Psyche

Its all on the NIWA site, very interesting https://niwa.co.nz/climate/information-and-resources/elnino

Usually it's wake up and look out the window, but NIWA are saying its a la Nina year 30 November 2022 Outlook Summary La Niña continued during November and a marine heatwave developed in Aotearoa New Zealand’s coastal waters with sea surface temperatures 1.1˚C to 1.7˚C above average. Both will influence the summer climate. See the background for more information. Summer air pressure is forecast to be higher than normal over and to the south of the South Island and lower than normal north of the country. This will likely result

If you have the time its not that hard, you can get white gelcoat and a can of styrene wax plus any pigments from NZ fibreglass supplies in Glen Innes, they will give good advice too. Theres a few vids on it https://www.boatworkstoday.com/videos/gelcoat-color-matching-part-1/ Its pretty much trial and error, holding the sample up to the area in different lights adding pigment until you get it. Application is easy, usually brushing it on, then sanding back through the grades until you can polish it.

Its just seems nuts that a club which promotes keelboat racing doesnt support the Auckland boating community

Are you saying you need to drink two bottles of champagne before you start?

How are they removing it from those bays?

I tried mast climbing with prussics, you need boots

Probably the best way forwards is join a club and race regularly, its pretty easy to get a spot and work your way up as your skills improve, you just need to find the right environment/skipper. You will also get an idea of the kind of boat to get and you'll pick up a lot of general sailing and local knowledge as you go.

Dont fall off is the golden rule when sailing solo

This is a slow burn, Its not at critical level yet but a lot of boats particularly on marina dont need to get hauled every season. That translates into a lot of owners getting to anti-foul time and then becoming aware of the shortfall in available haulout space. The effects of the landing closure wont be fully realised for a season or two. My previous point about Orams is that they are mainly setup for larger vessels, sure they can haul small boats but it's going to cost. It does seem that council along with various entities are wilfully ignoring the needs of the bulk of the yachting com

and Orams dont want small boats

Its a case of working backwards following the breadcrumbs

Can some please post the reasons for the closure and what legislation they are using to do so.

Pretty disappointed in the RAYC, one would think that the local club would be in favour of a yard. Seems it's a bit of a land grab at the expense of the rest of the boating community, but its get curiouser and curiouser: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2022/05/OR_20220519_MIN_10698.PDF I am a bit biased, I started sailing with the R's out of Okahu bay when the Auckland Sailing Club was the home of M's, lots of great memories of the area as a hardstand with a deep connection to sailing.

and a clean shed

True, but our system would need to change quite radically if we wanted to retain the same standard of living. As I said who is going to buy the boats if there are less boating age people with an interest? Its rhetorical because who really cares about what happens when you kick it, but in the here and now places like Okahu Bay are under pressure because of a shrinking yachting community. Age is one factor, cost is another, competing sports/pastimes yet another, time- who has that these days unless you're a beneficiary (pensioner lol) lifestyler or well heeled.

A shrinking aging population is bad news all round, who is going to pay for the pensions and healthcare let alone buy the boats lol! The abandoned boats we see around town are not just the result of young working age people getting bored with their toys, I suspect its a lot of older owners who no longer have the energy to look after them and the families dont care about boats. Look at Italy as an example, it is projected that by 2050 that for every 100 workers there will be 63 pensioners, and thats an optimistic assumption it could even be more! NZ hopefully wont be as awful but we are

and make sure your climbing line for the prussics is tied off tight at the base of the mast for a good rundown https://l-36.com/mast_climbing.php

Think about it in the housing world, no first home buyers and dwindling renters means no one to support the bottom rung as you climb the ladder. Same with yachting, no one to buy the boats, let alone crew them if oldies predominate.

The other thing we have to realise is that there are a lot of people out there who are pretty uneducated regarding yachts, the silly TM questions are really saying that people are trying to get into keelers with no background at all possibly indicating yachting knowledge is retreating. I think of yachting as a sport, others as access to the great outdoors but regardless of that, success in the terms we are discussing, i.e affordable facilities, is predicated on demand. We are aging as a nation, how that plays out in yachting world is a bit difficult to say. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa

Zoz, you make some good points but the biggest change is demographics and economics. The big flush in yachting coincided with the boomers being young men i.e the 70's 80's and maybe a bit into the 90's before 2007 killed the last of it off. This is worldwide btw, and as that demographic moved through life like a piglet in a python dominating schools, sports, politics and now rest homes, they left behind yachting look at your local yacht club(and RSA's, Rugby Clubs etc etc), almost without exception they are full of elderly grey haired gents who used to be the young guys in the 70's.

I hear ya, we've been seeing it happen for years. It seems that the powers that be think that all yachties cruise around in boats like this when the reality is that most us are closer to:

There are not that many places in Auckland that can have a boatyard established now so removal is pretty much end of era stuff. Boating has changed, Auckland has changed, the population was a bit north of 300,000 in 1950 and now its 1.7 million. Thats a lot of pressure on public spaces and amenities.

To be fair to the residents of Paritai Dr. no one wants a boatyard next door, and if the opportunity came up to get rid of one I'll bet 99% of non-boaties would vote gone