Addem

I had mine stripped and sprayed and ended up being the most valuable/expensive part of the boat.

Great news to wake up to. Is there any video available?

Cool interview. He is such a natural. We're gonna hear more from him when he finishes on Saturday.

Dr W the bloke said it was company policy, not regulation. When dealing with the staff on the floor no amount of logic or argument will turn them from their position. Anyway, I rendered down a whole heap of wheel balancing weights and the job is done. Great way to spend a rainy Saturday morning. I suspect there is a high level of zinc in the finished product which may leach out but it's not structural and quite small so as to not go over the protection levels discussed elsewhere.

From Woodenboat.com: "Keels don't want to be pure lead (tensile strength 1160 psi). It want's to be allowed with a few percent antimony to harden it up (3% alloy has tensile strength of some 4700 psi; 5% alloy has a tensile stength of some 6360 psi). Adding tin to lead makes (according to wikipedia) the molten metal more fluid and the resulting alloy more tough with greater resistance to wear. Lead tire weights are alloyed with antimony. Stuff like like old lead pipe, lead roof flashing, old X-ray shielding, etc. is likely pure lead. Bullets tend to be alloyed with maybe 2% tin and up to

I went to the scrap yard yesterday to pick up some lead and was told that they can no longer sell lead to the public. It's another H&S thing, being a poison. I'm sure that this statement alone will raise the temperature of a few of you and bring out the N word, (as it did me, since I used to cast lead objects for fun when I was wee small and didn't know it could kill me). But what I really want to know is where can I get some lead from? I need about 3kg (around 300ml) for repairs to my keel bulb.

TAURANGA vehemently denies there is any connection with The Land of Auck.

Gutted to hear this. He's endured so much and is so close.

http://m.sunlive.co.nz/news/146746-dragon-boat-capsizes-harbour.html All's we'll that ends well.

Must admit I'm having 2nd thoughts about my inflatable. Pros: comfortable to wear when sailing. Doubles as a harness Easy to store. Easy to wear over wet weather gear. Cons: Doubts about inflating when needed Needs servicing No good if you get knocked out Uncomfortable in the water. Hard for the wearer to be useful in doing something like righting a capsized boat/dinghy. Not sure I'd want to wear one in the water for an extended period. Don't give that added insulation on a cold night/day. My guess is that everyone on crew has experience in using a LJ in anger from

I Am now a total advocate for the view that a LJ without a crotch strap is like a dog with a bicycle. Just helped rescue 20 crew from an overturned waka in a choppy TAURANGA harbour. One non swimmer had a crotch strapless inflatable and was quite distressed when we got there. They'd been in the water for only 10 mins and she was being supported by two others. it was like she was being smothered by her own LJ. And that is without raising the dual issues of why were there so many in the thing in the first place and the number of boats that went past without stopping to see if things

????????keen to hear how you get on.

We have a southern pacific inflatable with a broken valve. Anyone know if and where they can be replaced in Tauranga?

And you do your boating right into the heart of most of the major cities. Last year I was at a wedding reception beside a canal in Clapham bang in middle of London and all these canal boats were floating past and I thought it looked like a way cool way to see the city.

I thought it was about right. We did TAURANGA -whangamata on friday evening. Ready for the return race in Saturday. Expected and got a 15-20 knot westerly. Turned SW later and moderated overnight. We had to anchor off the beach and were glad of the forecast being right

I did windows my self and was told to be careful with bolts only in corners as the stresses there can cause them to crack. Without bolts the whole window is flexible. I didn't use bolts at all in the end and no problems after 3 years. Used a Sika flex product, but can't remember which one. If you use bolts use several to spread the load.

I use an anchor buddy mainly when it is light as I feel it reduces the swing arc in exactly this times when the rwidual current pushes the boats in different directions. I'm on rope/chain.

Does anyone else use the "drop your anchor between two boats transoms" rule? It's what I was taught many moons ago and then, no matter how crowded the bay, no boat should be over your anchor when retrieving it (not you over theirs). Probably even in the situation just described by pacifier. In which case nobody has any idea where another boat's anchor is.

Coastguard site just reported Tiri wind 59 gust 65

Forget summer. It's an Indian spring.

Sailng in TAURANGA can get a bit intense. The ships come in pretty quick. I was once in my trailer sailer in the entrance and couldn't get the OB started with a shop blaring away behind me. . Wasn't my fault and was my fault - the ship wasn't there when we started coming in (light day, outgoing tide) and we didn't keep a look out behind. Didn't have a change of undies on board but we all needed them when the horn first sounded. Not my best Moment.

Recent dog story: the names have been changed to protect the .... Friends came over to visit our boat with their wee doggy. We have a dog too but don't take it with us so were keen to see how it reacted to the boat. The wa was delighted in the way It trotted over our boat, down all the little nooks and crannies. We were assured it was boat trained until what seemed like it making a bed in my mates bunk was it actually making a toilet out of his sleeping bag. Question answered.

Great interview too. Can't find a link to a recording which is a pity.

When is the media going to pick up on this story. The guy is superhuman.

And now I have a reason for such gloom - I just discovered my car was broken into last night and the prezzie for the wife is a gonna. Son of a ....