Jono G

Anyone know the boat with the broken mast in the news this morning? Looks reasonably fast. Was it abandoned?

Yes it has been getting harder for the average boatie for years. But that doesn't mean we allow the trend to continue. And for me the two real issues are capacity for yachts with masts in. Then accessibility for boats in the central harbour. In recent years we have lost the ability to paint on the grid at Westhaven, then we lost the grid at Westhaven. Then we lost Pier 21. I read the list of grids posted. Take away the club grids, the height restricted grids, and the grids past Rangi light or Browns Island and you are left with HMB, Orams, Hobsonville and the Landing. And guess what - as ratep

Thanks both. I think I'm sorted from another regular poster on here who has 3! Mind you he also has more than 1 boat.

Any old school bosuns chair wanted for a boat I'm helping tidy up. Alternatively if there is anyone at Bayswater who could lend me one next weekend that would be just as good. D53 - Actionnaire. Cheers Jono Gravit 0274 754 169

Rob Neeley is still active.

V5 will eat the Antipodes SC72. She is the same speed as a good Ker 40. Mayfair for 2nd.

I looked out over the harbour on Saturday morning and saw painted ships on a glassy harbour. "Ha" I thought to myself. It will be a long slow cold night for those crews. I almost felt glad I hadn't gotten organised to find a ride. Imagine my chagrin when I looked up the SSANZ site and saw the results, the elapsed times, and the amendments to SIs. "How unfair" I thought. A race committee with the sense to make life easy for themselves and the foresight to earn the eternal gratitude of the competitors. Nice work guys.

It's creeping up again. If anyone is short of a skipper / crew for Race 1 or 3 I'm available to fill in. I've done quite a few over the years both as owner or crew and am happy on most styles of boat. Cheers Jono Gravit, 0274 754 169

The rules are different everywhere and not adhered to / known anyway. Therefore it's all about making your life easier and not having to deal with both the differing rules imposed by each airline, and the various whims of airport reception staff. Plus if you have removed the canister it is not technically an inflatable lifejacket, and as it is only 33gm and looks like a deodorant can / toothpaste tube etc there is nothing to get stressed about in Xray. I just took a PFD on a Tasman flight and QLD regional flight this way over Easter and absolutely no issues.

I always put the canister in my toilet bag.

Rebecca has just about completed a biography of Rick Dodson as her next book.

The last week in March / first week in April is always jam packed. I love NZMYC but think they were being rather "brave" dumping another race onto the busiest time of the season. Last weekend I chose to sail Auckland Laer champs. The weekend before was 2 days of club dinghy champs. I was gutted to miss the Auckland - Tauranga which is my favourite NZ race. And I could have done the Squadron cruising race. In recent seasons I would have been chasing dinghy regattas with the kids in the lead up to the Opti and Starling Nationals. I get it gives a fresh new option, but the existing options a

Ma Te Wa and Wired had a good night

I agree with the leaned gentlemen above. With an overlapper it is far simpler to use a lazy sheet though either an aft spinnaker turning block, or possibly BMax on a wider boat - possibly not a Spencer 10m. That way the sheet is triangulating nicely and all of a sudden your pole is a perfect length. Don't cut it as one day the spinnaker will be used. If just using a blade a whisker pole on the genoa sheets is fine but a lazy sheet is still better. You can get cheap tubes from Kilwell and use your current end fittings if you want another project.

Waka and Drinks Trolley were out checking reefs on Wednesday.