 2 pot etch primer followed by 2 pot polyurethane on aluminium ? If prep is not good the paint will definitely fall off leaving an unsightly mess. If unpainted my preference would be to leave it that way.

Not easy to prove either way IT but the series drogue makes way more sense to me.

I agree, the loads on the boat and the crew are way less with a series drogue. From what I have read on the subject you are far more likely to survive a major storm with the drogue. For a start most boats will hang downwind much more easily than head to wind. Just think about the difference in motion going to windward or upwind - it is huge. It is very difficult to stay head to wind with a sea anchor and most boats will end up side on to the sea. The only time a drogue is a little disadvantaged is on a lee shore as the downwind drift rate is likely to be a bit higher.

I bought a set of cones from the US and made up the drogue myself, no problem, just takes a bit of time. You can have have it for $1000 Suits 40fter

On our Yanmar we used a waterbased primer which has phosphoric acid in it and called Blackguard. It is awesome. Then just get a can of spray paint colour matched at a car paint place and your engine will look like new. We did ours about 10 years ago and it still looks great.

Formica NZ used to make these charts years ago, they may be called Laminex now and I don't know if they still do them. The one on our boat dates back to 1982 and is still in awesome condition

Quite a bit cheaper for just Cat 3

Yes in Port Pegasus Stewart Island we tried to get ashore in a bay with a walking track but there was no way. This seal was so aggressive that it leapt into the water and swam out under water about 50m to lunge at our RIB, we were very concerned about it puncturing the tubes and beat a hasty retreat. Seal 1 Boat crew 0 !