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....

I'm not sure how much credibility you can give to Dana J's opinion these days. She's borderline rabid when it comes to ETNZ and her articles are prone to hysterical levels of hyperbole. Sure Nick Holroyd is pretty clever, and the other two are probably good grinders. Do you need grinders on a AC48? I'd be far more worried if it was Dan Bernasconi or Glen Ashby stepping outside. Both of those guys are the best of the best and they've chosen to stay. But either way, negativity towards ETNZ isn't helping the cause. Dalton can't go. It's too late for that now. So why not just support the team we'v

I think Sea Shepherd do a great job. Sure they have moderated a little since the early days, but no one can argue with the direct positive effect they have on the front line marine conservation. I've had the pleasure of having been on board a few of their ships and as a whole they seem to be very professional and organised.

Yeah same. The team would be better off hanging onto him. Just depends what the other offers are and how attractive the 9-5 role is for a family man. Having him on the executive committee would be interesting.

I have a horrible feeling that this Barker fiasco is going to go really bad for ETNZ. Hopefully I'm wrong but I just can't see Dean hanging around after this episode. Hopefully the team will survive it, cause I've got a terrible feeling that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

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.

We have always had to supply our own hoses at GH and for me that's fine. However the marina keeps us sweet on every other level of their operation, so forking out for a new hose every couple of years has never been an issue.

10m berth coming up for long term rent up at GH in a couple of weeks. They don't have any of these problems up there. Might be time for a change!

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