Kevin McCready

Follow on mobile. Sorry for post, can't follow on mobile site without commenting

Have you seen the website for wooden boats in NZ? https://waitematawoodys.com/

I'm Storm Fantasy, that's public knowledge, unlike some anon here. I've got nothing to hide. He was certainly going more than 5 knots. There were no boats to leeward. It wasn't in the harbour. There were no other boats within 1 nm or more. Accuracy on the GPS coordinates comes from putting the cursor in google maps and copy and pasting.

Roughly -36.5875555,174.7893479 Expecting people whose skill level you don't know to hold their course could put you both in danger.

Sailing back to Auckland from Mahurangi yesterday morning we were overtaken by a centre cockpit SV XXXXXXX (I estimate 50 foot or above). He came alongside within three metres and then cut over our bow leaving 3-5 metres. I would have had no trouble with his behaviour if it was a race, but it wasn't. And he had no idea of my skill, or lack of it, in keeping a straight course or taking evasive action. I'm surprised he didn't call for me to luff up and tack away. If anything had gone wrong it would have been a mess.

It's fine to express yourself Clipper, but use of that language is unacceptable and demeans you and readers.

I'm happy with the law. I wear an inflatable life jacket when I row the dinghy out to the boat and back. On some days it's totally necessary, on others it isn't, but I do it because it's a good habit. Safety is habit. I do tasks exactly the same way all the time, even if it takes a bit longer. I enjoy the zen of it - it's part of being on the water. When you’re tired and in trouble, your brain will do the task you’ve trained it for. I've seen people paralyzed with indecision in emergency situations - not a pleasant sight. I watched a couple of young people head out for a romantic tootl

And I might add that most of them were from NZ families. For those family members, to hear some of the comments on this forum would be sickening. Lift your game guys.

Sabre, KnotMe, BP et al, Drownbase lists deaths from drowning in NZ since 1980. 72 deaths where lifejackets were available and not worn. 71 where lifejackets may have saved people. 42 lifejacket status unknown 28 wearing lifejacket 529 lifejacket not applicable Wendy Pannett runs the database and has helped me before on my research on people drowning in rips. She's very keen to help people in their research. You can reach her on 021 440 891 or wendy@prdept.co.nz You're welcome. And next time, Sabre, please don't make assumptions about what or who people on this forum may know or n

That's a fair point KnotMe. But if you tabulate the probabilities on both sides of the ledger they'd be overwhelming. Wear an appropriate PFD for the activity you're engaged in. Make safety a habit, not an optional extra. Enjoy the zen of what you're doing. https://kmccready.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/storm-fantasy-sailing-yacht-safety-card/

matt, You haven't upset me, though it sounds to me like you've already made up your mind. FWIW it's impossible to prove the counterfactual in any individual case (as you allude to), but the probability is high that many lives would have been saved if people were wearing PFDs, is it not?. So what probability number would satisfy you? How many lives would it take to be worth the legislation? How much is a life worth?

You must have missed the joke, Scott.

Mattm, I don't mind a sensible discussion and I don't mind the odd joke or two. But the type of "discussion" here doesn't bode well for a dispassionate and compassionate consideration of the pros and cons of this issue. Happy to start with a real dialogue which we could perhaps begin with a revisiting of your comment: "The harbour masters Christmas party piss up fund (or tidly winks/ what ever their type do for fun) will be empty by January, this will give it a great head start for next year."

People break the law, therefore the law shouldn't exist. I must have missed that bit in my jurisprudence and logic class. But hey, it's Christmas and I love a good laugh. Keep it coming.

"dickheads will still drown" has to be the nadir of the opposition to safety on the water here. We're talking about human beings who may not be as fully aware of the risks as we'd like them to be. That's no reason to condemn them to death. Disgusting.

I bet those experienced witty sailors with years of experience aren' t the ones I know with mouldy old kapok "life jackets" which are hidden under piles of rubbish and weighted down by the spare anchor in the forepeak in case they float away.

I wonder why there's an increased death and injury rate from people not wearing seatbelts in the last couple of years? Judging by the witty comments here I think I'm getting the picture.

Some grown ups promote good laws for the good of society.

Seems like a perfectly good article to me.

It's time to bring back public grids and allow a wipe down. The policy of dismantling them and discouraging their use was always misguided in my opinion.

On the Spirit of NZ, it's the morning job of the cadet under supervision of the Third Mate to calculate daily tidal flows for where the ship will be. I'm sure they'd be happy to share the recipe and adjustments they may make for deviations from predictions. And I'm sure you know about the occasional tidal flow notations on the paper charts. I'm assuming ECDIS systems have the same?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1098773480.htm huge windows would make me nervous offshore. Very cheap would make me look carefully.

Wouldn't all extinguishers sold here have to meet t the standards? I decided to squeeze an old one a little in the shower at home. Just a tiny squeeze mind you. NEVER AGAIN! white foam everywhere and what a stink. Fire officer told me the old days where you could have a little practice fire at the local fire station are now gone. Interfered with private industry doing training and making a profit apparently.

So who's the owner? If they are in the charter business I'd love to know. And we should be able to let them know. BTW Terry B, sorry to hear about the alcohol issue. This helped me: http://kmccready.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/alcoholism/

Where's it's home?