Steve Pope

Guess as much as you like! We will never know! Though I think it well suits the Bureaucrats to blame yachties, we are a reasonably widely dispersed group, without a voice, or organisation, who would put their head above the breakwater to speak on our behalf.!!

My thought was, purely and simply, here is something that we can actually do something about. Re the oil being wax like, there have been many reports over the years of an oil film on the surface, nah its just wax, Yeah right!!

The Niagara (ship) has re-appeared in the news once again, sunk in the 2nd world war in the Hauraki gulf (by a German mine) It was heading for Canada and was fully bunkered. Read "Stuff" article for much more detail. I would suggest that this is actually something that the Govt, NRC, ARC etc. could actually do something about, rather than spending their time pursuing (us). by doing a Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, in the form of Caulerpa and fan worms.

At the end of the day nature will have "her" way. Current army worm invasion in Northland, loves eating maize / corn, any green vegetable, etc. etc. MPI suggests it came in on the wind from Aus,? not a mention that it could have also come in on imported seeds, fertiliser etc. No mention of anchors so far!! They have only just found Caulerpa because they havn't looked before. We will find that it is far more widely spread and will, within a couple of years be looked upon as another immigrant that we don't necessarily want but will have to learn to live with. Think possums, deer, rabbits, rat

Having sailed an alloy 2 x swing keels CB yacht for the last 18 years I doubt I would ever go back to a fixed keel, They open up so many more areas to anchor or just sniff around. Up in the Islands the bommies that had the keeler skippers on edge were never on our worry list.

Now awaiting the link to a trailer sailers anchor!

I believe the fanworm first was found in Lyttleton harbour, long befor it was discovered in Auckland.

All of NRC's "bottom" diving, videoing, recording etc. has been funded by MPI. (from our taxes) At least that is what we were told at their "Fanworm" seminar in Whangarei a few months ago.. Strapped for cash?? they have just built an "office" in Dargaville. $9.2 million is the cost to rate payers on top of the almost $500,000 (from the provincial growth fund) they paid for the property. This was ostensibly to house the 2 staff members who had to drive from Whangarei and back every work day. They have sublet the surplus space to the Kaipara District Council, who have now vacated their older off

Thanks for the reply Martin, Around the same age as mine. I am going to miss it if I cannot find a replacement part, or repair it. There is a useful online clip telling you how to remove the parts for replacement, but no mention of availability. And Garmin say no parts! Just be aware that apparently this breakage is apparently quite common.

I have a Garmin handheld GPSmap60Cx, a wonderful wee unit that has worked marvelously all around the world for almost 20 years. That is, until I put new batteries in it yesterday. It lit up, then went dark. The problem / failure turned out to be one of the metal battery terminals had broken at the "spring hinge" point. Looking online Garmin do not seem to have spares. (if they ever did?) Is there anyone with one of these that has failed, though not from a failed battery terminal, and that they still have it in their pile of once useful bits and pieces. Please PM me if you can help.

I think they are the same as the ones on the log.

Goose Barnacles on one of the single handed round the world Yachts, in Tasmania, I think. Thet all left France (Brittany) with clean newly antifouled hulls. The ones (who have made it non stop) had to dive and scrub at sae.

Given that it appears that chlorine is considered for eradication of unwanted sea flora, "they" must realise that if used it will kill all the things that TBT apparently used to kill so well, that we are now no longer allowed to use it?

Didn't consider regional councils as 'politics" and Yes Cameron it is "we" who pay, generally without any say, control, or consideration as to how the spend of the tax / rates take is going to bite us on the Bum!

Given that the Regional councils charge us for using "their" waters (mooring fees, beacons, and can even stipulate the contractors you must use for mooring inspections perhaps we should be sending them a bill for not keeping "their" waters free of unwanted organisms.

To sail with weed, fan worms, barnacles on the hull is the last thing any sailor wants. As we all know a clean hull is a "faster" hull. That antifoul coatings have been dumbed down to the point of almost being useless, in fact the manufacturers could probably be charged with false advertising, of course the price of it is as high as ever. The Authorities want us to conform to "their" requirements, in my experience very few of them have any knowledge of sailing, and say it is their way or the highway.

likewise.

I spent 3 years on the water in Greece, Turkey, Italy, France, Tunisia etc. back in the 1970's I never knowingly came across a fan worm. There were certainly some very barren areas, the odd fish, octopus, pelagic fish passing through but no fan worms.

The best and most reliable way of these organisms historically have moved around the world is the tides, currents etc. it is the way they have always spread, up to the arrival of our consumer society in the 1970 / 80's ( which is a 100% commercially orientated, world trade agreements) Why is Galaxy Feta sold as a Fonterra product when it is actually a product made in Denmark? If you buy bacon look at the print that shows where it has come from, up to 20 different countries, none of which would meet the stringent rules that our Pork producers now have to conform to to. In the next few years we

Interesting article in the Advocate re "new seaweeds " (Caulerpa Brachypus and Caulerpus Parvifolia) infestation currently found on the barrier and Gt Mercury. The article berates the government for doing little to restrict its growth, or its effective removal from NZ waters, apparently 100 tons of it washed ashore on the Barrier during Cyclone Gabrielle. The article mentions that Delaware in the US managed to rid itself of an infestation in 17 days, when? how? etc. etc. not explained. It will probably help reduce the Kina barrens, whether that is a good thing or not is yey to be seen? I wonde

European insurance Co's love you for not having one if custard arrives and you want to put in a claim.

It is of a round ball appearance and is black, no less than .6 of a metre in diameter flown on the forepart of the deck. They are generally 2 flat discs that are keyed together to appear as a ball. Being flat they stow well when not in use.

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

I think whether we talk about Blackberry, Gorse, Star fish, wasps, fan worm, possums, human beings, etc.etc. It is just nature doing what nature has always done. Every species wants to survive, where ever there is a gap or weaker species the next one up on the ladder will take advantage. There are no bleeding hearts in nature. (Actually there are lots, those who are being eaten by a more rapacious species) NZ having been separated from any close neighbours for Eons falls into the weaker species group, there apparently being no serious predators here until (we) mankind arrived. So much has ch

I think the elephant in the room is that the marine environment is the Fan worms, not ours, our interest is economic not environmental. Think mussel / oyster farming etc. (after all the "pacific " oyster arrived the same way as the fan worm, and now it is an industry! Most things that have arrived in NZ whether on the wind from Australia or by sea from the Mediterranean or by ship or on an aircraft with us They all thrive in the NZ environment.