racecharter

Good to see diy happening. A couple of tricks to save some time and money and eliminate the blood. Roll a coat of resin on the table, hit it with a warm air gun to burst any air bubbles. All it has to do is seal the surface. Don't bother sanding, polishing or waxing it. When cured cover it with thin plastic. Don't worry too much about folds or getting it perfectly smooth. The Bunnings painters drop sheet works well. 4 x 3m x 2m for $1. Lay peel ply over this. Cut 2 pieces of cloth, one about 100mm bigger all round than the panel, one about 50mm less. Drill 1mm holes every 50 mm o

You will be blown away by the speed and level sailing. if it is a well set up proa, the ease of sailing will astonish you. John, I have not asked the Aus girls, but they would be very keen on the Coastal Classic. Not so a Trans Tasman solo voyage, which is not for the faint hearted or the inexperienced. For the CC, just the $AUS240,000 to find and the approval of the NZMYC to make it official. For a trans Tasman solo race, just the $Aus240,000 and 4 experienced offshore sailing women. First one should be ready by Xmas, but later in the summer is more likely. You are

Let's talk. A couple of weeks ago, I was not sure I could have one boat ready by this time next year. The response to the video has been such that 4 is now a distinct possibility. The problem, as always, is cash. 4 boats is going to cost $240,000, which I don't have. There is no doubt that a sponsored entry for 4 single handed women in the Coastal Classic would move things along rapidly in the search for investors. If you can't find 3 more single handed Kiwi women sailors, let me know as there 2 Aussie ladies who would be very keen. Obviously, any other sponsor arrangements

If you are into long shots, this might be worth considering. Could charter and ship it for less than $10k, it would be the easiest boat to sail and probably the most sponsor friendly boat in the fleet (apart from Vodaphone) so you might be able to get some of your $10k back.

Comments, criticisms, advice are welcome. regards, rob

Agree about the costs. We have kept them low(ish) by a very simple design and a 'different' method of chartering. More on this later. Thanks to everyone who filled in the survey. Without going too deeply into it, the results were as follows: 75% were racers, 95% had offshore experience, 80% want to do more short handed sailing, mostly ocean, 70% own a yacht, 40% were from Aus/NZ, 40% from USA, the rest from Aisa, Europe and other, partly as these places don't have easy access sites like Crew and SA, which is where the vast majority of responses came from. Dream races were all th

Hi, Interest is growing in short handed racing, but for many people it is too expensive, too time consuming or too far away from their own boat. A solution is to charter a boat for a specific race. This survey is about the demand for such boats. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6GZZMRQ Comments, questions or advice are welcome. Thanks.