Kiteroa

What's the best product for restoring dirty and moldy tubes? There are a few options on the market...

Hi all, The Frostbite dinghy fleet is experiencing a bit of a revival down at Taikata sailing club, however we're somewhat hamstrung by the availability of good secondhand boats. There were plenty of fibreglass Frosties built back in the 80' and 90's, but many are now tucked away under peoples houses and no longer being sailed. If you know of someone who has a good glass frostbite hull and who is not actively sailing, please have them contact either myself or the Taikata Sailing club and we can make you an offer, or even better, have them bring their boat down to Taikata and join the

The best thing about this setup is that they swing in an arc! Just kidding......... I dropped one side of each seat down a touch to compensate.

It's a good use for an otherwise redundant piece of hardware! There must be more kicking around from other teams....

Completed my first Frostie race down at Taikata. Even if it was the pre season warm up race, I managed to come first, just in front of an 83yr old rocking a grey toupee! Crafty old chap. A real inspiration to us younger fella's. And he's quick too. So now i've got 2 weeks to sort out my rig issues so I don't too much of a lesson when the rockstars show up!

Have managed to get out most weekends for a bit of practise and to gain a bit of confidence in the old girl. Although last weekend didn't go so well. it was pretty windy, but so was the weekend before and she was doing fine. But this time I got about 20m off the beach and the rudder stock came apart and cracked the top of the blade in the process. The wooden rig is taking a bit of getting used to. Although the sail matches the rig really well, so maybe it's ok. Really looking forward to the 1st race. Hopefully I don't get too much of a lesson from the regulars!

Kiteroa is number 71. My old man used to race against him with #69 back in the 70's. Judging by the volume of silverware in old bob's living room, he had the Frostie fleet under control back in his day.

Yeah a really nice piece of gear. Carbon boats, fair enough. But I've never been interested in fibreglass production boats. I really wanted a zephyr, but the supply of new boats is way too slow, which is driving up the price, plus I don't want to have to keep up with the jones at Murrays Bay etc! $3 rums up the ditch at Taikata. Perfect.

Bought another sailing boat. Her name is 'Kiteroa' A little more classy than Wild Thing, with a lot more history behind her. My old man used to race against her back in the 70's. I bought her off Bob Gillies, who has owned her for the last 40 years. Can't wait to trundle down to Taikata this summer and get back into dinghy racing. Of course there will be some serious pre season practise as the 15 strong Taikata Frostie fleet packs some talent. So she'll get a birthday with a new sail, hardware and foils before her first race. Now where do you buy good furniture polish?

Some of the others put forward at the bar last night: 2 strokes to freedom Down the creek without a paddle. A long way down - the tale of man vs river. Man vs Gull A tale of blokes, boats and birds. There must be an easier way

Not bad. I'll run those past the boss and see what she thinks. Thanks guys, keep them coming.

Guys, My partner Nina and I, with a huge amount of help from our various Seagull racing friends, (including a few who frequent this forum) have spent the last couple of years working on a documentary centring around the build up to the 30th Great Annual Waikato Seagull Regatta. Nina is well down the track on the editing process and we are starting to do the music, but we also need to start thinking about a name. So far we have things like: Blokes of a Feather Flocking of the Gulls The Waikato Flyers Waikato or Broke The Back River Racers Blokes, Boats & Birds Ideally t

Went to Paihia and did the seagull racing along side the Bath-tubbers Nice weekend, 22 seagull boats on the start line, so a good fleet. And the usual random inventions bought out of various sheds:

Where's she going? Back to Nelson. Chap named Chris Taylor.

WT starts her long trip south. Shame, but moving on! The piedy needs some rapidly applied love.

Just about got the bottom ready to go on the piedy. Will be nice to have that step complete. Took ages to get the new stringers in and all the frames reset.

Some of the boats are quite amazing. Our boat was pretty light and I didn't think our motor was too bad. Was running a little rough at times due to 50 years of grit and muck working through the fuel system. So we were down a little on power cause of that. But some of these guys had rough as guts, heavy boats and they were smoking! I can't figure out how they were going so quick. So boat 2 will be slightly different in concept. Have to get a good concept going in ply, then build a carbon nomex one for the race. Lot of learning to be done....

Took the Seagull boat down to Whangamata for her 1st race. Got given a Seagull racing lesson by the old boys though! So We've got some work to do before next time to find another 1.5 knots. Turns out she likes weight well forward, which makes for a cosy ride up front of the forward bulkhead!

Not a hell of a lot of science went into this fine vessel, so we did the bare minimum to make her float and be able to carry an engine. Didn't know how she would float or if her stability would be high enough. So before getting too carried away we thought she should have a quick test. That's why she looks a bit simple! So much fun burning around in such a rickety dinghy though

Took the dodgy seagull boat out for her maiden burn. Mental note: Take more duct tape next time.

Was aiming for somewhere around 4:30 - 5pm depending on how people are placed. Bring Magnus, then we can stand around drinking rums while he flips her over by himself! Boat is in my back yard, Te Atatu Peninsula, West side.

From what I've seen on other boats, the rules must be pretty loose on interior structure. The rules used to be pretty tight 15 or so years ago, but they've been relaxed somewhere along the line. Not sure if it's a good thing or not! I guess if some boats can have open transoms, long cabins and ugly windows then a few frames on an otherwise 'to plan' looking Piedy shouldn't be too wide of the mark

Back onto the inside for some additional stiffening in preparation for turning her over this Friday. Time to rip the bottom off her now. Anyone with a good back and a taste for free rum and cokes should attend.

Once I've got the deck, cabin and cockpit glassed I'll turn her over and re-skin the hull. 75% of the ply below waterline is shot so better to turn her over for that. She has some pretty funky shapes under there also that I'd like to change.

Spent a few hours today long boarding the gunnels on Ratz and tidying up coves and radius's ready to skin the deck in glass. Scraping back the topside paint for the gunnel taping and found another soft spot. Usual case of 2 forward, 1 back on the rat. Surely this will be the end of the rot discoveries.... There's hardly any old boat left!