darkside

I've dived one spot in the pig group for 40 + years. They have come and gone a bit over that time and 5 years ago were in pretty good shape. But after a summer snorkeling in Fiordland I had another look couldn't bring myself to take any. Hopefully the "caluerpa fishing reserve" helps the population rebuild at the Barrier.

Doubtful Sound works quite well

On TV Tuke said they had issues with wing control pre those starts. It all seemed pretty good as soon as the gun went...

Does anyone know if the boats will be out practicing on Thursday/Friday next week? I see the on water viewing is already sold out for the weekend.

Yep Aussie is very strict. When we did the Darwin Bali as cruisers there was no way the participants could meet the offshore racing requirements. Even signing a waiver made no difference. So the event was hosted in Bali, just happened to start in Darwin. Paying customers will be a legal nightmare.

Why not? Maybe because most are 230v feed? They don't have to be. We had a really good SSB setup, a mini M and had an Iridium go for a while but I'd back starlink any day to talk to someone who matters. In a medical event or similar starlink is ahead by miles.

Yep he's miles ahead of the others. Not sure why Ineos opened the door at the top mark, maybe they just missed lay line?

I think Saturday is the 19th and that will be a pretty sporty first night

Any word on what failed? 6m is some drop. Yep that was some pass on the Italians

Without Starlink if you want to be contactable would had to anchor where there was some cell reception. With it you anchor where you like, even really steep sided anchorages like Milford Sound made no difference. That said we turn it of at night.

We were fairly early adopters and have had it a couple of years now. Standard RV fitting was all you could get back then and it still works fine. Never missed a beat. Downloading Raymarine updates at anchor was a novelty. But our best fix was solving an auto pilot glitch that had had us hand steering for 300 miles to that point. We did that by video link from Pt Pegasus, Stewart Island. The bad thing is you can work from the boat, as I am today from Oneroa. Overall more days on the boat I guess so I'll take that. Excellent idea on the bigger AIS radius BK.

Yep the west coast of the Red Sea jumped about a mile east/west on Cmap at different zooms. They may have fixed that now as it was a while ago. Vavau used to move about a quarter mile.

It was pretty puffy last night. Anyone seen 100kn peaks in the Gulf before

Sail boat engine revs are constant and hopefully set at the most efficient revs. The gains of hybrid system on a yacht will be less than any machine with variable load and engine revs. The HH has plenty of roof for solar and should sail better than most cats in the light. It might work out OK. I would worry about long term reliability. I see you can get electric sail drives now. For a cat how about one diesel and one electric?

Yes could be useful thanks

Thick fog in Mahinepua. Like this most of the way from the BOI.

We were out at the Barrier last night. A trailer boat was anchored and diving for crays next to Bowling Alley Bay. Can't imagine how they will achieve anywhere near 100% compliance

Pretty quiet nighy there really. Driving towards Paris this morning there were trees down on the big roads for the first 150km or so. Great to see the respect for sailors in France. Eric Tabarlys home town had a billboard to let you know. Good fleet of mini off shore yachts in Concarneau.

We are hunkered down (ashore) in Concarneau tonight. 93kn is a good breeze alright.

Heading out this evening Dr? A good breeze to check those polars

The coal use reduction is real but..... it's because it rained a lot, which is good for hydro With the coming El Nino it will go back up for sure.

Well actually no. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/coal-use-plummets-to-32-year-low It's a shame there really is no logical "outing" trip for the Daldy like Walter Peak down south for the Earnslaw. Too slow for even Waiheke.

No I don't, that's way too simplistic and not helpful. I want to advance the conversation to the science behind modern farming and to where the answer will probably lie. Find a better way to kill it. Breed something we already have to eat more of it. Introduce something to eat it. GM something we already have to eat more of it. Find some value in it so it's worth harvesting. Much the same as controlling noxious land weeds. Its ongoing work, each weed has a different solution and yep, hand harvesting of the whole plant or at least immature seed head is often the only practical way.

And of course you can. Farming springs to mind which is controlling nature all day long. Stopping nature is also possible if you have the will and the money. Plenty of predator free islands to visit in New Zealand. Everyone said they had no chance with m.bovis but the end seems to be in sight. Caulerpa will be much harder for sure.

So that's game over for single handing. Even for the small vessel commercial guys productivity and overall safety will be worse without proper rest. Are you insured if you don't have a watch keeper?