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motorb

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Posts posted by motorb

  1. 30 minutes ago, aardvarkash10 said:

    Same thing happened in snow sport.  Helmets were for kids and softies.

    In the world of offroad dirtbikes there's an interesting thing regarding neck braces. 

    On the "for" side, we have concerned mothers insisting upon them as a condition for their kids to be riding with Dad, and newer riders who get sucked into the marketing.

    On the "against" is everyone who points out there's no standard or evidence they work on a dirtbike

    All I know is that when I wear full body armour I take bigger risks than when I ride without, clipping trees, harder into turns etc etc. On balance, I think the old man had the right idea in making sure we "learned how to crash" young, as it's paid dividends over our lifetimes (without any serious injuries)

    Seems similar to stories I hear from teachers about young kids at school not knowing how to fall over and getting injured when they shouldn't have. 

    Learning to identify and assess risk is very important as a life skill,  but to do so without consequences is like trying to learn to ride a bike with training wheels on - you don't really learn how to do it until they come off.

    • Like 1
  2. On 16/12/2023 at 6:20 PM, Black Panther said:

    I also think there is an over emphasis on equipment and not enough emphasis on skills and practice/experience.  And attitude. 

    I saw this in play while running a large motorcycle club with a disproportionately high number of learners an commuters.

    ACC and other safety heads were pushing hi-vis jackets on us, yet the rate of incident ong our members wearing the jackets was far higher higher those without!

    Long story short, the number 1 rule for successful motorcycle commuting is to ALWAYS assume you're invisible. The moment you break that rule, you start to put yourself into harms way. What we saw with the hi vis vest was the divide in psychology of our riders, where the ones who refused the jackets were following the no1 rule and taking full responsibility they safety, whereas the hi-vis riders were acting as if drivers could see them, and riding as such.

    There has been similar observations with pedal-cycle helmet rules leading to increased average cycle speeds.

    In industrial settings I've always found that the "safer" we made things, the bigger the risks people would take as they act in accordance with their own tolerance for risk.

    Anecdotally, on auckland roads  I've seen the same effect with lowering speed limits and poor driving behavior. Looking at the statistics, yes, less injuries occur on roads dropped to 30kph, but then why are injuries suddenly climbing in all other areas? Road deaths have reversed course for the worst ever since "Vision Zero" came into effect, (but apparently that's a fact best ignored...)

    So, if helmets are mandated on my little crusier, perhaps I won't bother rigging up that preventer, as the risk calculus doesn't add up to requiring one. Who knows, but I'm sure the safety crowd will make a big deal out of every "life saved" even if the bigger picture might suggest otherwise.

    • Upvote 1
  3.  

    45 minutes ago, K4309 said:

    I'm fascinated by the resistance to even the thought of wearing a helmet by some. Many other aspects of wind-powered water sports require helmets now.

    I think you'll find a lot of that resistance is against the possibility of some bureaucrat - who's never sailed before - making helmets a legal requirement regardless of the situation aboard a boat.

    Similar to the life jacket rules brought in a few years back after a particularly stupid kayaking fatality, suddenly cruisers are being regulated due to some "lowest common denominator" behavior. Yet, 5 or so years on, any casual observer can see a total lack of compliance of the lifejacket rule in anchorages, marinas and mooring areas, so what is what is the point of the rule? Just so some people can feel better about it after the fact by pointing out any drowning victims were rule breakers?

    People aren't arguing over having a helmet as a requirement for certain race classes where it's obvious to the necessity of such a rule; people are upset by further regulatory overreach into our personal recreation time, and in some cases being forced into one suboptimal solution when a better one existed aboard our vessel.

    Most of these well meaning safety regulations are a blunt instrument at best, counterproductive at worst.

  4. OK so things got a bit hard to follow towards the end there but it looks like there's potentially the option to investigate a reduced and/or seasonal hardstand at Okahu Bay.

    Sensible outcome but I wouldn't say it's over yet.

    • Upvote 4
  5. 21 hours ago, Psyche said:

    3 p.m!

    yep - then they'll say how it's just rich old retirees who this affects.

    meanwhile, us younguns dont have the luxury of leaving work early to slog across town in traffic just to be ignored by self-serving councillors

    (That said, I'll be trying to make it)

    • Upvote 2
  6. The GPS seems to have quit too! Not an issue but we've had to be a bit more conservative in our anchoring without any depth sounder .... well aside from the lead one...

    Still great to be out. Making big plans for sailing tomorrow. Might consider the walk up the hill tonight too depending on how we feel after dinner. (Great idea btw thanks for that; might be the plan for new years!)

    16990788241876490686475663204750.jpg

  7. Well station bay is out now as I'm still in our mooring about to pull the carby off the outboard..... let's hope it's just a dirty/sticky float valve but she's not idling; flooding and overflows. Also overflows when priming if that means anything.

