Steve

Racing yesterday off Browns island and we got in amongst a school of Orca. One hefty young buck peeled off and decided to have a bit of fun with us. We were doing 12 knots and this guy was hardly moving, he came right up under the stern and started playing with the leeward rudder, little taps to start with then a hefty whack which just about took the tiller out of my hand. The rest of the family turned up and called him off so the whole episode lasted less than a minute but a bit scary for sure. I've had a few dolphins do this before but this was a bit next level, he was a big animal. I s

Bad luck Josh, I know how hard you've been trying to be a cruiser. You've well and truly cocked that up. They'll never let you back in now.

It's just containers. Christchurch to Queenstown by truck. Not that hard. Coutts has already mentioned Queenstown with a twinkle in his eye. Great way to showcase NZ. I know the Otago Council is tricky to deal with but they might learn some lessons from Akl and Chch.

My money's on Queenstown. No dolphins, no Auckland Council BS. That's assuming NZ even gets another chance to cock it up.

Compared to 10 k a year at Pine Harbour for 12m. And yes, for leaseholders. Who could afford to rent? I understand that someone needs to die before the waiting list moves at Sulphur point. They used to be able to sell the berth with the boat. So some wags would buy a worthless old shitter and sell it for megabucks, berth included. Don't know if that still happens.

Oh Dear, that doesn't look good for him.

I've fished off East Cape on these boats and found the skippers and deckies very competent. And the boats very sea worthy. I think the doco interviews pretty well exonnerated the skipper and his decisions. The court may have a different view but a rogue wave is really difficult to forecast.

And Pipi will be supplying the Longhaul 140nm reach, reach, reach. boat for Jon Cunning bugger.

Bit bashy I imagine

If you listen to the whole interview its not really about the dolphins. Sail GP is ok with protecting the wildlife. Its more about the Iwi. Nowhere else in the world do they need to pay upwards of 300k to appease the various authorities. The layers of bureaucracy all trying to tiptoe around the Iwi and the dolphin huggers go absolutely over the top. There were a dozen iwi appointed so called dolphin experts on $600 plus expenses per day from last Wednesday. Sir Russell called it right. The woke madness around stuff these days is just too hard. The rest of the world bends over backward

Yes, Gulf Classic is a must do for us every year so I hope they don't clash next time. About a dozen keelers and a pile of trailer boats this year so I guess it wouldn't affect the harbour race numbers significantly. Be nice to do both though, specially now that its 30 bucks.

Awesome, how much fun is that going to be!

Yes, great form stability. Still overpowered occasionally but mainly due to me being too slow single handed. Mostly the big bear away fixed it so some exciting speeds. I think that Elliott must have been very well helmed.

Would have been a bit quicker 2 up Jon but no way we’d catch that Elliott weapon.

We're in. Now why is this one so much more exciting and attractive than the BOP 380? It must be so frustrating for the likes of RAYC to see SSANZ constantly pop up with over subscribed events. 1. SSANZ do this stuff really well. They just seem to know what we want. 2. It's Cat 3, no Safety Survival Course. 3. It's SSANZ, did I mention that already. 4. Everyone's 2 handed, not just a division. 5. The stopovers are fun. 6. TONS of notice. I'll be standing in line for this one.