K4309

I don't know what is going on with the boat, but I saw it being towed around on Wednesday. I was fishing off Army Bay. Looked like a regular fizz boat towing it. One guy on the hulk, not much else to say. I see it is on a mooring in Tindals. Dodgy as f*ck if you ask me. It isn't close to seaworth. No Keel, no motor, no rigging. It is literal just a hulk. Buggered if I know what they will do with it at Tindals, other than wait for it to bust off and end up on the rocks. Cheap storage. I pondered talking to the Harbour Master about it. But they don't have a requirement for boats to be sea-

Putting out mooring buoys is an easy and logical way to mitigate the impact of the CAN's, to get boaties onboard, AND to assist in an actual sustainable long term containment strategy. And I suspect if they were done en masse the cost would be very low compared to the current regime if diving inspections, commercial divers, dive boats etc.

Clearly wasn't seen. It's what happens when you try taking dedicated ocean racers around harbour courses / enclosed waters. These are the IMOCA's, where all of the crew are downstairs out of the weather and sh*t tonnes of crashing waves over the deck. Ideal in the southern ocean or sending it across the North Atlantic at average speeds of 30knts. Hopeless for match racing. Side note, thank good they got some boats that give the crew protection for the ocean race. The Volvo 60's or what ever they are called are frankly ridiculous with the tonnes of water washing over exposed crew. The

I could recommend an insurance company that doesn't require rig inspections if you want. There is this perception about rigs older than 10 yrs, but every time I've discussed changing my standing rigging with riggers, they point out the 10 yrs thing is not important and is only driven by insurance co's. Brand new rigs can drop. 20 yr old rigs can be fine, its about. You can change all the standing rigging to comply with an insurance co's 10 yr thing, and the backing plates in the mast wont be changed, which is the weakest point (rig falls down if backing plate cracks and rig terminal pulls

No, you'd be great. The more left field or nuttier the author, the more interesting the book PS, that is intended as a compliment.

This is exactly what I'm on about. The regulatory framework across NZ is fractionated by areas of responsibility (international shipping and local cruising boats) and geographical areas. So far, they have only found it where they have looked for it. There are many, many places they haven't looked for it. One of my favourite ruse's is to say "we have not failed any quality testing" on x, y, z, food, water quality etc. This is a true statement, regardless of weather you've carried out any testing or not. If you don't test, you can't fail a test. I got a roasting once in a summer job as

I think a stop at the Mokes is logical. You can speed up the delivery by slowing the work down. Take a break to re-assess, check over, confirm your plan, etc. That, and if I was a CG volunteer and was putting in that many hours, I'd want to take the chance to check out the Mokes on the way past. I've never been there.

That was a very long tow. Wonder what the back story was on the yacht?

Why do you assume Barrier or Rawhiti are the epicentre?

This footage came out a couple of months ago. I'm fairly sure the boat was stolen, but I can't remember any other details from the story.

I just read the YNZ briefings. What a disappointment. Almost all of it is copied directly from MPI, other than the glowing endorsement of David A, who didn't know about it at all as of yesterday lunch time. I am not at all surprised YNZ doesn't have the fortitude to question or go against the govt narrative. Not a mention of the aquarium trade introduction. Even MPI's material highlight the use of caulerpa in aquariums.

Include it in the ETS. That amount of biological growth will sequester a substantial amount of carbon.

Fair point. I took your comment as criticism of me having the audacity to want to speak directly to the guy in charge. There has been widespread dissatisfaction with YNZ's representation of boaties and the amount of revenue they generate from us. In my view, this closing and banning of all boating activities is clearly an exestential threat to boating, and if YNZ can't actively advocate for us, or do anything useful, it is time YNZ get sorted out. How to do that is the next question, but either by board representation, bya member movement, or by coordination from clubs pulling out. Y

They already have caulerpa outside of the CAN area. Go figure. They are trialing the Californian method of killing it. Strange how they didn't trial that method at Barrier. Noting that the AC expert said to me that the Californian eradication was successful cause they only had 1 m2 of it. Also noting that MPI's expert panel said you can't erradicate it. So the CAN is not even 24hrs old, and caulerpa is already outside of it. They will either extend the ban, or see sense and lift it all together. My money is on extending the ban, so they can get a huge budget from govt and build

MPI currently say 'indefinitely'.

I don't really have time for that type of twaddlebollocks. Its about time some of these CEO types heard it how it is. If they are on to it, they will appreciate the approach, any 'honest feedback'. If they don't appreciate it, they shouldn't be in that role. When told he was in a meeting, I was also asked if I would like him to call me back, so the receptionist clearly didn't bother first confirming I was an approved, delegated representative. To be honest, the general vibe was 'how can we help', which was very refreshing. Like I said, I did get through to the PR guy first go, which

Probably a different silo leading it. Other possible silos are BiosecurityNZ (just cause they are part of MPI doesn't mean they don't have their own army of PR spinners, and a completely different website) or NRC, who are funded by MPI to manage this response. Can you keep up with the structure?

I'm not actually intending to do that. I was more wanting to highlight the number of loop holes in the boating ban. But that said, I expect MPI will need a patrol boat out full time to manage the ban over busy periods, weekends, summer holidays etc. At the very least they will need to mark off the area with buoys like with marine reserves.

I'm going to get a f**king big RESEARCH sign. And continue with my research of where the big snapper and kingfish are. Jokes aside, you are not wrong. Given the Iwi have imposed a Rahui on top of the CAN, there is potential for community 'disharmony' and agro on the water. Special Maori poles were cut down at the Barrier, which caused hurt to the local tribe. Not to mention someone felt aggrieved enough to take their chainsaw to said specials poles (apologies I can't speak te reo and don't know the culturally appropriate name of said special poles). Issues we

El Nino. It doesn't like sunlight, and thrives in poor viz / turbid conditions. We've had 3 years of La Nina. Lots of N'Easters, swell, surf, churned up water sh*t viz, very low sunshine hours (rain non-stop) and poor spear-fishing conditions. With El Nino, we will get long clear calm periods (cold as well), like this week and last week. Viz will improve loads, and we will have high sunshine hours, as opposed to last summer when it rained non-stop. Nature will sort itself out. Trying to control nature and caulerpa is right up there with trying to change the weather by not drivin

I'll be you a good bottle of whisky the ban is extended on or before Labour Weekend. Imagine a fleet of 130 boats all sailing to the BoI then returning to Auckland via Tuts and Bon Accord? MPI will have a fit about people out enjoying our amazing coastlines. And shut it down. Even though this has been there for 'several seasons' by MPI's own admission, and 'for at least 5 years' by eye witness accounts at the barrier.

At the moment.

The unpronounceables are now unprocureable.

So David A was in a meeting, but I did actually manage to speak the PR guy Edwan. He wasn't aware of the anchoring ban, but once he got his head around the details couldn't wait to get me off the phone, in a good way. As in was rushing off to speak to David A and the advocacy manager (Raynor?). He did take all my contact details. It wasn't very hard for me to put a bee in his bonnet when he understood the extent of the ban including all forms of water activity, fishing, diving etc. He was very excited to hear the AC expert said caulerpa was most likely introduced by the aquarium trade (im

Worked up?!?! Just this minute I have been checking YNZ news for what they are doing (nothing) and just found the contact details. Wonder if David A will take my call? The fizz boat and fishing industry (recreational fishing suppliers) will have something to say I think.