    Wind seems to have gone NE, too.....

  8. Looking at tonight's forecast, what's the best bet for calm anchorage tonight to make a good "first of the season" overnighter? Leaving westhaven at about 4 or 5 knots at 3pm isn't leaving us a huge range of options, but I reckon station bay would be a good spot to shelter from the wind going from North to South if we can get there...

    Oh, and the missus wants to be able to see some fireworks.... any good ideas out there?

  9. On 11/10/2023 at 3:25 PM, waikiore said:

    No but motor racing is becoming more attractive as the apartments creep down to the water at Westhaven and Panuku raises prices again and again

    Given the reverse sensitivities around Western Springs, Panuku shutting down Mt Wellington via a backroom deal, and Pukekohe raceway being torn up for terraced housing I'm not sure Motorsport is going to fare any better.

    Really best to just walk around your neighborhood and join a Golf club, because that's all that will be left before long.

  10. 3 hours ago, El Toro said:

    The spill, nor the rahui appear to be impacting the dolphins which swam through Okahu Bay for a few hours yesterday

    Just don't eat the dolphins and you'll be fine.

    The water down in westhaven was actually looking pretty good yestersay (as compared to the usual green murk after a weekend of rain)

     

  11. On 19/09/2023 at 4:14 PM, Okahu Sailor said:

    Ports of Auckland are struggling to hold onto their spot and they return millions to rate payers. Do you honestly believe a subsidised hardstand on prime, public, waterfront park land is going to last 5, 10, 15 years into future? Encourage the Council to allow club yards to expand their footprints, fundraise for better systems at these club yards, petition against zoning changes that allow property developers to build around marinas, and support the clubs that are doing what they need to survive.

     

    Closing the ports is a developers wet dream and not in the interest of the wider city at all, which is pretty clear to everyone with half a brain. I'd hardly call that a good example of why we shouldn't be saving the hardstand.

    Where do you get the idea the hardstand is subsidized? My understanding was that the council set the rates and could have increased them at any time, and that despite that it was a net profit on the books.

     

    As for the rest of your post - much of the initial protest to the Orakei Board decision was precisely that a regional asset wasn't theirs to decide on, and that auckland needed a coherent marine plan to better manage these regional resources.

     

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 2
  12. Sounds like Orams is going to have a lot of issues with reverse sensitivity in the very near future.

    The whole concept of high end apartments and retirement villages alongside heavy marine industrial sites is just ridiculous. Auckland Council is steadily dismantling the Auckland Marine industry and making no efforts to safeguard it or provide any alternative sites.

    Just like the nonsense idea of shutting down the port, only property developers are benefitting from this while aucklanders are paying the price, and places to work and earn good money continue to move offshore.

    • Upvote 2
  13. Just an update on this topic:

    I'm still at Westhaven, and as of this morning, I'm the third boat (that I know of) in the last 12 months to have a rotten mooring pole snap off. Westhaven aren't 100% sure where to put me, as they dont know which poles are sound or not.

    Further updates to be made once this is resolved, but long term plan is to go on the Weiti waitlist, and see whether I get a mooring before I eventually give up and sell. At the very least I'll need to be using their hardstand given the lack of capacity remaining anywhere else so at least the membership fees wont be wasted.

  14. On 6/05/2023 at 3:33 PM, Steve Pope said:

    Who flys the anchor shape, when at anchor? who actually has one?

    From what I've seen, there's no shortage of boats who don't have any form of anchor lights, either...

    • Upvote 1
  15. 3 hours ago, CarpeDiem said:

    the police will only write you a ticket if you're 10% over the speed limit.

    Well that was indeed the case which is why the "Zero tolerance" weekends were to such fanfare. Additionally there was a court case over it where a judge ruled in favor of a cheeky defendant, and since then the police have made a statement that such a practice is no longer to be expected.

     

    As for cellphones, I've seen zero enforcement from police. Same for red light running, and frankly, traffic enforcement overall has definitely dropped off a bit the last few years.

  16. On 27/04/2023 at 12:02 PM, alibaba said:

    I'd go back onto a mooring, but I was broken into twice then, and also there is the problem of insurance. May be I could keep on sailing for a few more years [ bloody old age doesn't help[!], if I could share costs.

    I'd suggest the poles at Westhaven for the security and insurance etc with less of the cost, but they are trying to kick us out and wont take new bookings.

    There's some new poles out clevedon way (Brooklands boating club) that are very well priced, but it's tidally limited.

    Weiti/Stillwater have poles and are very affordable, but theres a years long wait list.

    But Westhaven insists there isn't demand for poles (while they ramp up the prices and refuse new bookings), but say they have growing demand for (14m+) berths! (willfully ignoring the 2013 plan feedback to provide "affordable" options when they ripped out the historic swing moorings, and now there's less total berthage in the marina than before they started ripping up poles for the new piers.)

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