Steve Pope

Could it be we are in the eye???

Apparently the US navy is teaching celestial navigation once again, maybe because the satelites can be taken out or corrupted. I have paper charts for backup.

Depending on what you draw, Whangaruru is well protected but can have an annoying swell running well up. I have anchored where the top anchorage shows, There is reasonably deep water in the middle. I generally anchor to Stb. in the mud, as I only draw 1m with the boards up. through some fairly ferocious blows. Keep your dinghy close though, as they have been known to have wandered in the night. Whangamumu, roly poly not recommended, The BoI and Keri Keri inlet, lots of choices, Whangaroa as good as you will find, many options. A Rocna or a Manson supreme on chain definitely a plus. Whate

I've carried a Jordan series drogue for ever, and have never used it, I also have a 3m drogue that I have only used when anchored in a hole in a tidal river to keep me in the stream when the tide ebbs, otherwise wind can take the boat out of the flow and onto shallow areas that might be rocky before the sides of the hole preclude that happening. I have had several experiences where I have needed to heave to, and have also lain ahull without any issues. The type of hull has some relevance.

No one in NZ seems to want to recognise the effect that the Tongan volcano has had and is having on the climate, perhaps it doesn't fit the Climate change criteria? It is certainly being discussed in Europe and elsewhere. Many many cubic kilometers of ash , thousands upon thousands of tonnes of water (vapour) and of course our friend Co2, apparently more Co2 was vented than the industrial world has ever managed to put into the atmosphere! and of course many other chemicals as far up as the stratosphere

Considering when you are cruising you spend at least 85% of your time at anchor his layout lends itself to reality and practicality, It can't be said that he lacks experience.

I looked a bit further and I could imagine it would be a fairly simple build in either steel or alloy or as he has in Ply, how he attached the 100 steel plate? I'll have to find his blog. I know that the base of "Gwalarns" 8mm thick alloy 700mm wide keel and 1m draught, with both C boards up, allows sitting on any hard surface a dream, without any stability issues.

Versatile!! dagger boards (lee boards) well designed and very practical for where he wants to go. He doesn't mention the rudder(s) But I guess it / they are kick up or perhaps are some sort of dagger board. Low rig means power without heel. It would certainly work here in NZ.

Simple and cheap, as long as you can reach, It reminds me that the Americans spent millions creating an ink pen that would write in space. the Russians took pencils! keep it simple.

Wet n forget, good stuff, As I wrote in an earlier post Wheels did a thing on it and recommended it. I have it onboard, wouldn't use anything else

MsKellySails, Were you the lucky buyer??

Wet n forget works well, Wheels explained a year or 3 ago that the active ingredients (I can't remember which ones they are) are safe to use on sail covers and dodgers etc. Whereas some of the others ones are more aggressive. Maybe wheels will see this post and respond.

The classic statement is that "A boat is a hole in the Ocean through which you pour money" it quite true. That being said there are many worse ways to spend (waste) your income, Golf? booze" (excluding Rum) gambling, big ship ocean cruises, racing cars etc. ( Motorbikes are OK!) The pleasure that you can get from just being on the water as "master" of your yacht gives you access to an amazing coastal waterway (Tauranga north) Remember 70% of the worlds surface is water, with experience, it is yours to explore, enjoy and occasionally be terrified by. And if you choose to live aboard eliminates

Ah Whakapirau! I'll be sitting on board watching, weather permitting? no yacht racing though, we tried many years ago with a fleet of dinghy's, but they never caught on.

I was stopped in the Kaipara, while doing a channel edge cruise, seeing and marking just where any off shoot channels were for future use. A flash (a state of the art, every bell and whistle fitted) $$$$ ?? fizz boat headed my way, they had to come alongside as my ears don't work so well when i'm sailing by myself. It was a fisheries patrol. 2 guys and a woman, they were surprised to see a yacht in the Kaipara, they didn't think there were any! I wasn't of interest to them as I wasn't fishing. Very tidy, uniforms etc. Nice and friendly, but I could imagine that could change rapidly if you had

Was that around the Kaiwaka area? If it was "Tern" she has been taken in hand and is now being restored.

I'm running a mild steel one, (kubota D1105) 10 years so far, SS has plusses and minus's one is that it work hardens and with heat changes this is accelerated. Lack of oxygen is also an accelerator. Schedule 40 Mild steel minimum thickness. Thicker schedule 80 probably overkill.

The bay just under the island at North Cape is small but well sited if you have to wait for the east to west current, it is protected from anything coming from the East, North, West etc. A daylight crossing starting early is my recommendation, Night is ok with a full moon, but then it is best to keep well offshore and leave the Pandora bank to port with reasonable clearance. If you wish to stay inshore of the Pandora bank be prepared for considerable turbulence and over falls from north East of the light until you are sufficiently clear to the South. There are at least 2 fishing boats that hav

It is a possibility that you could use the worn ones as a pattern (cleaned up and modified to eliminate any wear marks) and have replacements cast, alloy or bronze. I did that successfully with some alloy parts from a buggered french anchor windlass. If you did decide to go down that road, with thee future in mind get 2 sets cast.

Well Gwalarn was in there 6 or 7 years ago for about 4 to 5 months (memory) even over the Pahi regatta. and I live at Marohemo (MGTO) reason for arrival. Yes Whangape entrance can be / could be exciting. I draw 1m with both boards up, it is relatively narrow, right hand side going and left coming out. Great place once you are inside you have to anchor in the channel of Whangape road. though we have motored up several miles and anchored at a mates bottom paddock, but it does dry out up that far. I've been accross it 4 times now, twice when I thought I was in a mill pond and twice when it was a

Yes a very interesting trip, Urquharts bay, Toot, BoI, Whangaroa, North cape, Ahipara / Whangape, Whakapirau / Pahi in the Kaipara.

No, "Trismus 37" alloy centreboard cutter 37', 30' waterline 28hp kubota, No useful wind on the west coast so motor ran most of the way.

Made it around the top, Whangarei to the Kaipara with a weather stop in Whangape and to pick up crew for the run down to the cross the Kaipara bar.

looks like just another "lovely" Northland day! we don't have a summer, just a permanent (warm or cool) Autumn. I was in Whangarain yesterday, only rained a little.

There is little actual understanding (by the Regional councils) of the reality (impossibility) of what they are trying to do. I have just read about a yellow sea squirt that is apparently now in Stewart island, they realise that it can't be eliminated, but wish to "slow" its spread. "Yeah right"